Hawker Culture in the Future

Will we have a hawker food culture in the future?

One like what we currently have?

Here's something to think about: Is the hawker culture we have today as good as or similar to or comparable to the hawker culture we had say, 20 years ago? 30 years ago? 40 years ago?

You weren't even born then?

Ah! The Good Old Days.

What is the future of Hawkers? This is one perspective:

There will be two trajectories for hawkers. 

New Hawkers from Philippines and China will be selling what they know how to cook. You're already seeing them. There are Filipino hawker stalls selling Filipino cuisine, and PRC stalls and restaurants selling regional specialties. They will sell to their community, and they will keep the prices low because that is what their countrymen can afford with their lower wages. 

You can try to expand your gastronomic horizons and try these new offerings.

Local "hawkers" will be upgrading themselves. They want to be chefs, be respected, have decent reasonable working hours, while making enough money to give their families a reasonable standard of living. You could enjoy these good ole "soul" food, if you can find these new "hawker-chefs", and you were willing to pay the "reasonable prices" they will be asking.

The other way to enjoy good soul food - learn to cook it yourself.

Previously, I had suggested that if we want to save the hawkers, we, the people, should have a stake, a say in their future, in the hawker centre. Or rather the coffee shop. Perhaps if residents owned the hawker stalls, they may be willing to provide affordable space for the hawkers to rent and operate. If residents had a say, they will say who they want in the stalls, will do what is necessary to get and keep the good hawkers. Or realise that no one wants to be a hawker.

Because, I also pointed out that no matter what solution we come up with, there is a critical factor we CANNOT solve: Who wants to be a hawker?

Future Hawker

Or rather, there aren't enough people who want to be a hawker.

There are over 100 hawker centres with over 6000 stalls.

Then there are 560 coffee shops (based on a google search of "Coffeeshop directory SG"). Say another 4000 stalls (assuming on average about 7 or 8 stalls per coffee shop).

So a ballpark estimate is... about 10,000 hawker stalls. And about 10,000 hawkers. At least.

But is that how many we will need? Would you say that there are too many hawkers? Or too few?

Many of the current hawkers are ageing and will be retiring.

Who will take over?

If you are in your 20s or 30s, how many of your classmates had ambition to be a hawker? Would you want to be a hawker? If you are older and have kids, would you want your children to be hawkers?

(From this Link:)

Wanted

Hawkers. Be your own BOSS! Must be capable of cooking EXCELLENT food at affordable prices. Willing to work up to 18 hours a day. Minimal rest days (maybe twice a month). No promotion prospects. No career advancement. (But hey, you're already your own boss!) No CPF! (You can decide how much to put in yourself!) Successful candidates should have:

• Good memory for faces and orders
• Able to do simple math on the fly (make change without calculator). 
• Diverse language skills (Mandarin/Malay and English at least, dialects an advantage).  
• Logistics and management skills an asset - no training provided except on-the-job learning by trial and error. 
• HR experience also an asset. The successful hawker may have to hire stall assistants, deal with MOM if they are foreign workers. Deal with CPF and IRAS regarding their wages. Prepare and manage their work schedules.

Challenging work environment (likely no air con, slaving over a hot stove, risk of rat and other pest infestation if stall not properly maintained and clean - ENV officers will be checking on your stall's cleanliness;  possible unreasonable customers with "special" requests (e.g. Mee Siam mai hum), possible disputes/disagreements with neighbouring hawkers, town councils, MPs, new media.) 

Is that an appealing ad? Does it make you want to be a hawker?

The point is, being a hawker is NOT easy.

Most people want to work short hours if possible, or not more than 8 - 9 hour days, have regular hours, air-conditioned working environment, and just 5 days a week if possible.

Most hawkers work at least 9 hours. Some as much as 12 or more. (The 18 hours in the "ad" is an exception if not an exaggeration.)

A steady stable salary is also desirable, if not a basic non-negotiable requirement. CPF contribution from their employers in order to build up their CPF to buy their first flat from HDB. And because of this, Singaporeans are less likely to be entrepreneurs. Less likely to take up hawkering. At least not without adequate remuneration.

Who will be the hawkers of the future?

New immigrants, bringing their passion for their food, and trying to share it with you. Maybe you'll like it. Maybe, like me, you will want the old familiar favourites.

And we might be disappointed and upset.

