Letter from Singapore
Living in a Food Lover's Paradise

I have a strange problem.
I am a non-foodie trapped in
a nation of food-mad people.

foodie /'fu:.di / noun [C]
informal
a person who enjoys preparing
and/or eating good food

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy good food, I have a healthy enough appetite and I even cook. But I am the odd exception in this 'food lover's paradise'. Why? Because I eat to live. Everyone else on our tiny island nation lives to eat. Oh boy, do they live to eat.

Being a cosmopolitan society, at the junction of East and West, we probably have as global selection of food as can be found in any one place on Earth. A visitor from anywhere would probably be able to find their native cuisine in some form. Of course, the major culinary cultures of the world are unfairly represented: Italian, French, American, Mediterranean, Japanese, Thai, Indian and Chinese…

But any true blue Singaporean will vote in favour of 'local' food - a meld of Chinese, Malay, Indian, Indonesian and other regional cuisines, and some concoctions unique to Singapore and neighbouring Malaysia that incorporate the influences of all these cultures.

With such a cornucopia of choices, naming a National Dish is at best contentious. But Hainanese Chicken Rice would probably take the pole position. Equally popular are Char Kway Teow, Fried Hokkien Prawn Mee, Nasi Lemak, Rojak, Laksa, Mee Siam… You get the idea.

I love eating these delicious dishes, but the reason I say I'm no foodie is that I don't go to the lengths many other Singaporeans will go to find good food. The French may be renowned for their love of food, but Singaporeans fixate on the ultimate feast, compulsively judging the merits of every meal. It is this perpetual hunt for good food that drives Singaporeans' social lives. The local equivalent of "How are you?" is "Makan already?" (meaning "Eaten yet?").

Living in Park Wood at UKC, Singaporeans and Malaysians will constantly be found cooking up a storm, creating irresistible aromas and often attracting neighbours, who may even invite themselves in for a taste.

Food can be found around the clock in Singapore. Certain well-known food establishments are only open in the wee hours of the morning. Rows of Mercedes Benzes double-park along these sometimes narrow and dingy alleys at 3 AM, and people patiently queue to buy packets of fried noodles. Some hawker centres are more packed with people at midnight than at regular mealtimes. No one around here bats an eyelid when asked to have supper at some unearthly hour. And it doesn't matter if it's a long drive - as long as it's good food.

As for me… Well my girlfriend Ong Yi Pen (D92)[*] is constantly working on that. Bit by little bit, I'm being trained in the art of appreciating good food. Maybe one day, I too will crave for Char Kway Teow at midnight and stop at nothing to get a steaming hot plate of it, to savour the delicious aromas and tuck in with the gusto only a Singaporean can show.

If any UKC alumni are travelling to Singapore, email me at ttmt@pacific.net.sg; maybe I can hone my food ferreting skills by bringing you out for a meal. Just don't be surprised if it's in the middle of the night!

Timothy T. M. Tan E92 was awarded
a BSc in Biochemistry from Kent in
1995. He is now a PhD research
student at the Nanyang Technological
University in Singapore.