By Elena Torrijos |
Yahoo! Newsroom – 1 hour 47 minutes ago
A Singapore food blogger said he has been asked to
remove a post recommending some local food that guests could bring
to a French chi chi picnic called Diner en Blanc.
In a post on his blog on Friday, Daniel Ang said, “Reason according
to both the French and local organizers was the local delicacies
were not in line with the image of the picnic.”
According to the Singapore website for the event slated for
Thursday next week at a secret location, it is a “tres chic picnic
imported from Paris and now taking hold in outdoor public spaces in
20 cities across 5 continents in 2012, from Barcelona to New York
City, from Montreal to Sydney.
In his first post on the event on Tuesday, Ang said that similar to
the Paris version, the only way to attend the event is to score an
invite from a friend and to know someone who is attending. Invitees
are asked to dress in white.
He recommended that guests consider bringing 12
Singapore-style white food, namely: tau hway, teochew pau, cheese
raisin buns, xiao long bao, chee chiong fun, fishballs, Hainanese
chicken rice, white bee hoon, chwee kueh, kueh tu tu, soon kueh and
popiah.
“Tau hway is a simple, inexpensive and elegant dessert. Jazz it
up to be served on a fine China bowl, and it will look good,” Ang
noted in his second post.
“And chicken rice actually needs no introduction, but for good
measure, it is Singapore’s signature dish, praised by renowned chef
Anthony Bourdain no less, and served in not a few of Singapore’s
top hotels,” he added.
Ang also claimed he and other bloggers have been disinvited to the
event.
“Reason given was: There is not enough space for people. Do you buy
into that reason?” he wrote.
“To both the French and local organisers, my teachers taught me
that you do not ‘un-invite’ guests to an event. At least we all
know that is being very un-courteous and impolite. Basic manners,
isn’t it? Who would have expected – coming from what one would have
imagined to be one of the classiest events of the world,” he
said.
Also commenting about the controversy in a post titled “Singapore
tau huay too low class for French upscale event Diner en Blanc?!”,
food blogger Moonberry said she would decline her invitation. In an
update, she then said she was also booted from the invitation
list.
Both the bloggers, however, felt that the issue was probably due to
miscommunication.
In an interview with Yahoo! Singapore, Ang explained that,
before writing his original post, he understood that the
information guide for the event simply said that guests should
bring “quality food”.
He later clarified with the organisers on their Facebook page on
what food could be brought. In a post, they said that they do not
encourage local food “as the rules and event concept are one and
the same”.
“I know a lot of netizens are angry but I’m not. It’s
miscommunication that happened and I think every culture should be
respected.”
In her post, Moonberry said, “I feel that this tau huay matter is
attributed to a grave miscommunication and to a very large extent,
a cultural misunderstanding, which can be resolved amicably and not
tarnish the joyful intent of this event.”
In an announcement on their Facebook page just past 10pm, the
organisers clarified that "Diner en Blanc worldwide welcomes local
food as can be seen in many international events
both passed and upcoming. Menus in Barcelona, Mexico, Kigali for
instance, all include local food."
What is not encouraged, they said, is
"fast food", which goes against the multiple course meal concept of
the three-hour event.
"As guests devote time and energy preparing
for the various aspects of the event, we ask that they also devote
time and energy preparing their meal as well. The statement was in
no way meant to discourage participants from bringing local food.
Apologies for the misunderstanding," they added.
In a separate comment, they said that the cancellation of
invitation of bloggers and other media is "because of a new space
limitation that has just imposed itself, as well as a limited
timetable for the hosts to perform interviews
at the media lounge".
Members of the public, however, remained angry over the food event
fiasco.
In a comment to the announcement, user Azmie
Øregano said the brouhaha made the organisers
look flaky. "The exclusions -well they left a bitter taste in
peoples mouth ... and worse of all, the explanation above smells
too fishy to be honest.. are we still talking about food
here?" the user asked.
User Khavronsteinsus Corprothone Lamborghini
said, "If you come to another foreign country, you
better show your respect. Insulting our diverse and vibrant local
foods and food culture that make us uniquely Singapore is so
distasteful, disrespectful and outrageous."
Reacting to the controversy, well-known Singapore blogger mrbrown
proposed on Twitter late Friday evening to hold a #MakanDay on 30
August, the same day as the Diner en Blanc event.
"30 Aug is #MakanDay Bring
& share food of ANY color as our tastes are diverse. Tell your
food's story. Wear off-white (beige or khaki)," he tweeted.
.jpg)