But you know who won't be disappointed? Your children.

They may well take to ma la huo puo because they never tasted the best Hakka Yong Tau Foo. Or they may find lechon to be as good as sio bak

That's not hawker food to you?

I don't blame you. It's not quite right to me either.

But who can cook the great, authentic hawker food of our childhood? At a price we believe is right?

I am sure that there will be a few passionate people who wants to be hawkers and can replicate the taste and aroma of authentic hawker food (I don't know who they are, I don't know anyone like this personally, but I can BELIEVE.)

But for the most part, if you can find authentic hawker food (of yesterday) in the future, it will be at futuristic prices.


Prices

Which brings us to pricing.

Think of your favourite hawker food. I will use my favourite: Roti Prata Kosong.

I remember when it was 20 cents a piece. Then 40 cents, then 60 cents, then 80 cents, 90 cents, now some places will only sell 2 for $2.60 or in a set with curry.

And if you go to a restaurant, you can order a plate of two prata (plain) with curry. Maybe $6? Or about 3 times the price at a hawker centre or coffee shop. Or more.

You have your favourite hawker food in mind? Okay, what is the most you have ever paid for that in a hawker centre? And have you ever tried to order that in a restaurant and how much did you pay for that?

If (modern) hawkers needed to make a decent living, how much could they charge you for your favourite food before it ceases to be hawker food for you?

For example, you can easily get Chicken Rice for $4 at a coffee shop or hawker centre. Some of you may even know where to get $1.50 Chicken Rice. I think there may still be some stalls. But the last one I had was maybe two years ago. The $1.50 is a gimmick. A rather small portion of chicken. But authentic. At a hawker centre recently, I saw a chicken rice stall offering $2.50 chicken rice. When I ordered one, the stallholder asked if I wanted the $3.50 plate. I upgraded ('cause every little bit to help him survive will make it possible that he might survive long enough that the next generation can at least enjoy hawker food).

You go to a restaurant, you could pay $12 for Chicken Rice. Or even $25 but it would come in a set with vegetables in oyster sauce, or sesame oil.

At what price will Chicken Rice (or your favourite hawker food) cease to be hawker food? $5? $7? $8?

What do you think will happen in future for hawker food prices?

a) Do you think it will stay the same as today? Chicken Rice for $3 or $4 a plate?

b) Do you think it is about time it went down to the good old days, at $1.50 a plate?

c) Or do you think it will go up? To $4.50, $5.00. $6.00, even $8.00 and $10.00. And this will be at hawker centres!

a, b, or c?

If you pick a, I think you are unrealistic. If you pick b, I think you are crazy.

If you think (c) is impossible or highly unlikely, you should stop reading now. You lack a sense of reality and the rest of this post will only be depressing to you. (If I have not already depressed you.)

But would you feel that if hawker centres are charging $10 for chicken rice, it is not really hawker food anymore?

Say the food and the taste is the same, authentic. Only the price has gone up. Still hawker food?

Would you agree then that Price is an essential characteristic of hawker food. Or to be more precise, low prices are an essential characteristic of hawker food?

And if prices are too high, they cease to be hawker food and become like one of those hawker food festivals at some hotel where you pay maybe $50 for a hawker food buffet. It's nice, you have variety, and a comfortable place to eat, but the price... and also some of the food not so authentic, you feel.

Which brings us to our expectations. Our unrealistic expectations.


Customer Expectation

What do you expect or want from your hawker food? Good tasting food at low prices?

Me too!

Can we get it in future?

Depends on what you consider "low prices". And whether we still have enough people who want to be hawkers.

What goes into the costs of hawker food? Rent? Ingredients? Wages of stall assistants?

How can we keep the Hawker Culture alive? This is such an important question the LKY School of Public Policy (LKYSPP) has studied the issue.

Here is a summary of the LKYSPP recommendations:

 Renew scheme of subsidising stall rentals:

• How [to] ensure that rental cost savings are passed on to the consumers, rather than mostly absorbed by stall-owners?

• Should subsidised stalls be made available to all hawkers, or a select pool of‘hardship’ cases as in the past, and why?

Facilitate bulk purchasing of ingredients for hawkers:

• Should government assume the role of a central buyer?

• Alternatively, how can the government help facilitate the setting up of hawker cooperatives?

