May 20, 2009 By cheryl

What The Dead Eat

There is a deep belief in these parts that the dead may be dead — but that little detail shouldn’t get in the way of serving them a good meal.

And so in Singaporean wet markets, alongside stalls selling vegetables and plump pigs’ trotters, you’ll find little places that hawk food of a different kind. Shelves will be filled with boxes of paper dumplings, chicken feet and other dimsum treats — the idea is to burn them as offerings so your deceased loved ones will get them on the Other Side.

I hadn’t seen one of these in a while, mostly because when I’m in these markets I tend to race over to stalls that sell food that I can actually eat.

Like, now. Not when I’m in the Big Upstairs shamelessly flirting with River Phoenix.

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May 19, 2009 By cheryl

A View From The Road: A Kaya Picnic

File this under the “all food porn and no substance” category:

It’s a gorgeous, sun-drenched afternoon in Singapore. The sky is impossibly blue, there’s a light tropical breeze rolling through, humidity feels non-existent.

All this called for an impromptu backyard picnic of home-made kaya (Singaporean coconut jam) on walnut bread.

A good life, indeed.

May 18, 2009 By cheryl

How to Wrap Bak-Zhang

I have new-found respect for bak-zhang hawkers.

I’d never given the pyramid-shaped, glutinous-rice dumplings much thought — until I learned how to make them.

And boy, let me tell you, if you’re not naturally gifted in the ways of origami, you’re really in for it. (Unless you enjoy hearing the pitter-patter of rice beads skittering across the floor as clumps of braised pork pelt your toes.)

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May 17, 2009 By cheryl

The Real Thing

I’ve been thinking recently about the notion of “authentic” food.

There’s an interesting story in Singapore’s Straits Times today about foreign eateries trying to bring authentic takes on their native cuisines to Singapore. French boulangerie Le Grenier à Pain, for example, apparently stuck to its crusty baguettes even though Singaporeans typically favor softer versions that local bakeries serve up. Ditto for Quiznos and its authenticity. (Yes, this article actually cites the American food-court sandwich chain in its roundup.)

Nonetheless, there are some Singaporeans who disagree with this business strategy — one is quoted as saying that restaurants should take local preferences into account since “the customer picks what he likes most, whether or not it’s true to the original taste.”

The story made me think of the tale a friend recently told me of taking his Beijing girlfriend to Italy. There, she sniffed at the way Italians do Italian pasta dishes, finding them lacking when compared with the versions she’s had in China.

Sure, cuisines get altered all the time when they migrate from country to country — ingredients are added, steps are subtracted. But what happens when the tweaked, polyglot product ends up being what people believe to be authentic?

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May 15, 2009 By cheryl

Dinner (And a Show)

Anyone tailing me over the past few days might come to this conclusion: That Cheryl, she’s just a big whore.

It’s these red-light districts. I just can’t stay away from them.

Not that I’m dissing the world’s oldest profession, but it’s actually other afternoon delights that have been the draw for me in these neighborhoods.

In yesterday’s case, it was Kok Sen Coffee Shop‘s crispy harjeong gai, a Singaporean dish of chicken marinated in prawn paste and then deep fried. (A particularly apropos lure considering “gai,” or chicken, is local slang for “prostitute.” As is “fishball girl” in some corners, for that matter. I’m not even going to speculate why.)

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