Reflection Blog of our 1C3 group 5 Heritage Food Trail

Heritage Trail

Project: Food For Thought – The Heritage & Culture of Singapore Food

Project Group Members:             Charlene Phua           29

                                                       Charmaine Choo        5

                                                       Grace Low                  13

                                                       Lee Gek Chi                21

                                                       Vienne Chiam             37

Class / Group:                               1C3 Group 5

The following is an account of our group's experience gained through our research and interviews of the various items involved with an important part of our lifes in Singapore - FOOD ! Sometimes it appears like food fills a big part of our daily lifes; either feasting on our favourite hawker dishes or talking about it among friends. Singapore food that we all grew up with is part of what binds us to our home and gives us that warm fuzzy feeling of "comfort food" !

Brief of our food trail journey

Our group met to discuss our project and decided on the important choices of food to research on. After much debating, we decded on Char Kway Teow (Chinese), Beef Rendang (Malay), Roti Prata (Indian), Satay Beehoon & Hainanese Pork Chop (Fusion).

First stop:  Bak Kee Satay Beehoon

Located near to the Redhill MRT station; owner is a Mr Lee.

The stall owner was very kind and willing to accept our interview. We conducted the interview in Mandarin. When we asked him what his recipe was about, he said: `` It’s a secret!’’ Till now, I am still very intrigued to find our more about his recipe.

Second stop: No.18, Zion Road Char Kway Teow stall

Located in the Zion Road Food Centre; the stall has also won several awards and the owner was proud to displace them in front of his stall.

Seems like our Prime minister, Mr Lee Hsien Loong himself has indicated this stall as his favourite Char Kway Teow stall ! 

The owner was a little grumpy and impatient but after much persuasion, he accepted our interview. As the interviewer, I felt quite hot inside as he turned the fire to a very high heat ! Actually, I soon learnt that a big fire is essential to making a good char kway teow.

Third stop: Mr Prata stall 

Located inside the food court of Great Wall City Shopping Centre along Kim Seng / Zion Road. This stall is actually a branch outlet of the many branches located over other parts of Singapore. 

The stall owner was very warm and friendly. He even showed us how to toss the prata ! We were all very impressed by his skills.

Fourth stop: Nasi Padang Eating House along River Valley Road

Well known, popular restaurant. Food as in Nasi Padang places were already cooked and displayed on the shelves, in the chafing dishes for customers’ selection. The beef rendang did not disaapoint us.

Fifth stop: Killiney Kopitiam 

Despite the name, this restaurant is located along Purvis Street which is reputedly th centre of Hainanese cuisines in Singapore. It is one of many eateries that serve authentic Hainanese pork chop.

The stall owner was very lighthearted and I enjoyed this interview most. We were rather apprenhensive if she would accept our  interviews as most stall owners have rejected us by then. We were pleasantly surprised that she accepted our interview ! The funny part was, when I asked her if we could ask her some questions, she said, `` Will there be any prizes?” That was rather humerous and it made our day.

Racial and Religious Sensitivities

I feel that it is important to be sensitive to others' religion and race. For example, when we went to a Malay store, there are some things we can't talk about to them, for example, pork?

 :-)  In addition some religions like Buddhism, we cannot ask them to cook beef for us!!:-) The food trail project did make us think about these issues and how important food forms an enormous part of our different culture present here in Singapore.On reflection, we realise that we cannot bring our friends to eat something they cannot eat. We need to ensure that everyone in a group is alright with the food being served before visiting a food outlet. Correct food selection if you are the host is an important part of being gracious about racial and religious sensitivities that can exist in multi-racial Singapore.

Social and Cultural significance of food preparation and consumption

From our visits to conduct interviews at the various food outlets and reading more about the food that we had selected, we came to appreciate that the manner of food preparation and consumption can be different for different races and religious backgrounds.

Religion plays a significant part of people's lifes. Muslims do not consume any pork or related products and require that the animal slaughtered for meat has to be done according to Islamic beliefs. In our multi-religious country, it means our food stalls have to have utenils that are not mixed and meats in market be correctly prepared for sale. 

Malays and Indians are known to eat using their right hands. Chinese food are commonly savoured with chopsticks. Singaporeans can get along if we adopt the various different practices when we get together for meals.

We must respect different cultures and their ways of food preparation and consumption so as not to offend them. This is one of the key things that we learnt throughout this project.

Introduction of dishes through early migration

Singaporean cuisine is indicative of the ethnic diversity of our culture. Our forefathers were mostly native Malays and migrants from southern parts of China and India. The food that we chose are all influenced by these diverse traditions in addition to influences from the past British colonial masters. 

Char kway teow originates in the South China ethnic group called the Teochew, more specifically, around Swatow. As Chinese migrants moved to Southeast Asia, they brought their cuisine with them; however, the same ingredients were not always immediately available. Char kway teow grew out of the improvisations these migrants made.

Rendang is a traditional spicy food from the Minangkabau cuisine is prepared for festivals and special occasions.The dish today is considered a celebratory meal, served regularly during Hari Raya, a major feast day amongst Muslim Malays, and at Malay weddings. 

Roti Prata belongs to a group of breads which are indigenous to India. Brought to Singapore by Indian immigrants, the Roti Prata is said to be either of Punjabi origin or introduced by the Muslim conquerors.

Satay beehoon is a dish of the cultural fusion between Malay and Chinese. The Hainanese Pork Chop is of western origin but uses a combination of western and Chinese ingredients and is unique to Singapore and Malaysia.

Teamwork and Group collaboration

The project was not a walk-in-the-park. It was challenging getting everyone to co-operate but in the end our group worked well together and organised our time well too. We divided our jobs as evenly as we could and in the end we succeeded in filming the food trail in 3 weeks !

We displayed teamwork. We did ran into some technical problems which we did not expect.. Like for example, we could not send our videos through email and making a video was new to most of us. Time was pressing and we did brainstorm for solutions.

Overall, we have learnt how to work with others better during this project.