Hawkers: Success & Succession Three stories of Singapore’s food legends’ quest for continuity All rights reserved National Library Board, Singapore (NLB) 2013 This work was exclusively created for the Singapore Memory Project, NLB www.SingaporeMemory.sg Text & Design by: Makansutra (S) Pte Ltd Photos by: Makansutra (S) Pte Ltd (unless stated otherwise) Published by: National Library Board, Singapore 100 Victoria Street #14-01 National Library Building Singapore 188064 Republic of Singapore Tel: +65 6332 3255 email:
[email protected] www.nlb.gov.sg ALL RIGHTS RESERVED The text, layout and designs presented in this book, as well as the book in its entirety, are protected by the copyright and intellectual property laws of the Republic of Singapore and similar laws in other countries. Commercial production of works based in whole or in part upon the text, designs, drawings and photographs contained in this book is strictly forbidden without the prior written permission of the copyright owner. ISBN 978-981-07-7228-4 2 Contents Foreword 04 Introduction 05 The Natural Nasi Lemak Pilot 06 Dearth and Death of a Hawker Legend 12 He Sells Fish Selflessly 19 3 Foreword Street food hawking in Singapore during the tumultuous pre- and post-war era, was a means to make ends meet. Migrants, deprived of economic opportunities, resorted to culinary ingenuity and hawked their family heirloom recipes on the streets, often illegally. This became a way to feed the masses affordably. Over the decades, as lifestyle and expectations changed, food culture went from itinerant to iconic. Hawkers were housed in custom-built hawker centres with basic hygiene facilities by the late 1980s, and eating, naturally, became a national pastime.