Singaporeans explain why their food hawker culture merits Unesco listing, hit back at Malaysian critics
Hawker food centres unify country’s diverse threads, express its multiculturalism, and may even be an art form, so they deserve Unesco cultural heritage status, Singaporeans say
When Singapore announced it would nominate its food hawker culture to be included on Unesco’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, Malaysian foodies were up in arms.
Celebrity chef Ismail Ahmad told English-language Malaysian newspaper The Star that Singapore’s food hawker culture lacked authenticity because it was confined within buildings, and described the hawker centres as “beautiful but tasteless”.
Cultural conservationist Wazir Jahan Karim told the newspaper that Singapore needed to be more specific should it wish to claim hawker culture in its entirety as its own.
“Singapore can stake a claim, but the culinary history of Malaysia is so much richer and more authentic in comparison,” she said after the announcement last month. Singaporeans, though, are adamant that their beloved hawker food is unique.
“The sheer variety and customisation in Singapore is what makes our hawker cuisine unique,” says Linda Lim, course manager at Nanyang Polytechnic’s School of Business Management.
“Stalls next to each other sell different types of food from different cultural groups. Even simple fishball noodles could differ across stalls, from one Chinese stall to another, depending on the stall owner’s dialect group. Also, the hawker business and recipes in Singapore are usually handed down from generation to generation. This lineage makes it unique, too.”