Did you know that laksa actually needed saving? Neither did I. You may recall laksa being the dish that was recently butchered by Lisa on Top Chef, followed by Lisa being butchered by the relentless Anthony Bourdain (he repeatedly equated the dish to "sticking his nose into a campfire.")...but I digress. Reuters recently interviewed food critic KF Seetoh, who fears that traditional Singapore cuisine is being overshadowed by fast food and an apathetic younger generation. He is a part of Makansutra, a company that promotes indigenous Asian food through mediums like books, TV, and the Internet.
In the Reuters article, Seetoh describes "hawker food culture," where food is sold in large street markets. The markets used to be a great place to sample a wide variety of Asian cuisine, but Seetoh denounces the arrival of Japanese, German and French food stalls cropping up.
This is surprising, as almost in the same sentence as he denounces people who are enjoying other cuisines, he calls Singapore cuisine "a bastardization of the three motherland food nations of Asia -- China, India and Indonesia." Hmm...if the food is a conglomeration of three countries' cuisines, wouldn't he be more inclined to accept Sinagpore's embrace of different, unique foods from other cultures? Promoting indigenous food is all well and good, but isn't Singapore big enough for food stalls from all cultures?
New York Times Magazine's food issue
Chicken McNuggets frolic at New York City pet store
Eat your broccoli orbs! 
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
5-28-2008 @ 10:44AM
Bryce said...
That's funny, you know because Laksa itself is Nonya Cuisine - which is crossing over of Malay and Chinese - and itself a "bastardization". Check out http://www.chilefire.com/posting-detail.asp?Post_ID=120&Recipe_ID=311
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5-29-2008 @ 3:01AM
Nicole said...
I think Singapore is big enough for a bit of everything, that's how I've always perceived it. Food is a bit like language, it's always evolving and slightly changing.
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