Foodie Paradise

An article that Teo Pau Lin has written about our local hawker food in today’s Sunday Times:

"Street food here is cheap.  But, with the exception of some gems, not necessarily good.  Where’s the passion, the pride, the aroma?  Singapore may well be food paradise lost."

"Foodies say three reasons have contributed to the slow but steady decline - the lack of pride in the trade, the disappearance of traditional skills and the rise of the food courts.  Food experts say that most vendors sell food just to make money.  Devoid of culinary passion, some hawkers take short cuts by using pre-cooked ingredients supplied by manufuacturers….Unless you hit cult status, a hawker’s life is a lot of hard work and the returns are little.  Who wants to slog at least 12 hours a day, every day, with no weekends or holidays?" 

It’s an article that I couldn’t agree more.  

Gems are far and few in our local hawker food scene.  Worse, many of our hawker food gems in Singapore are suffering from a deterioration in terms of its quality as many of the hawkers with decades of experience begin to retire and pass their spatula to the younger generation that do not share the same passion in upholding the same quality in food.

It’s not just the hawker food.  This applies to restaurants.  How many times have you experienced great food in a place that you have newly tried, only to go back a few months later to realise that the standards have drastically changed?   

Somehow, the local food scene is more concerned in increasing the number of outlets they have in Singapore rather than improving on the food that they’re serving.  I used to feel irritated that no matter which mall I enter in Singapore, I’ll be able to find more or less that few familiar restaurant chains in it.  Swensons, Sakae Sushi, Pasta Mania, Crystal Jade, TCC, Starbucks, Coffee Bean, Coffee Club…you can continue listing them. 

Even some of the popular hawker food, such as the Tiong Bahru Roast Pig Specialist, Fei Fei Wanton Mee, Ya Kun, Killiney Road Kopitiam and many others have also begun setting up chains around Singapore while compromising on the standards of their food.

Or perhaps we can look into the various food craze trend that we have over the years.  Do you still remember the bubble tea, the pork-floss buns, and the Beard Papa puffs (where Andre De Cruz had lost her diamond ring while she was queuing up for it)?

It’s sad how profit has become the main driving force in our local food business.  Once there’s something profitable, everyone rushes in.  Or how some restaurants just play on the winning formula again and again.  Where is the innovative spirit?  Where is the love for food and the appreciation that cooking is an art form of its own? 

This is not only a phenomenon that’s happening locally.  The proliferation of fast food chains have resulted in a drastic drop in the food standards in America, not to mention the obesity problem that it has caused.  There are also reports on how some internationally famous chefs have sold their names to set up restaurants all over the world in return for profits, instead of continue honing their skills in their restaurants.  Perhaps that’s the sad state of affairs for food internationally, the other consequence of globalisation. 

"Food experts lament that a new generation of Singaporeans has had their palates blunted by sub-standard foodcourt food.  ‘A lot of young people don’t know what good food taste like, because all they know is foodcourt food,’ says food consultant Vincent Lim…Meanwhile, Singaporeans - too busy to cook at home and too price conscious to eat out in pricier restaurants - will continue to feed on these vastly affordable $3 fare."

The blunting of palates is definitely one of the main reasons why food quality is deteriorating.  Foodcourts should not be blamed to be the main cause of this blunting of palates.  The popularity of fast food is another main cause too.  Most young kids these days only love fast food thanks to the savvy marketing techniques employed by these fast food chain, and they are also the ones growing up on the fast food diet.

Thus, the consumers have to share part of the blame too, not merely the profit-driven suppliers.  The businesses merely provide what the market wants.  If the market cannot appreciate the good food that’s being supplied, or can’t tell the difference between a good and inferior meal, then the businesses also lack the incentive to continue to maintain the excellent quality in food, since they can make more profits by providing what the mass market wants.   

It’s a combination of reasons that’s making Singapore a Lost Food Paradise.  The businesses have become so profit-driven such that food quality is being compromised in the process instead.  Consumers are no longer appreciating what good food is, thus the businesses have also lost the incentive to provide better food.  And Singapore is not the only country that’s lamenting about the same state of food.  It’s slowly becoming a global trend. 

So when is the last time where you truly enjoy your meal?  

For me, the last time I actually enjoyed a meal heartily was actually in Sydney.