No matter where or how far we go, there are certain constants that are our lifelong companions – the refrain of a rumbling stomach, for one, telling us, almost like clockwork, when it’s time to eat. A love of food and drink, or even just sating hunger, drives more of our decision-making than we give it credit for. Consider the schedules that are structured around meals, the trips that are planned to gastronomy-rich destinations, the reservations booked months in advance for an acclaimed restaurant, its location a secondary concern.Pour yourself a cuppa and sink your teeth into our (predominantly) dining-themed issue. We’ve curated an eclectic menu of delicious tales, from starters to mains to dessert, to feed your appetite for storytelling. Warning: some of these reads might induce cravings.It would seem Hong Kong’s hills are alive – with the rustling of tea bushes, cultivated against all odds. On her quest for the next bite – or sip, as it were – Hei Kiu Au arrives at Tai Mo Shan, the starting point of a captivating report on the past, present and future of Hong Kong tea culture, the ageing Hakka villagers who have preserved their traditions for centuries and a new generation’s ambition to take local tea-making to new heights.About 19,000km away, at a different elevation, Kissa Castañeda eats her way around Peru’s Sacred Valley, one tuber at a time, and returns with a new-found appreciation for Andean cuisine and the humble spud. With more than 4,000 native potato species – yes, thousands, that’s not a typo – an attempt to try them all will probably take more than 180 days. I imagine it almost like Pac-Man, except with taters, not dots.Speaking of retro, Bernice Chan’s intriguing portrait of Hong Kong-Canadian television chef Stephen Yan, the long-time host of cooking show Wok with Yan, sheds light on his influential role in broadening the appeal of Cantonese food in the 1970s to 90s, his sudden “disappearance” from the public eye and the man behind the punny aprons.Elsewhere, Doris Lam chews the fat with third-generation knife-maker Leung Hung to dive into the tradition (and surprising range) of handcrafted cleavers. Back in the day, beyond their purpose as kitchen tools for julienning vegetables and slicing meat, special blades were required, and made, for specific purposes such as shaving rattan, chopping firewood and even cutting firecrackers – activities and trades that are niche today.