A BRIGHT FUTURE FOR SINGAPORE'S HAWKER CULTURE
Youths and Singapore’s hawkers remain optimistic that the hawker culture is evolving and here to stay.
By Luqman Mashren and Fong Li Shan
Lunchtime crowd at Alexandra Village Food Centre. Photo by Li Shan.
Singapore’s hawker culture was founded by “our great, great grandparents, when street food started [from] a pushcart, to standalone stores, [to] what it is right now,” says Mr Syafiq Lee, 29, owner of Ashes Burnnit, a gourmet burger hawker stall.
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He believes the addition of Singapore’s hawker culture to the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural of Humanity in Dec 2020 is an honour and a privilege for all hawkers.
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According to UNESCO, the list motivates its state party members to preserve intangible cultural heritage practices worldwide.
Mr Lee (far left) and his co-workers in front of Ashes Burnnit’s second outlet at Alexandra Village Food Centre. Photo by Luqman.
Founded in Sept 2019, Ashes Burnnit is a relatively young store. With Ashes, Mr Lee plans to appeal to the youths by introducing burgers into the hawker scene.
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“We wanted to create something different,” says Mr Lee. “Burgers are [this generation’s] comfort food.” He hopes that with his stall, the youths in Singapore will visit and appreciate hawker centres more.
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In a poll conducted with 222 youth respondents, 66 per cent of them eat at hawker centres frequently.
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Ang Pei Yu, 19, is one of those in her generation who visits hawker centres often and says that hawker culture is “a big part” of her life.
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However, she feels that her generation does not appreciate hawker culture as much as her. In the same poll conducted, 54 per cent of respondents prefer to eat at other places if given a choice.
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“Maybe it’s because the food here has always been here...I think for people my age, we get tired of stuff easily and that’s why you see a lot of people eating at different places every day,” she explains.
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Filzah Miranti, 29, agrees that there are fewer youths patronising compared to the older generation.
Ms Miranti is the fourth generation of a family stall, Gerai Nenek Obek, that has been in the hawker business for 57 years. Located at the Geylang Serai market, Gerai Nenek Obek was started by Ms Miranti’s great grandmother in 1963, who then passed the torch to her grandmother, who followed her steps until her mother took over.
Gerai Nenek Obek specialises in traditional and authentic Malay dishes made from recipes that were passed down by multiple generations. Photo by Luqman.
Gerai Nenek Obek recently won the Hawker Heritage award from The Federation of Merchants' Associations, Singapore (FMAS) and Lianhe Wanbao. The award celebrates hawker brands that have been established for at least 30 years and have been selling the same food since the beginning.
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“It recognises us as hawkers that sustain for serving traditional food and recognises my family’s hard work,” Ms Miranti says. “[We’ve been] doing this for 57 years, it’s really rewarding to actually get noticed.”
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However, being a hawker is not always a rewarding experience. Ms Miranti mentions that she is affected by the harsh criticism she faces from customers online.
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She says that it is hard to please every customer as she receives comments telling her that the food is pricey, considering that “it’s easy to cook.”
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Mr Lee agrees that there is a common and untrue stigma that hawker food should be of good quality and at a low price.
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“They always expect that the hawkers should sell cheap. On behalf of all the hawkers, I feel that customers should pay accordingly to the quality of the food,” he says.
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While Mr Lee is trying to expand hawker culture with his burgers, Ms Miranti is sticking to tradition with her family recipes. However, evolution may be necessary for hawker culture to endure, according to Beatrice Bowers, 26, an Associate Editor from Eatbook, a food blog site.
“Naturally, we may have to bid goodbye to certain family recipes, and that is a sad thought, but we shouldn’t let this maudlin attitude dampen the growth happening before our eyes,” she says.
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Mr Lee, himself being a new-generation hawker, intends to set an example for future young hawkers.
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He says, “hearing success stories of young current hawkers being successful is one of the ways we can motivate them to join the trade.”
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Moving forward, Ms Bowers believes that hawker centres will still remain as a staple food destination in Singapore.
“To say hawker centres will suddenly become unpopular is like saying our national flag will go out of style.”