Page 36 - Our Hawker Stories

Singapore’s famous hawker culture began long ago in
the 1800s when immigrant street sellers started offering
cheap, tasty meals. These hardworking hawkers -
Chinese, Malay, Indian and Indonesian - brought recipes
from their home countries and changed them to suit
local flavours. As Singapore developed, the government
moved these street vendors into proper hawker centres
to keep food clean and organised. Now, these centres
are not just places to eat – they are like giant family
kitchens where all kinds of people meet to enjoy food
together.

Every weekend, my family and I visit our neighbourhood
hawker centre. I have tried so many delicious dishes
there! My absolute favourites are crispy roti prata (it is
so fun to tear them apart!) and flavourful mee goreng
noodles. But here is something funny - while I love mee
goreng, my sister cannot stand it! She says it is too spicy “Hawker food tastes so special — I think the
and always sticks to her beloved roti prata instead. No aunties and uncles must be hiding secret
matter how much I beg her to try one bite, she refuses! magic ingredients!”
I enjoy lots of other dishes too - fragrant seafood fried
rice, simple but tasty egg fried rice, and slippery bee
hoon noodles. But you know what puzzles me? Why do Karthikeyan Nakshatra
the hawker aunties and uncles never share their secret P5.3
recipes? Their food tastes so special - there must be North Spring Primary School
magic ingredients they are hiding! Do you think they
take their cooking secrets home every night?

32 Our Hawker Stories