GES1012: Popular Culture in Singapore

Assignment 2: Food and its Hand in Fostering

Racial Harmony in the 1970s

Likitha Raghavendra
A0162622M
Tutorial Group 34

Words: 1766
Most people eat to live but Singaporeans are known to live to eat. Food is a powerful experience and

can foster deep meaningful relationships between individuals when shared. It played an important role

in creating a shared identity we see today from for example the food hybridisation in Singapore.

Whether it is the active sharing of food by inviting new neighbours for a meal together or the more

organic form of food sharing that was propagated by Hawkers or Mama (Tamil for Uncle) shops that

made food from different cultures easily accessible, food served as a non-threatening ethnic emblem

(Catherine Henderson, 2014) to foster racial harmony. While racial harmony does not have a single

unified recipe, a culture around consuming food from different cultures contributed to greater

understanding and interactions between people of different backgrounds as Singapore embarked on her

road to modernity in the 1970s.

Racial Harmony was a challenge for newly independent Singapore as the eclectic group of people who

had never been exposed to each other had to co-exist in the small island. Food served as “non-

threatening emblem of ethnicity” that the government could promote without offending the ethnic

sensitives of citizens (Catherine Henderson, 2014). For example, the “Speak Mandarin” campaign

which was aimed at uniting Chinese citizens of different dialect groups generated feelings that aspects

of their ethnic identity were being devalued. The campaign was even accused of dichotomising older

and younger generations (Chua, 2005) of Chinese diaspora as younger generations became increasingly

unfamiliar with their own dialect and unable to converse with the elderly (Gupta & Siew, 1995). Food,

however, did not take away from the existing culture but instead added to a sense of national identity.

Food gave citizens an opportunity to appreciate different cultures in Singapore which served as a great

starting point to engender greater racial harmony. This is reflected in Mrs Aw’s account as she recalls:

“There was an Indian family that moved to the house beside mine. Their youngest,

Amitha, was the same age as me and came to be in the same class in school. So we

went to school together and became friends. That year Amitha really wanted to invite

me for her Deepavali open house. I was so excited because we made plans for me to

borrow her Lehenga (skirt worn by Indian women typically worn with a scarf and
 blouse) and all that. So, because of us her parents invited my family. My parents were

a bit hesitant because they didn't really have close Indian friends before that but agreed

to go for me. That Deepavali, my parents and I experienced Indian culture for the first

time. There was a lot of food, but favourite was Samosa (fried savoury pastry stuffed

with spiced potato), Naan (Indian Flatbread) and Gulab Jamun (Indian sweet made of

deep-fried balls soaked in a sweet syrup). Over dinner, we learnt that there are so many

different Indians. Like Tamil, Punjabi, Kerala and some more. Amitha’s family came

from New Delhi and were Hindus. I also learnt that Hindu and Hindi are fully different.

It was a nice chat that I appreciate a lot more now than when I was 11 years old. Back

then it was just about the fun of dressing up, eating together and playing with

firecrackers”

We note from Mrs Aw’s account how a single interaction over a celebratory meal can be educational

and provide people from different cultures a means to build a relationship with and understanding of

each other.

Snacks are also played a huge part in the local culture predominantly because of the ease of sharing

them. This worked on a twofold – the ease of sharing snacks and the easy accessibility to snacks. One,

the ease of sharing snacks made it easy to propagate the snack culture in Singapore. Mrs Aw recounts:

“From that day onwards, whenever Amitha’s mother made samosa, she will send over

some to our house. We also will send them snacks back and intro them to Chinese

snacks. It became a tradition to share with one another.”

Secondly, hawkers that peddled fresh snacks made it very easily to buy and try a quick snack to curb

one’s hunger. Its accessibility gave people an opportunity to bond over a shared interest. We note this

as Mrs Aw recalls:
 “When young we don’t have not much money. I have some friends that we always go

downstairs and play together with below my block. There was this uncle who always

pass by with Otah Otah (spicy grilled fish cake wrapped in banana leaves) in the

evening. Alone, we cannot buy it every day so we would collect money from everyone

and buy from the Uncle. Then we sit down and share the snack and enjoy it every day.

We also don’t care who you are or what race you are. If you have some money to

contribute, you can friend us (laughs). I think this was how I have friends in my

neighbourhood last time. Some of the children that join us were Malay, but most were

Chinese. We still bought the snack together because we all loved the Otah Otah the

hawker uncle sold. I think through this, I learnt some Malay words and the Malay

children also learnt some Chinese words from us”

We note how the ease of sharing snacks together and its accessibility fostered interactions with people

from different cultures over their shared love for a snack. This held particularly true for children who

interacted in playground nearby or in the void decks of Housing and Development Board Flats. These

play areas were credited with bringing together children of different backgrounds (Chua & Edwards,

1992). The shared common space, accessibility of food one enjoys and culture around sharing that

allowed people of different cultures to bond. The unassuming snack gave children an opportunity to

explore the diverse cultures that was captured by the snacks.

