The Singapore Noodles Podcast

Vasunthara Ramasamy: "There are so many styles of chicken curry; there is even a white chicken curry. If Clarissa cooked that, people would say that that is not a Singaporean chicken curry. So what is Singaporean chicken curry? Do we have one? The consensus is that we can never have a national dish because it is very hard to represent Singapore. But why seek for singularity when you are so diverse? Why do we seek such homogenous experiences with Indian food?"Vasunthara Ramasamy, Culinary Teacher and Masterchef Singapore Season 2 Contestant, shares about feeling pride as a Singaporean Indian, plus: *No-grind thosai* *How we can bring Indian home dishes to the masses* *Singaporean Indian food as a diasporic cuisine* *How Singaporean history impacted Indian food in Singapore* *Sardine curry* *Caste and Indian food culture* *Sense of inferiority that Singaporean Indians feel towards their food* *How the palate of Singaporean Indians differ from Indians in India* *Fish head curry* *Caste in Singapore* *Homogenization of Indian food in Singapore and Malaysia* *The rise of curry powder* *The case for making your own curry powder and spice blends* *Grinding your own turmeric powder and asafoetida* *Preconceived idea that Indian cuisine is not on par with European cuisine* *The need for more champions of Indian food* *Singaporean chicken curry saga* *Fear of failure as Singaporeans* *Home-cooking* *Her Masterchef journey*Singapore Noodles: http://sgpnoodles.com/ @sgpnoodlesNewsletter: http://sgpnoodles.substack.com/

Evelyn Yap: “Singapore is not an agricultural country. That limits the kind of produce we get, but also, we don’t know what is out there because our habits have changed to shopping at supermarkets, as opposed to wet markets, which stock more diverse produce.” Evelyn Yap, chef & founder of Happivore, shares about her journey as a chef supporting farmers, plus: *How Rustic Canyon shaped the way she cooked* *Supporting farmers in Thailand* *How her experience in Thailand has impacted her as a cook* *Exposure to regional produce* *Favourite Asian vegetables* *Mental health* *How her Singaporean roots influenced her* *Fusion food* *Tips for making vegetables delicious* *Framework for learning how to use a new vegetable* Singapore Noodles: http://sgpnoodles.com/ @sgpnoodlesSingapore Noodles newsletter: http://sgpnoodles.substack.com/

Christopher Ng: “It is heartwrenching every time I go back to Singapore, because I see the difference. And it is a significant marked difference every year. I try to go to the places that are familiar to me, but even those places are changing rapidly although certain places are still familiar, I wonder how long they are going to last.” Christopher Ng, the blogger behind Christopher’s Asian Delicacies, shares about his relationship with food growing up, plus: *Lakeview market* *The ungroundedness as an overseas Singaporean* *Kueh lapis* *Agak-agak approach* *The demise of home-baking and kueh-making in Singapore* *COVID’s role in preserving Singapore food culture* *Perceptions of Singaporean food culture* *Mastery in the kitchen* *The way the older generation instruct* *Food as love* *Singapore’s diverse food culture and crossovers* *Hae bee hiam* Christopher Ng’s blog: https://delicacies070.blogspot.com/Singapore Noodles: http://sgpnoodles.com/ @sgpnoodlesSingapore Noodles newsletter: http://sgpnoodles.substack.com/

Christy Chua and Tan Aik: “Through my interviewing experience in school or at The Slow Press, I feel that sometimes when we talk to older hawkers or business owners, they might be quite unwilling to share about what they do. Sometimes they would dismiss it as, ‘I do this everyday, nothing new. It’s just normal going to work. I come here, fry some noodles and go home.’ They’d literally tell me that. I’m sure there’s a story but I can’t seem to dig it out of them, and that leads me to think, ‘Are those profiles being featured on mainstream media like Our Grandfather Story? Are those profiles that are willing to be videoed the only stories that will live on?’ Christy Chua and Tan Aik, founder & editorial director and editor-in-chief of The Slow Press, an independent food zine, share about the niche that The Slow Press is filling, plus: *Why focus on homecooked food content* *How media shapes the food preferences of the young* *Mission of The Slow Press* *Why do print?* *Featuring Filipino community and cuisine* *How their interest and curiosity in Singaporean food began* *Getting Gen Zs interested in local food stories* *Challenges in ‘preserving’ and documenting local food culture* The Slow Press: https://www.theslowpresszine.com/Singapore Noodles: http://sgpnoodles.com/ @sgpnoodlesSingapore Noodles newsletter: http://sgpnoodles.substack.com/

