Oct 24, 2011 - ST Forum
LAST Monday's editorial ('Hawker relaunch meets a real need')
articulated a welcome reversal of official policy.
Hawker centres are the soul of our neighbourhoods, and have
generated an invaluable spin-off: a sense of identity.
While cleanliness and better infrastructure are more tangible
and visible signs of development, the essence of the hawker centres
needs to be preserved.
There are many food blogs that lament the gradual demise of
native hawker food quality. One has only to stroll through a
commercial foodcourt to see the dilution of 'traditional'
Singaporean fare.
With existing favourite food hawkers retiring, prime hawker fare
may soon be a novelty.
Many Singaporeans are sentimental about hawker centres, which
are their one true source of Singaporean 'soul food', the bedrock
of many fond memories of our favourite pastime: dining.
Ambassador-at-large Tommy Koh once described our hawker fare as
a 'culinary achievement'.
While I applaud his suggestion to open a school to preserve the
art of hawker fare, why formalise it that way when we can use the
new hawker centres to seed the succeeding generations and keep this
culinary culture alive and thriving?
The new hawker centres should not be planned and operated on the
basis of unbridled free market economics with centres or stalls
going to the highest tender bidders.
The Government should use this opportunity to create a new
hawker centre experience mindful of not just the hardware but also
the 'heartware'. The authorities should consider hawker food types
and quality when giving out hawker licences.
Perhaps this way, we get to preserve our hawker fare heritage
and recognise it for what it is - an art. Singaporeans are savvy
enough to sniff out good hawker fare and where there are still
great hawker stalls around, the queues will form in no time.
Daniel Tan
Take-up is not a problem
'The real issue will be where and how to bring in the truly
traditional hawker fare, such as roti prata, carrot cake, Malay
curry puff and good $2.50 prawn mee.'
MR ANG CHIN GUAN: 'Mr Alvin Tan suggested that new
hawker centres are likely to experience low take-up rate ('Who will
operate stalls at new hawker centres?'; last Tuesday). The take-up
of stalls will not be a problem, especially when food is involved.
The real issue will be where and how to bring in the truly
traditional hawker fare such as roti prata, carrot cake, Malay
curry puff and good $2.50 prawn mee, like the stall in Whampoa
which has been in operation for more than 40 years. The tender
system will see high rentals for the stalls, from which traditional
hawkers will shy away as they will be unable to sustain their
operations at a low profit margin. Like the foodcourt, the new
hawker centres will see business people selling regular cooked
food. They will not have the originality seen in the culinary
delights sold by older hawkers in existing hawker
centres.'