Set price ceilings for hawker food

• What would be an appropriate benchmark of affordability, and mechanism for setting hawker food prices?

• What is the potential impact on the hawkers and hawker food? (e.g. food quality, variety, number of hawkers)

• Provide targeted food subsidies (e.g. vouchers) for low-income families

• Allowing foreigners to become hawkers and stall assistants

• Provide incentives for younger people to become hawkers, to replace aging hawker

Note that most of the recommendations are mainly about controlling prices, because low prices are a characteristic of hawker food. LKYSPP recognises that it is a quintessential characteristic of hawker food, that it be affordable.

The above recommendations goes a little further than the usual "let's offer hawker subsidised rental so they can keep food prices low." It also wonders if there could be a central buyer to purchase in bulk, get savings, and pass these onto the customer.

This is all to keep prices, especially of cooked food, down for the masses.

Just like fuel subsidies in Indonesia are essential to placate the masses. If we ever lose the hawker centre or if ever the quality and affordability is lost, we might just have a revolution.

The study is not wrong to focus on prices, but I think the problem that they cannot solve is how to attract people to be hawkers.

It's a tough sell. They realise this and even suggested being open to foreigners as hawkers.

And now they have just announced the Hawker Centre 3.0 Committee.

Here are some facts from the news report:

There are more than 14,000 licensed hawkers in 109 hawker centres managed by the National Environment Agency, of whom 6,000 sell cooked food. 

The Government began building new hawker centres in 2012 and of the 20 new ones that will be completed by 2027, two in Bukit Panjang and Hougang have opened. Another at Our Tampines Hub will be ready by the end of this year, and another four, in Pasir Ris, Woodlands, Yishun and Jurong West, will be completed next year, Dr Khor said.

The new centres will add some 800 cooked food stalls, but with the median age of cooked-food hawkers being 59, new entrants into the trade are needed.

Note: They are building new hawker centres. But the hawkers are old. In 20 years, most of them would be gone.

The social and economic circumstances that brought about the hawker culture in Singapore was a unique convergence in history. The very success of Singapore has move our circumstances beyond the economic need for hawkers to ply their trade.

The places still with good hawker culture are those places where people and society have not advanced as much as Singapore. Places like Penang and Malacca where hawkering is still a viable trade and viable option.

Realistically, hawker culture as we know it is dying, and may well be gone in 20 years. If we do managed to hang onto it, it would not be the hawker culture we know.

It's like sushi.

The Evolution of Sushi 

In the early 19th century, a man by the name of Hanaya Yohei conceived a major change in the production and presentation of his sushi. No longer wrapping the fish in rice, he placed a piece of fresh fish on top of an oblong shaped piece of seasoned rice. Today, we call this style ‘nigiri sushi’ (finger sushi) or “edomae sushi” (from Edo, the name of Tokyo at the time) and is now the common way of eating Japanese sushi. At that time, sushi was served from sushi stalls on the street and was meant to be a snack or quick bite to eat on the go. Served from his stall, this was not only the first of the real ‘fast food’ sushi, but quickly became wildly popular. From his home in Edo, this style of serving sushi rapidly spread throughout Japan, aided by the Great Kanto earthquake in 1923, as many people lost their homes and businesses and moved from Tokyo. 

After World War Two, the sushi stalls were shut down and moved indoors, to more sanitary conditions. More formal seating was later provided (the first iterations were merely an indoor version of the sushi stalls) and sushi changed from ‘fast food’ to a true dining experience. Sushi spread around the globe, and with the advent of the promotion of seafood, this unusual style of serving fish was quickly adopted by western cultures, always eager for something new, especially something that had grown as sophisticated and unique as sushi.

Sushi started out as street food, which meant that it was affordable and unpretentious. Then it went upmarket. And now Sushi Chefs are masters of their art, and sushi dining is fine dining.

Can you see that for our hawker food in 50 years time?


Afternote/ Addition

The suspicion that hawkers are disappearing from our cultural (and gastronomic) landscape is not a secret. Here is a hysterical (as in panicky) article on it. The author's proposal to save our hawker heritage?

"To support this street food movement, the next time you dine at a hawker centre or coffeeshop, snap a photo of your food with the hashtag uncagestreetfood to show your appreciation and let our street food trend in the social space!"

What an anti-climax. 

And yet, so apropos of social media activism.

