SINGAPORE – Singaporeans may rave about the rich, creamy flavour of durian, but how many know where the fruit comes from and its long journey to the table?
Freelance photographer Ian Poh Jin Tze, 37, chronicles the process of durian farming in one of the five stories in his debut book, Behind The Scenes: Lives Of These Unsung Heroes.
Made up of photos taken by him and accompanied by stories of his experiences on the road, the book feels like a glimpse behind the scenes of yet another easily overlooked industry.
“For me, I wanted to find out what the farmers go through to bring the fruit to the table. Initially, I went there thinking the biggest danger was getting hit by a durian, only to discover that they don’t even care about that. They’re more afraid of it getting stolen by aggressive animals than humans,” he tells The Straits Times in an interview.
In the chapter titled The Untold Dangerous Tales Of A Durian Farmer, he recounts his trip to a durian farm in the Raub District in Pahang, Malaysia, and donning a bright pink Lilo & Stitch helmet, while worrying about being hit on the head by the spiky fruit.
It is the first of five trips he took from 2021 to 2023 to write the book about his curiosities in the agricultural and travel industries.
That was followed by visiting a melon farm in Port Dickson and a coffee bean plantation in Bali, which gave him insight into the origins of the crop and the lives of those who spend years cultivating it.
He also looked behind the scenes of the travel industry, while staying at a hot spring resort in Ipoh and a luxury serviced residence in Kuala Lumpur.
A self-published debut author, Poh has worked as a freelance writer and photographer for the Singapore Airlines in-flight magazine SilverKris, the Eater online food news and dining guide, Asian Food Network online and the French culinary school Le Cordon Bleu website.
His day job as regional director of agrochemical supplier Zagro primed him for extensive travelling.
Before Covid-19, he frequently spent about 300 days of the year travelling, with some years topping out at 330 days spent overseas.
“What got me into writing was letting people see the world through my eyes. Many of my friends asked me a lot of questions because I travelled so much and I wanted them to have a sense of what my life is like,” says the married man with no kids.
Riddled with his own questions about how different foods made it to the table, he set out to find the answers through various travels and compiled his learnings into a 132-page glossy, picture-filled book.
It comes in two editions, a normal hardcover coffee-table book and a deluxe gold foil edition in its own cardboard suitcase with locks. Finding the right fit for the latter took several attempts, as the hefty tome caused many handles to break off the suitcase, he recounts.
Told in thoughtful stories and high-quality photos, the book is a glimpse at the world through his eyes.
He captures his care for the farmers through his photography and the way he writes about the people he meets.
“I hope people get the takeaway that there is more to life than the glamour of travel.
“When you’ve reached my stage of travelling so much that you’ve sort of been there and done that, if I could redo the whole thing over again, what would I do differently?
“I’d tell my old self that it’s not just about capturing selfies and photos, but to live in the moment,” he says, adding that he cherishes the human connections made and the chance to see something different on the road the most.
“I hope people embrace that there is more to travelling and that there are a lot of things we take for granted that people make happen behind the scenes,” he says.
- Behind The Scenes: Lives Of These Unsung Heroes by Ian Poh Jin Tze is available as a regular edition on Amazon (amzn.to/43YZbgA) for $57.10 or as a deluxe edition on his website (str.sg/8kNT) for $149.
