Once upon a time, we took our makan for granted, then the heady effect of affluence set in and the yearn for world flavours was calling and it became too easy to like pizza, pasta, burgers, sushi, ramen and all thing new and wonderful. Well perhaps not all strange new flavours. , I think we’ll hard pressed to like kembayau (a fruit with a potato like texture) with gooey starch, a common snack in Brunei or perhaps duck foetus or balut from Philippines and ant eggs soup from Laos, although folks from those land feels for them as much as we do for chicken rice.

But take some beef, mash them up, grill it and stuff it between two buns and you get an American comfort dish. Give a lot of moolah to a cutting edge advertising agency to create a healthy dash of branding- something like a tune of how a meal there can bond Ah Ma with the grandkids and make skateboarding really cool and you get international brand association. Suddenly everyone wants to eat burgers and be seen as a really happening family dude. Then some Korean television drama about their royal makan had the sedate audiences riveted and overnight, kimchi, bibimbap and bulgogi sales went through the roof and landed in people’s hearts. Even tourism to Seoul was boosted and plastic surgeons there were botox-ing customers that spoke no Korean but Singlish. They were bonded through the stunning fine cut looks of the female leads in their TV dramas. It spoke a new language of love - reconstructive cosmestic surgery. Lots of girls wanted to look like angels, talk in angelic whispers, walk with small steps and eat buchimgae (kimchi omelet) in small bites – and make men bump into lamppost or pour beer into their noses as they ogle and admire.

They have all been brand blasted. They are eating foreign food and digesting their culture. Nothing wrong with that. Through conscientious brand building or by default of some unintentional act, they have spread the word of their culture, they have conquered your hearts and won you over with food. You are hooked.

So, how on earth do we reciprocate with our chicken rice and chilli crabs. How do you brand blast them with all these hit favourites of home with things you’ll eat in an instant and like within a minute. How do we brand blast the foodies of the world and unite them with a common love for “kway png” (chicken rice) and laksa, not just any, but Katong Laksa (a form of sub branding done with a tactical campaign, as ad men will suggest).

Communication Mavens: They are the best people
to make the world aware of Singapore food.

Like Tripitaka and his monkey god, I will be journeying to the east in March to hawk our food culture and buy their hearts with stuff like bak kut teh and bubur cha cha. I bring with me no advertising campaign nor was there some hit Singapore food television drama that pre-empted me there. My only partners are some “mavens” from giant food companies who had been stung by our local flavours when they last visited and wants to introduce these dishes back home in Canada and the USA. Communication mavens are what Malcolm Gladwell, author of the Tipping Point, terms people with that innate ability to spread the word and get it to stick in people’s mind. In short, they are kaypohs with naturally great story telling abilities. The kind of people others talk about and remember what they so passionately spoke about. These mavens run kitchens and eateries that feed at least hundred thousand customers daily.

So, what do I sell them and how do I show and tell of our chicken rice, char kway teow, bak kut teh, chilli crabs or even or nee with soft pumpkin. I can’t just sell the taste and recipe, lest I risk that I may end up touting what they may eventually perceive as balut or kembayau with starch- well loved by some but not well received by the rest. I’ll be working with an eager professional team to feed thousands (and perhaps even more mavens exists there). And as an added career highlight for me, I have an invitation to cook with the legendary three Michelin starred Jean-Georges Vongerichten at his south east Asian and Singapore inspired Spice Market Restaurant in New York.

Stay on this page as I dwell on this mission over the next month.