Furthermore, in the 1970s, Mama (Tamil for “Uncle”) that began to emerge sold manufactured and

imported foods. These snacks were common after school activities for many school-going children and

transcended race or religion: just about anyone and everyone enjoys a snack! For this reason, snack also

evoke “feelings and emotions” (Kong & Sinha, 2015) as there are memories strongly associated with

snacks. We observe this in Mrs Aw’s account:

 “My classmates and I used to walk home together, and we would pass by a Mama shop.

Some of them were Malay and some of us were Chinese and later when Amitha joined

our school she also join us. Without fail, every day will buy Air Batu. The Air Batu

was “okay-okay” only, but we eat it together, so it was fun. They became my closest

group of friends during primary school even after going different class. Every time I

see it, I will remember those days.”

We note that by snacking together, there was an opportunity to bond and create memories together. It

helped strengthen relationships between children as snacking was a universal activity that transcended

cultural differences.

The mixing of food cultures extended beyond sharing of food and resulted in the rise of “culinary

hybridisation” (Wu, 2011) where different races were seen to “borrow” each other’s food. For example,

the Malay snack epok-epok (deep fried flaky pastry filled with curried potatoes), or curry puff as referred

to today, usually filled with sardine or potato had Chinese interpretations that were filled with potato,

chicken and hard-boiled egg (Tan, 2017). Kueh (bite-sized savoury or sweet snacks) that were first

popularised by the peranakans now hold a place in festivals celebrated by every race. Be it Chinese

New Year, Hari Raya, Deepavali or even Christmas, one can expect to be spoilt by an assortment of

Kueh to snack on through the festivities. While taken for granted today, these adaptations of food and

adoption of food from different cultures signifies the intermingling of different races in Singapore that

sees its roots in the early days.

While food gave Singaporeans from different cultural backgrounds an opportunity to break existing

racial boundaries, many find it romantic to believe that absolute racial harmony could be achieved

simply by sharing food. In response to an advertisement of a multi-racial group of children sharing a

bowl of ice kachang (Malaysian shaved ice dessert with assorted toppings) published in 2000, Nicole

Tarulevicz commented that the depiction of harmony as merely “pleasurable experiences” is flawed. It

fails to capture the “[sacrificial]” aspect of cultivating racial harmony as citizens are forced to challenge

existing viewpoints or biases as well as put themselves outside their comfort zones to understand more

about the fellow Singaporeans.

“Back then, we don’t like each other because we don’t know each other.

Like my grandmother would some Malay children making a lot of noise

in the neighbourhood and comment on Malay people like all of them are

noisy.”

It is evident in Mrs Aw’s account above that the lack of exposure made it very easy to “dehumanise”

people from different backgrounds based on surface level interactions. Food, and a culture around

sharing food, gave Singaporeans an opportunity to meet the human being behind the Chinese, Malay or

Indian individual. While sharing food does not bear the sole contribution to engendering racial harmony,

but it begins with understanding and appreciating a culture different from one’s own. Food culture in

the 1970s made possible greater exposure to the different cultures and gave people a chance to bond

and create shared experiences.

Food provided an opportunity to foster racial harmony as it gave people an opportunity to expose

themselves to different people and cultures. The act of sharing a meal together is especially powerful

as it gives people an opportunity to understand each other as an individual, rather than define other

people by their race, religion or differences. Food did not take away from the existing culture but instead

added to a sense of national identity. In Singapore today, food may not have the same impact in terms

of fostering racial harmony as most millennials have grown up in an age where we all eat Chicken Rice

(Chicken served with fragrant rice and chilli with Hainanese origins) and Murtabak (Middle eastern

stuffed bread) without ever questioning the roots of the dish or the significance of the variety. Today,
we are instead seeing an influx of foreign franchises and a more globalised Singaporean palette than

ever before. While it is natural for food culture to evolve, it is important to be vested in preserving some

aspects of the uniquely Singapore cultures such as Hawkers that played a role in engendering greater

racial harmony.

References

Catherine Henderson, Joan. “Food and Culture: In Search of a Singapore Cuisine.” British Food
Journal 116, no. 6 (2014): 904-917. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/BFJ-12-2012-0291.

Chua, Beng Huat and Norman Edwards. Public Space: Design, Use and Management. Singapore:
NUS Press, 1992.

Chua, B.H. (2005), “Taking group rights seriously: multiracialism in Singapore”, Working Paper No.
124, Asia Research Centre, Murdoch University, Perth.

Bonny Tan, “Curry Puff,” Singapore Infopedia, accessed April 1, 2017,

http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/infopedia/articles/SIP_1805_2011-03-30.html.

Gupta, A and Siew, P.K. (1995). Language shift in a Singapore family. Journal of Multilingual and
Multicultural Development 16 (4), 301-313.

Kong, Lily, and Vineeta Sinha. Food, Foodways and Foodscapes: Culture, Community and
Consumption in Post-Colonial Singapore. Singapore: World Scientific Publishing, 2015.

Betty W. Aw. Likitha Raghavendra. Personal Interview. Singapore. October 18, 2019.

Tarulevicz, Nicole. Eating Her Curries and Kway: A Cultural History of Food in Singapore. Chicago,
Illinois: University of Illinois Press, 2013.

Wu, David Y.H., and Chee Beng Tan. Changing Chinese Foodways in Asia. Hong Kong: Chinese
University Press, 2001.