The last great hawkers are passing on, and they are not passing on their skills. Few from the younger generation are willing to take up the wok, the long sweaty hours, unglamorous image and paltry pay.

Gone are the days when a disciple would understudy the master and practise relentlessly to hone his skills to a point where he would be considered worthy of inheriting the master’s reputation.

Continuity of the local food scene has reached such a critical point that local food guru, K.F. Seetoh, calls it “stage four cancer”. Is there hope? Can we save it before it’s too late? But here’s the other irony. Even if someone was interested in learning to be a superstar hawker, where would they go and learn the skills? The masters are usually quite guarded and will only pass on secrets of their success to family.

Some of the heritage dishes Singapore boasts about are already fading into pale facsimiles done by foreign talent (whose interest is more profit than passion). How will we preserve the integrity and authenticity of the dishes that have made our street food famous worldwide? Will our vibrant local food culture start petering out? Will future generations never savour the indelible dishes we grew up with?

There is the other trend of Western cuisine overtaking local food in terms of popularity. There are young people today who do not know what “gu bak kway teow” or “Teochew muay” is. Their memories of food growing up is that of fast-food chains and cafes.

With the glamorisation of chefs on TV and media, some young ones are inspired to make the culinary world their stage. However, it seems it is largely Western cuisine that’s hogging the limelight. Nobody dreams of being a cze char cook.

Republic Polytechnic’s School of Hospitality is the latest culinary school in Singapore. Its new diploma in Restaurant and Culinary Operations aims to give students an all-round foundation in F&B from budgeting to bussing tables. Graduates will not only learn cooking, front-end and back-end skills, but will also be able to parlay their knowledge into any business they run in future. That’s quite practical given that passion or culinary skill alone cannot guarantee success.

But it’s only Western cuisine they are teaching for now in their shiny new kitchens.

The school’s Assistant Director Ben Tan says it’s to meet the demands from hotels. He personally feels local cuisine needs to be taught as well, but faces challenges to even install a gas burner for the students (safety issues). But it is early days yet, and there could be hope for them to zero in on this heritage food niche that’s in sore need of reviving.

The other culinary schools teach a mix of both Asian and Western cuisine, but most are headed for finer dining establishments. Who will train the next generation for down-to-earth hawker dishes so close to our hearts?

Our local food culture needs heroes to inspire the next wave of masters, and we need better training opportunities. It is not just about enabling better hawkers to populate the new food centres being built, but also to preserve a huge part of our heritage that we risk losing if we do not do anything.

Tell us what you think on how we can help preserve our hawker heritage.