In this issue, we unpack several health controversies and crises, from MSG to processed foods to the insect food revolution and diabetes. But it’s not all doom and gloom: The region’s varied cuisine is an intangible part of its heritage. We pay homage to the enduring art of the longevity noodle – handmade and visually evocative. Asia’s food culture is perhaps best summed up through the humble hawker, peddling the sheer diversity of this region’s culinary innovation through their roadside food carts. But even the ubiquitous street food vendor faces an uncertain future, as regulators of hygiene standards and urban planning brandish eviction – or “relocation” – notices. It’s time to eat smarter: to be more conscious of what we buy, how we waste, and what we ignore on that little label on the side of a can. Perhaps never before has this phrase been more weighty: "You are what you eat". Bon appétit!

Think you know Asian diving? Think again. Asian Diver blows the lid on the dive destinations you (think you) know and love. Get ready to discover the blue water and drop offs in muck Mecca, the world-class reefs that neighbour the most famous wrecks, and the critters that inhabit pelagic paradise. Prepare to have your underwater world turned upside down.

Asian Diver's ADEX Collector's Edition is back with an inspiring and fact-packed bumper issue to celebrate the International Year of the Reef, alongside an in-depth look at the ocean's apex predator. Get the low-down on what's happening in the shark fin trade, brush up on your knowledge of sharks and corals, and find out how individuals and organisations around the world are working to save our sharks and reefs.

Themed spiritual pilgrimages, this issue of Passport takes you on various journeys that are at the heart of different faiths held by people around Asia. With stories that uncover spiritual practices and places across the continent and a six-page 2019 festival calendar to inspire your travels next year, this is an issue not to be missed!

This issue’s theme coincides with ADEX 2019’s ‘a plastic-free future and is designated official magazine of Ocean Partnership Summit 2019. It is also the first issue that incorporates eight pages of our distinctive junior section, so that your young ones can enjoy articles on the same theme in the same magazine.

In order to witness the beauty of Nature’s tiniest marine creatures in their hidden habitats, we’ve combed through the different layers that are found in the muck in this issue of Asian Diver. Whether it’s the plastic trash that has made its way into the oceans from polluted rivers that now provides shelter for critters like octopuses, the artificial tyre reefs humans have created to attract marine wildlife that may be doing more harm than good, or the diminutive marine organisms like the algae shrimp and the “Shaun the Sheep” nudibranch that live on the algae found on the seabed – we’ve pored over the minutiae of the muck and its inhabitants to understand what makes this type of diving so thrilling.

With the modern world developing at the dizzying pace it is, do you know what’s going on around you and how it all works? In this issue, we look at the latest in science and technology across the region, from the obvious – China’s transformation from IT copycat to technology leader – to the unexpected, like why Cambodia’s farmers are now selling bat faeces instead of rice. Go on a sparkling journey across the night sky in our exclusive story on astrotourism, an upcoming trend that’s winning the hearts of Asians young and old across the region. Read about a mysterious bridge between India and Sri Lanka that has geologists befuddled, and a hyper fast underwater levitating train – straight out of a sci-fi movie ­– that you might soon be able to buy tickets for. Are you ready to get up to speed?

Draw inspiration from influential leadership icons, philanthropic champions, business magnates, science icons, cultural figures and sports heroes in our list of 100 astonishing Asians. Read about how plein-air drawing is gaining a strong following in urban societies worldwide in an age when instant photo feeds prevail. In 'Microscopic Plastic Litter and Rivers of Filth', we spotlight the issue of plastic pollution and how this environmental nemesis can find its way to your dinner. Find out how a Dutch man had a hand in writing history when he copied the Portugese’s closely-guarded sailing routes to the East Indies in 'The Map That Opened Up Southeast Asia'. What's your impression of Kama Sutra? Find out how it compares to the true identity of what could be the most celebrated yet misunderstood treatise on sex. See Singapore from new perspectives in Sony ambassador Michael Yamashita’s shots of the garden city, and view a snapshot of the highest and longest natural and man-made structures in the East and West.