The Singapore Noodles podcast features host Pamelia Chia, founder of Singapore Noodles, engaging in open, honest conversations with people who are keeping Singaporean food heritage alive in their own ways. Join us to learn about how we can take an active role in preserving and embracing our Singaporean food heritage and culture. <br/><br/><a href="https://sgpnoodles.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast">sgpnoodles.substack.com</a>
The Singapore Noodles Podcast
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79 episodes
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Podcast Overview
The Singapore Noodles podcast features host Pamelia Chia, founder of Singapore Noodles, engaging in open, honest conversations with people who are keeping Singaporean food heritage alive in their own ways. Join us to learn about how we can take an active role in preserving and embracing our Singaporean food heritage and culture. <br/><br/><a href="https://sgpnoodles.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast">sgpnoodles.substack.com</a>
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Publishing Since
9/6/2020
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Recent Episodes
March 27, 2023
If we want to preserve Singapore’s hawker culture, we need to be willing to pay for it.
<p>Over the weekend, a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.channelnewsasia.com/commentary/hawker-food-expensive-prices-culture-makan-career-3371551">commentary</a> that I wrote on hawker prices was published on CNA and has sparked a bit of debate. Much of the discussion has been robust and I thought I’d share my views on some of them: </p><p><strong>“Letting hawkers set their own price at will is going to raise the cost of living for everyone. Thus, price controls are justified.” </strong>Some have argued that even though Singapore is a first world nation, the cost of housing and car ownership (though whether this is truly a necessity in Singapore is debatable) is a lot higher than many of its counterparts. The only thing that is keeping our cost of living in check is cheap hawker food and it’s been this way for decades, with keeping hawker food affordable being “<a target="_blank" href="https://newnaratif.com/why-singapores-hawkers-should-be-paid-s1-more-per-plate/">a cornerstone of government policy</a>”. But while cheap food might have been a possibility when hawkers were offered rent subsidies by the government, now with more than half of our hawkers not being on subsidised rents, that narrative is broken. </p><p><strong>“If it’s not cheap, it’s not hawker food.” </strong>Because the ideology of hawker food being cheap food has been so pervasive, anyone who has grown up in Singapore in the past couple of decades would feel bothered by price hikes. This is an intuitive, reflexive response which is inevitable, even for someone like me who has grown accustomed to paying at least S$15 the minute I leave my home for a sit-down meal in Australia. Also, given that hawker prices are in the single digit range, any price hike feels significant (for example a rise of S$4 to S$6 is a 50% increase) and feelings of outrage even more knee-jerk. </p><p>If hawker food is not “cheap” and patrons have to clear their own trays and put up with no air-conditioning, some say that there is no reason to eat hawker food. “Might as well eat in an air-conditioned eatery.” Therein lies the problem - inherently, do we recognise the value of our hawker food? Do we truly feel that it is unique, world-class, and intangibly precious - everything we claim we believe when we nominated it for UNESCO? Because if we do, then the best way for us to demonstrate that belief is to put our money where our mouth is. </p><p>Comments that I read that grind my gears include things like: <strong>“Hawkers are using the excuse of inflation to charge higher.”</strong> or <strong>“Only when your food is good, then you can increase the price.”</strong> There was also this <a target="_blank" href="https://www.8days.sg/eatanddrink/hawkerfood/sun-kee-drinks-kovan-765366">8days article</a> that I find troubling on many levels - the journalistic angle that emphasised the hawkers’ “uncommon sense of gratitude” when they choose to keep prices low amid economic pressures, and the way hawkers have internalised society’s expectations of them fulfilling the role of a social worker or charity in feeding “people with no money”. I referenced the article and addressed the line of thinking in these comments in the CNA938 radio interview that I’ve embedded in this newsletter. </p><p>What is worth our time discussing are solutions, especially with regard to considerations for low-income households & the problem of high rental and miscellaneous fees that plague hawkers. While 40% of hawkers are on the subsidised rental scheme (<a target="_blank" href="http://heresthenews.blogspot.com/2011/12/hawker-rents.html">who pay between $56-320 per month</a>), most have their rentals determined via a bidding system. The upper limit for this is usually <a