'Hong Kong-style' milk tea, and other foreign imports

As official intentions to enhance the mainlandisation of Hong Kong become more pronounced, small but telling “local” identity markers are assuming a disproportionate importance for many people.

Asserting food culture ownership is just about all Hongkongers can now do to meaningfully control their lives and destinies.

One example is “Hong Kongstyle” milk tea, made with tinned evaporated milk and tea dust. This so-called local drink has assumed an iconic status among the identity-challenged.

All too often, an uncritical embrace of randomly collated outside influences defines the Hong Kong character. “Local traditions” evolve almost overnight, like mildew on a damp wall. Combined with a shortterm collective memory, they soon become an inalienable part of the local scene.

But how “local” is it? Before widespread refrigeration, fresh milk was difficult to obtain and – most importantly – a significant health risk. Much less widespread today, due to the universal pasteurisation of milk, tuberculosis was a worldwide scourge until half a century ago.

Even in places where ultrahygienic modern dairies operated, such as in the highlands of Dutch-ruled Java and Sumatra, in Indonesia, the price of fresh milk was prohibitive for most people, and beyond the purchasing power of most soldiers and policemen.