Desmond Shen: “We basically tried not to throw anything away, and I think one of the steps to do that is to name the thing by its part, instead of just calling it ‘waste’. If you are trimming carrots, you take away the carrot head, end, and peel – and you call that that. You don’t call it ‘trim’, you just call it ‘carrot peel’. What are we going to do with the carrot peel? What are we going to do with the carrot tops? What are we going to do with the end bits of the carrot… Especially with meat, there are so many parts that you throw away – in a chicken, you have the cockscomb, the windpipe. Once you start calling it ‘waste’, you tend to not regard it.” Desmond Shen, chef and founder of Tiffin Bicycle Club and Alter Native, shares about his food influences growing up, plus: *Decision to be a chef* *His interest in Asian flavours* *Creative process of pushing Singaporean flavours forward* *The importance of eating out and embracing kitchen failures* *Motivation behind starting Tiffin* *Reducing plastic and food waste* *His vegetarian menu* *Favourite technique for making vegetables delicious* *Challenges and considerations of serving food in a tiffin* *The Tiffin experience* *His upcoming project, Alter Native* Desmond Shen: @tiffin.bicycle.clubSingapore Noodles: http://sgpnoodles.com/ @sgpnoodlesSingapore Noodles newsletter: http://sgpnoodles.substack.com/

Rebecca Koh: “Asian ferments used to be passed down by the word of mouth – from grandma to the mother, and from the mother to the daughters. If one generation decides, “I do not want to learn it”, then that's it… When I wanted to learn how to make rice wine, my maternal grandma had already passed on, so there's no way I could ask. I had to call my aunt and ask, “Is there anyone in Singapore you know who knows how to do it?”. And she said, “No, not in Singapore, but in Malaysia, maybe I can find out from you.” So that's why in Singapore, it is literally like a vanishing art. You can hardly find someone who can really teach you how to do it properly, step-by-step.” Rebecca Koh of Midnight Fermentary and Midnight Food Co., shares how fermentation helped her cope with insomnia, plus: *Different colours of glutinous rice wine* *Difference between red yeast rice and white wine cakes* *Process of making glutinous rice wine* *Superstitions/ science of fermentation* *Home-brewing shops in Singapore* *Fermentation fridges and storing wine under the bed* *Enjoying glutinous rice wine and lees* *The value of fermenting your own food* *What’s within the reach of a home fermenter* *Why there are chemicals in commercial ferments* *Why is there a lack of documentation for Asian ferments* *Where should a beginner start* Rebecca Koh: @midnightfermentary @midnightfoodcoSingapore Noodles: http://sgpnoodles.com/ @sgpnoodlesSingapore Noodles newsletter: http://sgpnoodles.substack.com/

Gladys Foo: “When we made love letters pre-pandemic, we all will go over to my mom’s place to help out. I come from a family of six siblings, so we have everybody in the different areas. I am in charge of rolling it, my elder sis is in charge of removing the love letters from the mould to pass it to me, one of my sis is in charge of monitoring it, my second sis is in charge of scooping it. My brother is the firewatcher to ensure that the fire is consistent… My siblings and I, we have a very special bond because we grew up with very little, and so the bonding is there. The sacrifice that all my siblings made for one other – we really appreciate it… That’s why we have a lot of these family activities. It’s that family closeness that brings everyone together, and so does the cooking.”Gladys Foo, founder of Kuehdys Foo, shares about her kueh-making business started, plus: *Her growing up years* *Love letters, nian gao, and yibua* *Factors contributing to the slow death of traditional kueh-making* *Why eating kueh is typically seen as an ‘old person thing’**The importance of homecooking and exposing children to traditional food* *COVID and the resurgence of heritage food and other upsides* *The communal aspect of kueh-making* *Origins of Hainanese cuisine* *Her family’s version of roast pork belly* *Chicken poop kueh and art buah* Gladys Foo: @kuehdysfooSingapore Noodles: http://sgpnoodles.com/ @sgpnoodlesSingapore Noodles newsletter: http://sgpnoodles.substack.com/

Marcus Leow: “If there ever is a lao po bing (wife biscuit) in a more modern flavour, I honestly don’t think that’s bastardizing a recipe. I would say that that’s a way of keeping up with times and moving forward, but at the same time, reminding us of our roots… Like with kueh, you have so many flavours nowadays but the ones that get sold out are the traditional flavours – like regular kueh salat but done very well. Even for ang ku kueh or bingkah ubi, the original flavours are still the best. So even though there is a lot of modernizing of flavours, as long as it is part of the conversation, we are still going on the right track.” Marcus Leow, head of product development at Naked Finn, shares about his Peranakan heritage, plus: *Kueh-making vs pastry* *Using vegetables in kueh* *The journey towards embracing his heritage* *Buah keluak and belimbing* *Applying techniques to keep heritage dishes and snacks alive* *Learning about new heritage ingredients* *His hopes for Singaporean food* *Favourite eats in Singapore* Singapore Noodles: http://sgpnoodles.com/ @sgpnoodlesSingapore Noodles newsletter: http://sgpnoodles.substack.com/

