Just remembered something funny Louis pointed out on the old Singapore $2 note. The four main races in Singapore were portrayed on the note. I can’t remember exactly what they were, but it was something like the Chinese with the lion dance, Malays with kompangs or smtg, Indians also doing something stereotypically cultural, and then, the Eurasians… What were the Eurasians doing? They were holding balloons.
What did Eurasians holding balloons mean? Life’s a party for them huh… What would have been a better way to depict them? Maybe have my mother-in-law making Sheperd’s Pie in front of a Christmas Tree while singing the “jingly nona” song? :o) It’s difficult to be the ‘lain-lain’ of Singapore n Malaysia I suppose. Not having a distinct cultural background… part Asian, part Portugese, part Dutch, part Mat Salleh…
But then again, it’s not easy being a Singaporean or Malaysian outside of South East Asia. Ben says we’re really ‘lost’ here in Dubai. The Pakistanis think we’re Chinese nationals, the Chinese nationals think we’re Filipino, the Filipinos think we’re Thai, the angmohs call anyone ‘yellow’ an Oriental, and the locals… well, we’re just the ‘golongan hamba’ along with every Chinese, Filipino, Indian, Pakistani, etc who come here to work.
Chinese and Indians have cuisines that are uniquely theirs, and what do we have? Ice kacang. Satay bihun. Red mi goreng.
It’s interesting to study a particular country’s culinary history and influences, apart from geography. Confucius emphasised the art of cooking and enjoyment of life, establishing culinary standards and proper table etiquette. And by fusing these beliefs, the Chinese dine with the mantra that food and friends are inseparable. And that’s how we have communal dining to this day. Taoism however was concerned with the search for longevity and nourishment of the body, studying the medicinal properties in foods. Hence, the liberal use of herbs in Chinese cooking and toasts to long life, good health, etc at dinner parties or the long list of good wishes my fifth aunt makes when we do the Chinese New Year ‘lo hei’.
In Singapore cuisine, there’s always the chicken n egg argument about whether a dish is actually Malaysian or “uniquely Singapore”. I guess if we were to make Singapore’s culinary history interesting, we can’t mention too much about how everything is borrowed from Malay, Indian, Chinese n Portugese cuisines, but that it’s a unique ‘rojak’ of all the above.
And the national drink isn’t that gross stuff from the bottle that you mix with pineapple juice or whatever. How many uncles do you see at a coffee shop ordering Singapore Sling? Singapore is the Lion City. And our national drink is TIGER beer (the Thais stole our Singha). The national sport is played at Singapore Pools.
Perhaps we could make a special paste of durian and ikan bilis... call it tapenade esplanade. By the way, we all know Eight Wonder’s Harry’s Island isn’t really named after some fictional character… So let’s have Roti Harry, cos we still don’t know who John is. Like saying grace before a meal, let every uncle, aunty n child in every restaurant in Singapore shout, what time is it?
Time for some Roti Harry, Chil-LEE Crab and Stamford Waffles!
What did Eurasians holding balloons mean? Life’s a party for them huh… What would have been a better way to depict them? Maybe have my mother-in-law making Sheperd’s Pie in front of a Christmas Tree while singing the “jingly nona” song? :o) It’s difficult to be the ‘lain-lain’ of Singapore n Malaysia I suppose. Not having a distinct cultural background… part Asian, part Portugese, part Dutch, part Mat Salleh…
But then again, it’s not easy being a Singaporean or Malaysian outside of South East Asia. Ben says we’re really ‘lost’ here in Dubai. The Pakistanis think we’re Chinese nationals, the Chinese nationals think we’re Filipino, the Filipinos think we’re Thai, the angmohs call anyone ‘yellow’ an Oriental, and the locals… well, we’re just the ‘golongan hamba’ along with every Chinese, Filipino, Indian, Pakistani, etc who come here to work.
Chinese and Indians have cuisines that are uniquely theirs, and what do we have? Ice kacang. Satay bihun. Red mi goreng.
It’s interesting to study a particular country’s culinary history and influences, apart from geography. Confucius emphasised the art of cooking and enjoyment of life, establishing culinary standards and proper table etiquette. And by fusing these beliefs, the Chinese dine with the mantra that food and friends are inseparable. And that’s how we have communal dining to this day. Taoism however was concerned with the search for longevity and nourishment of the body, studying the medicinal properties in foods. Hence, the liberal use of herbs in Chinese cooking and toasts to long life, good health, etc at dinner parties or the long list of good wishes my fifth aunt makes when we do the Chinese New Year ‘lo hei’.
In Singapore cuisine, there’s always the chicken n egg argument about whether a dish is actually Malaysian or “uniquely Singapore”. I guess if we were to make Singapore’s culinary history interesting, we can’t mention too much about how everything is borrowed from Malay, Indian, Chinese n Portugese cuisines, but that it’s a unique ‘rojak’ of all the above.
And the national drink isn’t that gross stuff from the bottle that you mix with pineapple juice or whatever. How many uncles do you see at a coffee shop ordering Singapore Sling? Singapore is the Lion City. And our national drink is TIGER beer (the Thais stole our Singha). The national sport is played at Singapore Pools.
Perhaps we could make a special paste of durian and ikan bilis... call it tapenade esplanade. By the way, we all know Eight Wonder’s Harry’s Island isn’t really named after some fictional character… So let’s have Roti Harry, cos we still don’t know who John is. Like saying grace before a meal, let every uncle, aunty n child in every restaurant in Singapore shout, what time is it?
Time for some Roti Harry, Chil-LEE Crab and Stamford Waffles!
