We were invited to present on Singapore’s food and culture to honors students in the Special Academic Program at the Community College of Baltimore County (CCBC), Maryland on December 5, 2022. Our presentation menu included an overview of Singapore, hawker centers and its inscription on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage list, and the future of hawker centers.
Singapore: Multicultural South East Asian City-Island
A former British colony until the end of WW II, Singapore became independent in 1965 after a brief union with its neighbor Malaysia. The resident population is 4 million with an additional 1.5 million foreign workers. Singapore’s multi-cultural, multi-ethnic heritage is an image proudly and politically protected by the government with its race model of CMIO (Chinese, Malay, Indian, Other).
The Little Red Dot is a nickname often used in casual conversation as a reference to Singapore. It refers to how the nation is depicted on maps of the world and of Asia as a red pin head, or red dot.
Singapore: A City of Superlatives
One of the world’s most costly cities to live in, Singapore is a modern city with skyscrapers, corporate buildings, and shopping malls. As one of the world’s busiest ports, Singapore has a strong economy and important position in global trade.
Dining ranges from cheap to staggering, from $2 plate of chicken rice to more than $450 tasting menu.
Hawker Centers
Hawker centers are open-air food courts with stalls specializing in one traditional dish. Hawker centers are located on the ground floor of public housing apartment blocks, also known as HDBs (housing development board). Hawker centers have been called “community dining rooms” as people frequent the food court in their community on a daily basis. The food is so cheap, so time-intensive to prepare and cook, and so delicious that few people cook at home.
Let’s take a look at a particular example of a hawker center: Tiong Bahru Market & Food Centre, which is located in Tiong Bahru, the oldest public housing neighborhood. The area has been experiencing gentrification within the last decade with modern cafes, boutiques, and salons nearby.
Opened in 1951, Tiong Bahru Market & Food Centre currently has 83 food stalls. The food is affordable and good. It is so good that in 2016, Chan Hon Meng’s Soya Chicken Rice, which costs less than three dollars, earned him a Michelin star.
Reserve or chope a seat by placing a tissue packet on your table.
Traditional Hawker Stall
Hong Heng Fried Sotong Prawn Mee, an iconic hawker stall at Tiong Bahru, is a family-run, third-generation hawker stall that makes one dish cooked to order: Fried Sotong Prawn Mee, yellow noodles stir-fried with squid and prawns. Prawn Mee has Hokkien origins and is a favorite of Malaysia and Singapore. The dish is $3-5 yet so delicious that it garnered Michelin fame in 2018.
Hawker fare is vibrantly delicious yet affordable. In addition to noodles, there is roti prata, a South Indian fried soft flat bread served with curry; kaya toast, a quintessential Singapore breakfast or afternoon tea staple, of buttered white toast spread with kaya, a sweet jam with coconut, sugar, egg, and pandan, and served with soft boiled eggs and a drizzle of soy sauce; and chicken rice, Singapore’s national dish, poached chicken with rice cooked in the chicken stock, and served with cucumber.
Roti prata, Indian flatbread paired with curry 
Singaporean breakfast of kaya jam toast with soft eggs topped with white pepper and soy sauce 
Chili crab, a favorite Singaporean dish made with a sweet and spicy tomato sauce, and often paired with steamed buns or mantous 
Nasi lemak, a Malay dish composed of fried chicken, hard-boiled eggs, rice, cucumbers, and dried anchovies (ikan bilis)
Hawker food as representative of Singapore food, culture, and heritage
Hawker food is so important to Singapore national identity and culture that it was inscribed onto the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity list in 2020.
Hawker centers serve people from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds, foster community interaction, and strengthen national identity, while providing tasty, affordable food.
Future of Hawker Centers
But, the future of hawker centers is uncertain. As hawkers age, there is no successive generation learning the skills and recipes. Rising costs in rent, hard kitchen conditions, and demanding physical labor factor in concern of a dying hawker culture. Local lifestyles are shifting with a desire to eat in more comfortable settings, such as cushioned seats, service, and air conditioning (Singapore is a tropical island with average year temperatures of 85F). Hawker centers also face more competition with trendy restaurants, delivery services, and fast food chains.
Whether hawker food will remain depends on the taste and appetite of Singaporeans. For food to be a ‘living heritage,’ it must be eaten.
For more, read Keri’s paper published in the Oxford Symposium on Food & Cookery: Food & Imagination 2021.
Matwick, K. (2022). Singapore Hawkers and Hawkerpreneurs: Tradition and Imagination Preserving and Creating Food Cultures. Oxford Symposium on Food & Cookery. Food & Imagination 2021.