4 EVENTS April-August 2017 The Spotlight
The festival featured a variety of food and activities for visitors to enjoy .
4 EVENTS April-August 2017 The Spotlight
An 80s throwback at the 50 Cent Fest
The festival featured a variety of food and activities for visitors to enjoy .
BY NEO SHI JIE
Characters from the 80s such as the Rickshaw men and Samsui women can be seen walking around , adding more “ flavour ” to
the event . Photo : Neo Shi Jie .
Bringing back the 1980s , 50 Cent Fest 2017 attracted a huge crowd , with many affordable heritage food and interactive street games available .
As part of the Singapore Food Festival ( SFF ), the 50 Cent Fest was held at the Chinatown Food Street on July 29 and 30 . This popular festival celebrates the diversity and rich multi-cultural heritage of Singapore through local food and stories .
Responses for the event were overwhelming despite the hot weather .
Loo Jiun Rong , a staff of Hi ! Joyful , a seafood stall that participated in the event , said that their booth had attracted many people . He mentioned that out of the 500kg worth of prawns imported , they already sold
-close to 40 000 prawns within four hours .
The 50 Cent Fest is an event that takes one on a trip down memory lane , with the entire event filled with the 80s atmosphere . Besides indulging in local food and beverages , games and live Xin Yao performances are also available . One can also spot 80s drama characters such as Ma Jie ( domestic helper ) and Samsui women roving around . Fellow visitors were also sporting the 80s fashion - old school uniforms , bright polka dots dress and boot cut jeans at the event .
The event featured a wide variety of traditional local delights , as well as heritage dishes from the various dialect groups such as the
-Hakka Abacus Seed , Cantonese Paper Wrapped Chicken , Hokkien Rickshaw Noodles , UFO ( Fried Oyster Cake ), Teochew Ah Balling and many more for visitors to enjoy .
Catherine Lee , a junior college student , felt that this event was a “ great idea ”, especially as it can be hard to find some local food items nowadays , such as the ice ball , one of her favourite dish .
Just like the name suggests , the 50 Cent Fest , featured over 20 dishes priced at just 50 cents . With $ 5 , the average price of a meal , one can get to enjoy more than 3 types of dishes among the many . Most visitors said that the affordable food prices were the main reason that attracted them to the event .
Charlotte Poh , a visitor of the event , said that she is interested because of the wide variety of local delights and it is “ all in one spot ”. Regarding the importance of preserving the local taste , she said ,
- “ I think we all grew up with like hawker food , so naturally , we will want to keep it and not let it just fade out .”
Mock Yuan Bing , 22 , despite agreeing that local taste should be preserved , said that this particular event may not be an “ ideal way of doing it ”. She added , “ Feels like it might send out the wrong message , like in terms of undervaluing food .”
She believes that a more sustainable way could be gradually increasing the hawker food prices to signify the importance of local food , so that people will remember and cherish it more .
Although most visitors like Charlotte agreed that the weather was the downside of the event , “ the weather is like really turning us off ”, they still enjoyed it and looked forward to similar ones in the future , expressing their interests in such event
concept .
In-kueh-dibly authentic
Local kueh makers and their products were celebrated at the Kueh Appreciation Day BY JAMIE LEO
Old and new local artisans displayed an assortment of kueh spanning across seven ethnic groups during the annual Kueh Appreciation Day on July 23 .
This year marked the third edition of the event , organized by Slow Food ( Singapore ). Held in conjunction with Singapore Food Festival , the event saw a total of nine vendors participating and over 500 visitors . Rare kuehs like Yi Buah , a Hainanese dish filled with peanut and coconut , and Teochew braised duck gravy kueh were specially prepared for the event .
Among the vendors were five masters who were awarded the title “ Heritage Hero ” in 2014 to recognise businesses that are preserving cuisines of Singapore ’ s first
-few groups of immigrants .
“ These time-honoured treats have been a ubiquitous part of many lives , and we hope that these culinary traditions and traditional businesses can flourish , with the support of everyone ,” said Slow Food ( Singapore ) President Daniel Chia , 47 , in an online statement .
Slow Food ( Singapore ) is authorized by Slow Food International Association , a Non-profit Community Organisation . On their website , their objectives stated include “ safeguarding of gastronomic heritage ” as well as protecting and promoting traditional knowledge .
He shared that the Kueh Appreciation Day has been well received over the
-past two years , with 50 percent more turnout last year than in 2015 .
In an email interview about his opinion on Singapore ’ s traditional food culture , he said , “ Our traditional food culture is fast fading away .” He stated several factors that contribute to the disappearance , highlighting the change in gender roles and shift in family dynamics to nuclear family homes as “ strong factors ”.
Mary Gomes of Mary ’ s Kafe , where she sells traditional Eurasian cuisine , shares similar sentiments with regards to a dying traditional food culture . However , she attributes it to the rise of fusion food more than any other factor . “ It has lost its authenticity because the generation of today doesn ’ t know what the authentic food or kueh should taste like ,” she said . She shared that earlier in the day someone had offered her a fusion dish with a French influence but it had tasted “ horrible ”. “ I never like all these fusion food because it loses all its authenticity , and I don ’ t believe in losing the authenticity ,” she added .
She strongly believes in retaining the authenticity of kueh , so that younger generation will be aware and learn to appreciate the hard work behind the process . She added , “ My mother ’ s generation , they had to go through the hard way , at that time you can ’ t buy grated coconut so easily available like what you have today . They had to scrape