Sharon Wee: “I always thought my mom deserves a book of her own, and I thought, why not a full-fledged cookbook… Peranakans are very guarded about their cooking secrets and recipes. I was going up against older sisters and relatives who weren’t sure if I should be doing this, sharing this publicly. You can ask a lot of families – they would feel that way. You can ask them, ‘How do you make that achar’, and they’ll say, ‘Cannot tell you – it’s a family secret!’ But I took a leap of faith – I actually wrote them down because I felt like if I didn’t do that, over time, we would forget how the achar was crunchy in the first place, or the different things that they did.” Sharon Wee, author of ‘Growing Up in a Nonya Kitchen’ shares about her journey of learning to cook and connecting with her heritage, plus: *The way that vegetables were viewed in the past* *Motivations behind writing her cookbook* *Challenges encountered while writing her cookbook* *Saffron and evaporated milk in nasi briyani* *Reconciling health concerns with the Peranakan diet* *The fading generation of professional housewives and its impact on Singaporean food culture* *Her mantra of ‘practice makes perfect’* *The argument for cooking at home* *Keeping traditions alive in her new home* *How can heritage cuisine be preserved*Singapore Noodles: http://sgpnoodles.com/ @sgpnoodlesSingapore Noodles newsletter: http://sgpnoodles.substack.com/

Mandy Yin: “It’s better to have tried and figured out you don’t like something. It’s not failure, it’s really not. Sometimes you have to go through an incredibly bad, difficult time to understand that’s not what you need to do, and you take a different route. One door closes, another opens. I do think there’s merit in following your passion, but also in understanding your limits and knowing when to cut your losses… Life is for living.” Mandy Yin, founder of the restaurant Sambal Shiok and author of the cookbook Sambal Shiok, shares about her experiences learning how to cook Malaysian food from her mother, plus: *The problem with the word ‘authentic’* *Her journey learning how to make heritage food* *Beginnings of Sambal Shiok – pop up to a restaurant* *Veganizing laksa* *Iban cuisine* *Importance of recognizing diversity in Malaysian food culture* *Making Malaysian cuisine accessible* Sambal Shiok: https://www.sambalshiok.co.uk/ @sambalshiok Singapore Noodles: http://sgpnoodles.com/ @sgpnoodlesSingapore Noodles newsletter: http://sgpnoodles.substack.com/

Chang Pick Yin: “After I had my surgery, I couldn’t smell. Zero sense of smell. You can’t imagine how it feels like until you experience it, because can you imagine being in a kitchen and you can’t smell… At this point, because I can’t smell and therefore I can’t taste very well, the process of eating is different and diminished, so I take more joy in the process of cooking.” Chang Pick Yin of @pickyin shares about her changing relationship with food, plus: *Learning how to cook* *How her blog came about* *Photographing local food* *Exposure to South Indian food* *Appreciation of heritage food* *Losing her sense of smell* Singapore Noodles: http://sgpnoodles.com/ @sgpnoodlesSingapore Noodles newsletter: http://sgpnoodles.substack.com/

Woo Qiyun: “Keep Cup is designed for an Australian audience. So many of these reusable cups are not designed to be culturally sensitive or culturally specific, so I’ve always been worried. I’ve even emailed Keep Cup, saying, “Your cups do not fit the way that Singaporean or tropical countries drink bubble tea for example. It does not make sense for our context. Your silicone cups don’t always fit our uncle pouring the kopi because they are so unstable. There can be alternatives if we think about it from a Singaporean angle, or if someone here were to design it to suit our need, understanding certain nostalgic elements, because I can totally imagine the same experience but designed with a better material, while retaining the essence of it all.” Woo, founder of The Weird and Wild, shares about how her instagram page came about, plus: *The power of social media and illustrations* *Keep cup and cultural context* *Generational gap* *Veganizing Singaporean favourites* *Meat substitutes* *Baking vegan substitutes* *Cosmetic filtering of food* *Difficulties of shopping for food sustainably in Singapore* *Seasonality of fruit* *Environmentally-conscious businesses to support* Singapore Noodles: http://sgpnoodles.com/ @sgpnoodlesSingapore Noodles newsletter: http://sgpnoodles.substack.com/

Yeo Min: “In my generation, very few of my friends eat Chinese pastries. They don’t really buy Chinese pastries to eat… A lot of the people who ask me if I am selling snowskin mooncakes are actually around my age. They would ask why I am selling traditional mooncakes, “I don’t think this kind of old taste would be what me or my friends would eat.” I felt a bit sad because I think that maybe it’s because they have not tried these traditional pastries from many different shops. There are some that maybe are not suited for our palates, but there are some that are honestly really good, but maybe they don’t give them a chance.” Yeo, founder of Pastories, shares about how her interest in Chinese pastry began, plus: *Chinese laminated pastry* *Differences between Western and Chinese puff pastry* *Why Chinese pastry is a looser term than Western pastry* *Homemade golden syrup and the role of sugar inversion* *The use of alkali in Cantonese mooncakes* *The collision of sweet and savoury* *Youth perception of traditional mooncakes* - Pastories: @pastoriessgSingapore Noodles: http://sgpnoodles.com/ @sgpnoodlesSingapore Noodles newsletter: http:s//sgpnoodles.substack.com/