*dimsumdolly* - the different morsels of the life of a foodie

Food United

I say the best way to go about nation-building in Singapore is to unite people through food. As I discovered last night at the East Coast Food Village where I had dinner, perfect strangers can really bond over food.

Wanting to go somewhere other than Orchard Road, which is where like the entire population of Singapore congregates during the weekend, my cousin and I decided to go to East Coast Food Village for dinner. This newly renovated hawker centre looks much better after the spruce-up and there were quite a lot of people when we got there at 9pm.

The hawker centre's in a pretty nice spot as it's at the East Coast Park where there's a beach. Ok, Singapore's beaches are nothing to rave about, but at least there's still some water around. I would hate to live in a land-locked country. I like cities with bodies of water. You know, like a main river, harbour, sea, ocean or some lake of some sort that runs through the city.

Anyway, my cousin and I had to share a table with a family of four as we couldn't find a table. The mum was eating a plate of satay beehoon, and out of curiosity I asked her if it was good as I had seen someone carrying a plate just then and thought it looked pretty good.

From then on, a conversation about the food in Singapore evolved, with the father, son and daughter joining in the talk. They were rating the food that they had eaten and comparing it to other stalls around Singapore. The 13-year-old son goes, "This wanton mee (dumplings with noodles) - FAIL!". The twelve-year-old daughter goes, "This satay is very good, very tender. See, they even coat honey on it!"

I'm impressed - their parents have taught them well. Haha. This family has certainly made eating a family affair, which I think is cool. If I have a family in future, my kids will definitely be well-versed in the art of eating! haha!

Turns out that the parents work in some advertising firm, and their task is to go around trying food in Singapore to see if it's worth writing a review on. Getting paid to eat - how wonderful!

So the Dad came back from his rounds with different namecards and after eating he would indicate on the card whether the food was good. He goes on to give me tips on where to eat the best bak chor mee (Teochew minced pork noodles), cai dao kuay (fried carrot cake), satay etc. Of course, I added my two cents worth too....I mean, I'm quite the expert too when it comes to food. heehee. And oh, they offered me a stick of the satay they ordered. Haha...lucky me, got free food! Incidentally, I ate cai dao kuay and rojak, and drank a cup of freshly-squeezed sugar cane juice for dinner! Was stuffed.

I love it how Singaporeans can bond over food. We should have a National Day being based on the theme of food! I should suggest it to one of those grassroots leaders. ;p

Posted by DSD at April 11, 2004 6:39 PM | TrackBack