Singapore’s Unbelievable Food Culture

A cousin and an uncle of mine at a “steamboat” restaurant at Golden Mile. As you can see, food’s a serious business here! :-)

Over the years I witnessed surprise and mild disbelief on the faces of those to whom I unabashedly gushed, “Singapore has the best food in the world.” Apart from the problem of the “-est” suffix that we Americans tend to put on all kinds of opinions, I think what led to all the confused looks in the first place was the idea that I was comparing Singapore’s national dishes to those of other countries. Obviously, there’s no real way to compare shepherd’s pie to boeuf bourginon, other than to say they are both hearty comfort foods from the countryside.

What I had meant to say all these years, with benefit of hindsight, is that “Singapore has one of the most vibrant and irrepressible food cultures I’ve ever seen.” On this most recent of what are now annual visits to see family, I attempted to get a better grasp on this food culture. I should note that even a book-length article would be insufficient to adequately explain Singapore food culture. This piece is meant solely as an introduction, which means I won’t be going into detail on how the dishes are cooked or what ingredients they are composed of. I won’t even begin to scratch the surface of the many choices available to Singaporeans every hour of every day.

And before we can get to that introduction, I need to acquaint you with Singapore’s “Yes, but…” way of thinking. In recent years Westerners have…