If it can't be solved on or by FaceBook, Instagram, or Twitter, it can't be solved 

One option is for our hawker food to go upmarket. Like how Sushi has. But because of its humble roots Sushi will exist on a continuum of price and quality

The other option is the Pizza way. See below.

History of Pizza

Known as the dish for poor people, it was sold in the street and was not considered a kitchen recipe for a long time. This was later replaced by oil, tomatoes...
Until about 1830, pizza was sold from open-air stands and out of pizza bakeries, and pizzerias keep this old tradition alive today. It is possible to enjoy paper-wrapped pizza and a drink sold from open-air stands outside the premises. Antica Pizzeria Port'Alba in Naples is widely regarded as the city's first pizzeria

"Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana"[24] ("True Neapolitan Pizza Association"), which was founded in 1984, has set the very specific rules that must be followed for an authentic Neapolitan pizza. These include that the pizza must be baked in a wood-fired, domed oven; that the base must be hand-kneaded and must not be rolled with a pin or prepared by any mechanical means

Da Michele Pizzaria

Da Michele could have very easily turn itself into a tourist trap, catering to foreigners, but instead, it’s still a neighborhood place, where people stop in to pick up pizzas for a song.

To summarise:

There will be two avenues for hawker food. Go Sushi, Or Go Pizza (in Naples).

Sushi (in the form we know today (nigiri sushi) started out as street vendor food - cheap, unpretentious. Then it moved in to restaurants and became part of fine dining (though there are still sushi kiosks and take-aways with low price). So one future is hawker food along a continuum of price and taste. At one end, up-market prices with consistent taste and a fine dining experience. At the other end, mass-produced, low costs, assembled facsimile of old time favourites.

Pizza in Naples and Italy started out also as street food for poor people. At some point the pizza makers came up with standards and criteria for "true pizza". Traditional pizza makers in Naples hold to the tradition and sell pizza made the traditional way and charge a very reasonable price for their fare. Not to diss the Pizza makers, but I think our hawker food has too much complexity to be standardised. But if we (or rather the hawkers) are able to "codify" their standards for "true hawker food", and get hawkers to prepare traditional hawker food for a reasonable price, we might be able to save (and update pricewise) the hawker culture.

But I don't see Char Kway Teow hawkers getting together to agree on the standards and criteria for good Char Kway Teow. Or Hokkien Mee. Or Fishhead curry.Or Fishball noodles. Maybe it is an impossibility.

After World War Two, the sushi stalls were shut down and moved indoors, to more sanitary conditions. More formal seating was later provided (the first iterations were merely an indoor version of the sushi stalls) and sushi changed from ‘fast food’ to a true dining experience. Sushi spread around the globe, and with the advent of the promotion of seafood, this unusual style of serving fish was quickly adopted by western cultures, always eager for something new, especially something that had grown as sophisticated and unique as sushi.

- See more at: http://www.sushifaq.com/basic-sushi-experience-information/the-history-of-sushi/#sthash.aPNRxbOt.dpufThe Evolution of Sushi

In the early 19th century, a man by the name of Hanaya Yohei conceived a major change in the production and presentation of his sushi. No longer wrapping the fish in rice, he placed a piece of fresh fish on top of an oblong shaped piece of seasoned rice. Today, we call this style ‘nigiri sushi’ (finger sushi) or “edomae sushi” (from Edo, the name of Tokyo at the time) and is now the common way of eating Japanese sushi. At that time, sushi was served from sushi stalls on the street and was meant to be a snack or quick bite to eat on the go. Served from his stall, this was not only the first of the real ‘fast food’ sushi, but quickly became wildly popular. From his home in Edo, this style of serving sushi rapidly spread throughout Japan, aided by the Great Kanto earthquake in 1923, as many people lost their homes and businesses and moved from Tokyo.

After World War Two, the sushi stalls were shut down and moved indoors, to more sanitary conditions. More formal seating was later provided (the first iterations were merely an indoor version of the sushi stalls) and sushi changed from ‘fast food’ to a true dining experience. Sushi spread around the globe, and with the advent of the promotion of seafood, this unusual style of serving fish was quickly adopted by western cultures, always eager for something new, especially something that had grown as sophisticated and unique as sushi.

- See more at: http://www.sushifaq.com/basic-sushi-experience-information/the-history-of-sushi/#sthash.aPNRxbOt.dpuf