| Food is the "buzzword" in our Singapore Lifestyle! | | | | culture has evolved as successive waves of |
| You shouldn't diet in Singapore. Eating is said to be | | | | migrants moved, settled and adapted to their |
| the second national pastime of Singaporeans. | | | | new environment. Without distinctive produce of |
| Singaporeans live to eat and while you're here, | | | | its own, local varieties of homeland staples have |
| you might as well join them! | | | | been slower to develop, but there are dishes that |
| Singaporeans love to Eat and their preoccupation | | | | can truly be called Singaporean; chilli crab, fish |
| with culinary matters means that finding good | | | | head curry and "yu sheng" (Chinese raw fish |
| food here - at the right price - presents no | | | | salad) are three prominent examples. |
| problems. The variety of foods available in | | | | The huge variety of cuisines marks Singapore as |
| Singapore is simply astounding and staggering! | | | | a truly international city. Everything is available, |
| There are venues to suit all budgets and tastes, | | | | from the familiar Thai cuisine, Japanese cuisine, |
| ranging from the popular hawker centres and | | | | Korean cuisine, Italian cuisine, Mexican cuisine, |
| coffee shops to swish, contemporary restaurants. | | | | French cuisine and Middle Eastern cuisine to the |
| Few places in the world can offer as diverse, | | | | more unusual African cuisine or Russian cuisine. |
| exotic and thoroughly appealing a food scene as | | | | Some cuisines have their own geographical |
| Singapore. The city has every imaginable cuisine, | | | | epicentres, like the Golden Mile Food Centre for |
| for every imaginable budget. Within a few hundred | | | | Thai cuisine, or the Arab Street area for Middle |
| metres, there might be a hawker stall selling S$4 | | | | Eastern cuisine. |
| Indian, Peranakan, Chinese and Malay food | | | | In the Colonial District and the Quays, expensive |
| specialities, a food court with Japanese, Korean | | | | restaurants hold sway and here you'll find the |
| and Thai cuisine stalls, a coffee shop serving up | | | | greatest concentration of international food. |
| barbecued seafood and laksa, an Indian shophouse | | | | Eastern Singapore is well known for its seafood |
| making wafer thin "roti prata" and "chicken curry", | | | | and its Peranakan cuisine. |
| and an air-conditioned french restaurant where a | | | | Everywhere, from the city to the heartlands, you |
| bottle of Wine costs more than a maid's monthly | | | | will find countless hawker centres, food courts |
| wage. And that's not counting the endless tidbits | | | | and coffee shops, where the majority of ordinary |
| and snacks. No wonder that Singapore is often | | | | Singaporeans spend an extraordinary amount of |
| touted as "The Food Paradise"! | | | | their time. |
| After all, Singapore is a multi-racial and | | | | Whether you hunt down the finest hawker food |
| multi-cultural society. As a multi-ethnic country, | | | | or prefer flipping your credit card in fancy |
| Singaporean food comprises a multitude of | | | | restaurants, if you don't leave Singapore puffing |
| cuisines which can be broadly categorised | | | | your cheeks and rubbing a full belly, you've missed |
| according to the main cultures present here. It is | | | | out! |
| not surprising therefore that the favourite local | | | | It's hard to know whether this multitude inspired |
| food comprise the melting pots of the richness, | | | | Singapore's food obsession, or whether the |
| tastes and peculiarities of each unique culture. | | | | obsession inspired the multitude. Either way, |
| Singapore is a cornucopia of different cuisines and | | | | Singaporeans are obsessed with eating. They |
| the variety of dishes available is enough to keep | | | | think nothing of driving right across the island to |
| one eating all the time. Whether you fancy haute | | | | sample a renowned Sambal Stingray, and |
| cuisine, ethnic foods, vegetarian or spicy local | | | | whenever a new food fad hits town, they will |
| dishes, you are sure to find many great food | | | | happily queue for an hour to get their hands on it. |
| choices. | | | | Food is a major topic of discussion and debate; |
| As a large proportion of Singapore's population is | | | | everyone has an opinion on what's the best this |
| Chinese, it is not surprisingly that Chinese cuisine | | | | and where to get the best that. Maybe it's a |
| (in its many varieties) dominates, but the main | | | | substitute for politics (just kidding!) - but then if |
| cuisines include Indian cuisine and Malay cuisine. For | | | | you had this much fantastic food on your |
| more uniquely Singaporean food, you have to try | | | | doorstep, you'd probably be serious about it too. |
| the local hybrid Peranakan cuisine (or Nonya) food, | | | | For Singaporeans, what's on the plate is far more |
| a blend of Chinese cuisine and Malay cuisine that is | | | | important than the quality of the china (or plastic, |
| hugely popular and widely available. Do note | | | | for that matter). The smartest-dressed |
| however that some of the local food is spicy, as | | | | businessman is as comfortable sitting down on a |
| Singaporeans are known to have a fondness for | | | | cheap plastic chair at a plastic table wading into a |
| spice and chilly. | | | | S$3 plastic plate of "char kway teow" as he is |
| The food of these cultures began as dishes from | | | | eating S$50 crabs in an air-conditioned restaurant. |
| the various motherlands, but over time, these | | | | Combine this unpretentiousness and you have the |
| culinary delights have evolved to take on a | | | | best eating opportunities in Southeast Asia, if not |
| Singaporean identify after being exposed to | | | | the whole of Asia. |
| regional and other ethnic influences. Indonesian | | | | It's not all superlatives, though. If your taste buds |
| cuisine, Japanese cuisine, Thai cuisine and | | | | have been surgically removed, you'll have no |
| Vietnamese cuisine are also well represented. | | | | trouble locating one of the many fastfood chain |
| As a major crossroad in Asia, Singapore's food | | | | outlets dotted around the island. |