It’s just about another 365 days gone by and Singaporean’s love for eating. Every year, the combination of these two phenomena never fail to churn out some serious gossips and juicy news - some delicious, some distasteful. I reflect on some of the sweet and vile stuff we have digested.
The sad saga that led to the lost of two lives and left close to two hundred diners sick in the stomach earlier this year, when they consumed one of our uniquely local makan, Indian rojak, is something that will haunt us for quite a while. Unfortunately, it occurred at one of my favourite Indian rojak stalls in one of my favourite food centres. Sure, their rare offerings like rich stewed hearts and crunchy pink cuttlefish may be popular and sinful, but death and food poisoning should not be the penalty. Theories abound about how it happened, like cross contamination and the existing medical conditions of the victims, but nothing concrete was dug out for the public to digest so we are non the wiser on the case. We did not grow up and out of it. But one thing I noted, the Geylang Serai food centre is now one of the cleanest public eateries around. Enforcement there is diligent and the stallholders spend more time than I noticed, sprucing up daily. Sad it had to happen in the wake of this very regrettable incident. Glad that it hadn’t dampened people’s appetite for a good Indian rojak.
Singaporeans aren't shying away from Indian Rojak
20 chefs get roped in by the anti corruption authorities for kick backs involving suppliers of fine seafood and get a kick in their backs for such practices. I asked many friends in the industry how the age old practice of “buying hearts” when a supplier buys their way into the preferred supplier list of the head chefs, can be avoided, or at least minimized. One veteran of 25 years in the profession offered “you may have the purchasing department check on the kitchen orders, but what when the sharks fin, birds nest and the abalone arrives and the head chef immediately proclaims the quality it not up to par and suggest you get it from you-know-who because he’s the chef and says he knows best?”. These foods are rare, exquisite and expensive and are considered status symbol food for many Asians. So it is in the interest of the many suppliers out there to ensure that these head chefs continuously send an order in for them, at the highest price possible and “lets-celebrate-the-spoils, thank you” - and I don’t mean just sending in a pretty hamper of expensive goodies each year just before Chinese New Year. A solution was to have very sharp, righteous and knowledgeable purchasers in the payroll, maybe even one who’s had previous executive chef experiences. But truth be told, folks here get an education so that they can avoid such menial jobs. Help, we need more less educated righteous foreign talents!
Almost $500 for a seafood meal which included a $239 bill for eight giant bbq prawns is really too much to swallow in a restaurant, and worse, in this case, the American visitor had it at Newton hawker centre. Why oh why, do these visitors or even expats, despite so many international and local publicity about all our other great seafood and hawkers centres, still head on to the infamous Newton for their notorious bbq seafood. I’ve heard too many cases which involved milder figures which did not make it to the media. An old timer fried noodle hawker there once told me that these seafood touts can smell your gastronomic desires (which determines how much they can charge) and nationality (and it what currency) as you hop off the taxi at the food centre. Solution, provide seafood diners there with a small chalkboard so they can write and hold up a “8 giants prawns needed now, will the cheapest please apply here” for all the 20 odd bbq seafood stallholders there to see and pounce on.
When our friendly tourism minister up north suddenly found the urge to now “own” certain iconic dishes popular in the region, many cried fowl, especially when she mentioned chicken rice, something near and dear to our hearts. Aiyoh, I have to admit that such “food feuds” can only end with two winners – especially when the world takes notice and does not give a hoot about who owns it but are rather curious about the cause, and wants to try it. I say, may the best makan campaign win, for the real winner left standing, is always us, the indefatigable foodie.
Certainly there were more gastro-incidents this year than the space in this page can accommodate. I shall dish them out in this same page as we progress into next year. Keep the faith here and have a delicious 2010 ahead, however you perceive it to be.
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