target="_blank" href="https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/10028-monthly-rental-bid-for-chomp-chomp-hawker-stall-highest-in-3-years-bidder-walked">S$5,000</a> but it can go up to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/10028-monthly-rental-bid-for-chomp-chomp-hawker-stall-highest-in-3-years-bidder-walked#:~:text=SINGAPORE%20%2D%20A%20woman%20who%20successfully,National%20Environment%20Agency%20(NEA).">even $10,000</a> a month as the fees are entirely dictated by the free market. And then you have hawkers whose landlords are not the government, but corporations such as Timbre who have been reported to charge <a target="_blank" href="https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/not-all-can-stomach-social-enterprise-hawker-centres-stall-owners-call-flexibility-lower">an average of $4,000</a>. How many plates of chicken rice would a hawker have to sell to break even and not make a loss - and we are only talking about rent as one part of the cost equation! </p><p>KF Seetoh, our country’s loudest voice for the hawkers, proposed that <a target="_blank" href="https://www.theonlinecitizen.com/2022/11/14/get-rid-of-the-bidding-process-says-kf-seetoh-and-suggests-fair-rental-system-for-hawker-center-stall/">“the authorities get rid of the bidding process, offer a fair rental and give it to the most deserving ones, may it be based on the menu, talent and preservation of Singapore’s unique food culture.”</a> But this opens up a can of worms. With demand surpassing supply of available stalls, how do we decide who is the most deserving? How do you quantify talent, especially amongst hawkers who cook in such varied styles? </p><p>A lot of food for thought, and definitely important discussions we should all have, if we are to ensure that our hawker food culture is to be preserved and kept alive for generations to come. If you have a perspective, please comment via the link below - I would love to hear from you:</p><p><p>Singapore Noodles is a reader-supported publication. If you are able, please consider becoming a paid subscriber (or gifting a subscription to a friend). Thank you!</p></p> <br/><br/>Get full access to Singapore Noodles at <a href="https://sgpnoodles.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4">sgpnoodles.substack.com/subscribe</a>
October 16, 2022
Ivan Brehm: On how keeping tradition static is a surefire way to kill it.
<p>Five to six years ago, when I was working on Wet Market to Table, I came across the menu at Nouri where regional vegetables and fruit were celebrated in new and unexpected ways. Lots has changed since then and it is not uncommon now to see young chefs working with produce from our markets, but back then, it definitely got my interest. I’ve wanted to have a conversation with Chef Ivan for quite some time, but it never happened, owing mainly to the fact that I was leaving for Australia… so it was great that this chat finally happened and that it is on this podcast! </p><p>Ivan believes strongly in how food can connect us all, and he expresses it with eloquence. Towards the end of the conversation, he talks about how to keep tradition alive is to embrace “the Indian hand cooking Hokkien mee, and the Chinese hand folding prata”, and it is such a moving, beautiful picture of what our society and the Singaporean food fabric could look like. Instead of having sharp boundaries drawn around dishes, food can be such a unifier and common ground for us all! </p><p>I hope you enjoy this episode. And please let me know if you do... I always love getting comments and suggestions from listeners. </p> <br/><br/>Get full access to Singapore Noodles at <a href="https://sgpnoodles.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4">sgpnoodles.substack.com/subscribe</a>
October 2, 2022
Jimmy Teo: On why cooking is the best thing you & I can do to keep hawker heritage alive.
<p>The Singapore Noodles podcast is back... and integrated into the newsletter! In this episode, I chat with Jimmy Teo, a young hawker who runs <a target="_blank" href="https://www.instagram.com/huang.da.fu/">Huang Da Fu Bak Chor Mee</a> at Commonwealth Crescent Market Food Centre. Pricing has always been a hotly debated issue when it comes to hawker food, and Jimmy shares candidly about struggles that hawkers face, and how we can keep hawker heritage alive by simply stepping into our own home kitchens. If you’d like to visit Jimmy and taste his bak chor mee, you can do so at: <strong>31 Commonwealth Cres, #02-94, Singapore 149644</strong>.</p><p>On the same note, I recently wrote an <a target="_blank" href="https://www.channelnewsasia.com/commentary/new-york-city-singapore-hawker-food-urban-hawker-centre-prices-unesco-kf-seetoh-2976611">article</a> for CNA on hawker food prices abroad. Feel free to check that out if you’re keen, or leave a comment here on what you think about the pricing of hawker food in Singapore or overseas:</p> <br/><br/>Get full access to Singapore Noodles at <a href="https://sgpnoodles.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4">sgpnoodles.substack.com/subscribe</a>
79 total episodes available
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