Specialty Food Magazine is the leading publication for retailers, manufacturers and foodservice professionals in the specialty food trade. It provides news, trends and business-building insights that help readers keep their businesses competitive.
Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/654717
Greater than the Sum of Its Parts Thanks to its geographically charmed placement, the city-state of Singapore has long served as a hub for international commerce among nations around the world, which enabled its modern eco- nomic prosperity. Welcoming traders from all over Asia, the Middle East, and Europe, Singapore became a steady confluence of many cultures. "And like any great city, when people from all over the world congregate, so does their food," says K. F. Seetoh, an interna- tionally renowned ambassador for Singaporean cuisine and founder of the World Street Food Congress and Makansutra, a consultancy promoting and celebrating Asian food culture around the world. In Singapore, spices, cooking techniques, and dishes from China, India, England, and other nations mingled and began to blur—resulting in "a third flavor," Seetoh says, with new creations like Chinese-style curries and Indian-style noodles. This fusion of f lavors is at the heart of Singaporean gastron- omy today, yet it's the country's vibrant street food culture—and Singapore's now-famed hawker centers—that emerged over the past half-century that put this metropolis on the global culinary map. Where Authenticity Reigns Hawker centers are bustling arenas of traditional, simple, afford- able street food–style meals. Filling these compounds are clusters of 10-by-10 stalls—as many as 180 in some centers, Seetoh says—each in which a hawker prepares one recipe, over and over, to perfection: noodle dishes like seafood-forward Hokkien mee and savory char kway teow; Indian roti–inspired murtabak; satays of chicken, pork, beef, or mutton; bak kut teh, an herbal pork rib soup; and Hainanese chicken rice, deemed the national dish of Singapore, among them. Hawkers dole out heaps of fragrant jasmine or coconut rice and refreshments like sugar cane juice to wash it all down. "They're the guardians of our food culture," Seetoh says of the SINGAPORE GOES STATESIDE Ingrained with a rich history and a medley of global influences, Singapore's multicultural cuisine is perfectly positioned for an American premiere. B ustling dining halls, roving food trucks, and a love of heat and spice that's bordering on fanaticism—the Western culinary world has been imbued with these powerhouse themes in recent years. From a piquing interest in lesser-known Asian cuisines to a renewed demand for convenience and speed, one tiny island off the coast of Malaysia is emerging as the epitome of culinary perfection: Singapore. The Southeast Asian city-state is indeed causing a stir. The Wall Street Journal called it the "new Korea" when it comes to food trends, and the latest Fancy Food Show was teeming with products that give a nod to its inf luences. Emerging details about the Singaporean inf luence in the upcoming opening of Bourdain Market, an international street food center in New York, spearheaded by TV personality Anthony Bourdain—are certain to bring it mainstream recognition. chefs working day in and day out in hawker centers. Unlike the pur- suit of modernization and innovation that drives the Western world, nothing short of total authenticity and consistency is expected of hawkers. "They don't need to be creative," Seetoh explains. "People here just want them to be perfect." All Signs Point to Singapore Hawker centers may be the secret ingredient behind Singapore's grow- ing appeal in the U.S. A convergence of stateside trends—authentic international fare, ethnic flavors, street food, and convenience—these markets have plenty of appeal for the American consumer. Chef and consumer studies reinforce this winning formula. In a survey of more than 1,400 American chefs, the National Restaurant Association identified likely trends for 2016: ethnic f lavors, authen- tic and international cuisine, and street food and food trucks all ranked highly. Similarly, a consumer survey found that more than half (57 percent) of diners actively seek out authentic ethnic cuisine experiences, and two-thirds report eating a wider variety of ethnic cuisines than they did five years ago. To its benefit, the ingredients and f lavors that make up Singaporean food are familiar to a consumer base that already enjoys Chinese, Indian, Malaysian, and other related cuisines. Yet authentic Singaporean dishes are not yet easy to come by in the U.S., Hawker centers may be the secret ingredient behind Singapore's growing appeal in the U.S. Laksa Rice Noodles from Nona Lim PHOTO: NONA LIM SPRING 2016 93