Preserve authenticity of hawker heritage
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Oct 24, 2011 - ST Forum
LAST Monday's editorial ('Hawker relaunch meets a real need') articulated a welcome reversal of official policy.
Hawker centres are the soul of our neighbourhoods, and have generated an invaluable spin-off: a sense of identity.
While cleanliness and better infrastructure are more tangible and visible signs of development, the essence of the hawker centres needs to be preserved.
There are many food blogs that lament the gradual demise of native hawker food quality. One has only to stroll through a commercial foodcourt to see the dilution of 'traditional' Singaporean fare.
With existing favourite food hawkers retiring, prime hawker fare may soon be a novelty.
Many Singaporeans are sentimental about hawker centres, which are their one true source of Singaporean 'soul food', the bedrock of many fond memories of our favourite pastime: dining.
Ambassador-at-large Tommy Koh once described our hawker fare as a 'culinary achievement'.
While I applaud his suggestion to open a school to preserve the art of hawker fare, why formalise it that way when we can use the new hawker centres to seed the succeeding generations and keep this culinary culture alive and thriving?
The new hawker centres should not be planned and operated on the basis of unbridled free market economics with centres or stalls going to the highest tender bidders.
The Government should use this opportunity to create a new hawker centre experience mindful of not just the hardware but also the 'heartware'. The authorities should consider hawker food types and quality when giving out hawker licences.
Perhaps this way, we get to preserve our hawker fare heritage and recognise it for what it is - an art. Singaporeans are savvy enough to sniff out good hawker fare and where there are still great hawker stalls around, the queues will form in no time.
Daniel Tan
Take-up is not a problem
'The real issue will be where and how to bring in the truly traditional hawker fare, such as roti prata, carrot cake, Malay curry puff and good $2.50 prawn mee.'
MR ANG CHIN GUAN: 'Mr Alvin Tan suggested that new hawker centres are likely to experience low take-up rate ('Who will operate stalls at new hawker centres?'; last Tuesday). The take-up of stalls will not be a problem, especially when food is involved. The real issue will be where and how to bring in the truly traditional hawker fare such as roti prata, carrot cake, Malay curry puff and good $2.50 prawn mee, like the stall in Whampoa which has been in operation for more than 40 years. The tender system will see high rentals for the stalls, from which traditional hawkers will shy away as they will be unable to sustain their operations at a low profit margin. Like the foodcourt, the new hawker centres will see business people selling regular cooked food. They will not have the originality seen in the culinary delights sold by older hawkers in existing hawker centres.'
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its the secret of cookin which dies with the cook.
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zzzzzz...
Hawker Heritage is not about how the place looks, or where is it located at...
It is about how the food is prepared, the skills of the cook and the neighbourhood daily lives...
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Too far gone...
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should just ban them from sublet..... then we may have a chance to get cheap food instead of those ex food from china man renting at 3k per mth from non existing original hawker stall owner
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Originally posted by I-like-flings(m):
should just ban them from sublet..... then we may have a chance to get cheap food instead of those ex food from china man renting at 3k per mth from non existing original hawker stall owner
when are you going to sell satay?
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Originally posted by Clivebenss:
when are you going to sell satay?
when the rental is back at 300 dollar per mth lor.. -
Originally posted by I-like-flings(m):
when the rental is back at 300 dollar per mth lor..when the rental is $300,000 you mean?
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the prob is not the lumber of food centres
but the current generation......... whether got takeover their father, grandfather's è€�å—å�· to cont the biz or not
alotta those old time stalls have to close shop bcos they no have anyone to pass down to........ so these food will be 'lost'
u can build 3 more food centres and fill it with 300 stalls of crappy food cooked by foreigners following recipes. wats da point yo?
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yeah... just like other types of traditional food, the younger generation do not want to take over.. so much so that sometimes, the masters of the craft even open their doors to anyone, but no one wants to apprentice...
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omg can the govt do sth abt this
to preserve our hawker food culture -
introduce compulsory cooking lessons in sec sch.
O level examinable subject
dishes tested will be:
hainanese chicken rice
chilli crab
rojak
laksa
bak chor mee
mee siam (with or without hum)
hokkien mee
carrot cake (not the ang moh one)
kaya toast
nonya kueh
ice kachang
electives:
buddha jumps over the wall
HK dim sum
peking duck
xiao long bao
sushi
pasta, pizza
pork floss bun
milo dinosaur -
Originally posted by FireIce:
introduce compulsory cooking lessons in sec sch.
O level examinable subject
dishes tested will be:
hainanese chicken rice
chilli crab
rojak
laksa
bak chor mee
mee siam (with or without hum)
hokkien mee
carrot cake (not the ang moh one)
kaya toast
nonya kueh
ice kachang
electives:
buddha jumps over the wall
HK dim sum
peking duck
xiao long bao
sushi
pasta, pizza
pork floss bun
milo dinosaurwhy bo satay?? how can??
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it is encouraging that at some hawker stalls u can see that some of the sons/daughters (assumption) are working alonside their parents...so hopefully the 'heritage' will continue for them.