10 President’s Forum By Dr Wong Chiang Yin, SMA President (Photo credit: Dr Wong Chiang Yin) (Photo credit: Dr Wong yoto is one of my favourite holidayOrigins spots. sushi or Oshizushi is popular where sushi is made The mid-sized city, nestled in the valley by pressing rice and sushi toppings with wooden K of the Kansai region of Honshu Island is blocks. Incidentally, the very common seaweed rolls one of the most un-spoilt cities of Japan. It was (“maki rolls”) with rice and seafood wrapped in spared the ravages of World War II bombing and seaweed was originally invented for gamblers who retains all the charms and allure of quintessential wanted to eat sushi while gambling without rice Japan. Such is the place of Kyoto in Japanese grains sticking irritatingly to their fingers. consciousness that all Japanese school children I usually do not seek out sushi in Kyoto. The have to make at least one compulsory visit to Kyoto Kansai region, where Kyoto is located, is really to acquaint themselves with Japanese traditions more famed for other culinary delights such as beef. and culture. As for me, there is really nothing like After all, Kyoto is in a valley located some distance sitting next to the banks of the Kamogawa River from the sea. It is home to the Kaiseki (Japanese that cuts through the city on a cold autumn day banquet meal), wagyu beef, tofu banquet and so and sipping a cup of coffee while watching the on.. But sushi? world go by and the river humming gently under On that day, I was somehow moved to slide that a canopy of autumn leaves. traditional paper screen door and enter the cosy On one such day a couple of years ago, I sushi eatery with two friends. We began by eating stumbled across a sushi shop in a small street the usual sushi and sashimi – tuna and snapper located on the east side of the river near Nijio. Sushi, among others and I exchanged a few words of as we know, is Japan’s culinary face to the world. Japanese with the chef. (Note: the Japanese are very It has assumed such ubiquity that sushi can now forgiving to foreigners who can speak a few words be considered global food, similar to hamburgers, of Japanese, even when the language is hideously Dr Wong Chiang Yin pasta and fried rice. mutilated in the process…) After about 20 minutes, is the President of the What is sushi? 99% of people who have eaten he disappeared into a room at the back of the 49th SMA Council. He is a hospital sushi will tell you that sushi is vinegared-rice eatery and came back with a few pieces of filleted administrator and topped with (usually) raw seafood. Traditionalists fish which resemble what we know as salted fish. I also a Public Health will call this Edomae sushi because this style of sushi gingerly bit into the flesh which fell gently apart. Physician. When not working, his hobbies that has been popularised all over the world has its The flavours could perhaps be best described as a include photography, origins from Tokyo during the late Edo period; Edo lingual composition of salted fish, rice and blue wine, finding good being the old name for Tokyo. There are actually cheese: complex, delicate and yet intense. The food, calligraphy, travelling and more quite a few forms of sushi other than Edomae chef then fished (pun intended) out a huge book (non-paying) work. sushi. For example, in the Kansai region, pressed from the bookshelf behind him. I reckoned it was Page 11 SMA News January 2009 Vol 40 (13) 11 Page 10 – Origins young doctors and graduates of our local medical a professional textbook for sushi and sashimi chefs school reflect our failings as their seniors. We have and he flipped to a page with coloured photographs failed to inform and teach them of the giants in of what I had eaten. From what I could gather, what medicine who have shaped and defined the medical I ate was the original version of sushi – Funazushi profession today. Can we blame them completely (fermented raw fish). for their ignorance? It turns out that the origins of sushi stemmed I remember a room located on the second floor from the need to preserve fish. The salt and cooked of the medical library in Kent Ridge which I think rice were not eaten but used as a preservative was called the Singapore-Malaya Room. The library for the freshwater fish. I later learnt that the salt has since been demolished and a new building and vinegar produced from the rice yielded an which will house a new medical library is being anaerobic lactic acid fermentation of the fish built. I wonder if the new library will have a room which helped to preserve it. The fish I ate was with a function similar to the Singapore-Malaya actually a type of indigenous carp and Funazushi Room? There were a few afternoons I spent as an is a famous delicacy in the region of Lake Biwa undergraduate in that room which contained many located near Kyoto. Funazushi takes one to three books detailing the history of medicine and medical years to make and is so rare nowadays that it is education in Singapore. I learnt much from those considered a “chinmi”, or rare delicacy in Japanese few hours I spent in the Singapore-Malaya Room gastronomy. Lucky me! even if it did nothing for my grades. I do not think But it is poignant to note that the origins of many students in my time actually spent time sushi, which browsing was basically a t h r o u g h process using the treasure rice and salt to trove idling preserve fish unnoticed s o t h a t t h e i n t h a t l a t te r co u l d room. I was be eaten, has fortunate I been forgotten did so but by many. In i t w a s a f a c t , I h ave result of m e n t i o n e d chance and this wonderful curiosity. e x p e r i e n c e I t h i n k t o s e v e r a l Chiang Yin) (Photo credit: Dr Wong we can do Japanese I met better than and they all that going marvelled at my good fortune. Some commented forward. We need to teach medical students and that many young Japanese today have not even young doctors about the past so they will know heard of Funazushi, much less eaten the delicacy. that the benefits they reap today – as members of Last month, the Father of Paediatrics and SMA a respected community are built on the blood, toil, Honorary Member, Emeritus Professor Wong Hock sweat and tears of selfless role models such as Prof Boon passed away. This passing of the legend is a Wong Hock Boon. great loss to the profession. Private emails amongst We forget the past too easily. And this SMA Council Members on his passing reflected forgetfulness translates into ignorance as time the great impact Professor Wong left on our lives, passes by, just as most people do not know that even if for some of us, the contact was regrettably sushi was originally about eating fish preserved brief as medical students. But two emails from with rice and salt, and not about eating rice topped our youngest Council Members was cause for even with fresh seafood. We should not just enjoy the greater contemplation: They are NUS graduates and present without realising the past. This is because they did not know who Professor Wong was, and only when we know where we came from and how what he meant to the rest of us! The succeeding we got here, can we press forward with wisdom, emails from the rest of us were that of disbelief, confidence and conviction. criticism and even mild chastisement. 2009 is the year SMA celebrates its 50th After our emotions somewhat subsided, I Anniversary. It is time to celebrate the present and thought the criticism and chastisement were it is time to dream daring dreams for the future. It really misguided. The truth is – their ignorance as is also time to remember our origins. n SMA News January 2009 Vol 40 (13).