Seeing that we still have a couple of views every now and then, and having a lull in the mornings, I thought I would write a piece on our Singaporean (and Malaysian) obsessions that we had to leave behind...
So why are we so concerned about expensive char kway teow??! In Sydney or Melbourne, you would have heard about the famous $10 char kway teow that Singaporeans baulk at paying for. And, i'm not the kind of Sinkie that is going to even use the argument that you should be having Angmo steak and chips or hamburgers etc., because that is not what Angmos eat.
Every time you mention you are migrating to some angmo country, the first questions or comments always most definitely go around:
- How expensive char kway teow / chicken rice is
- How cheap cars are
- How cheap houses are
I just want you to know that, Angmos are as concerned as we are about the latter two, just that in some Angmo countries, its not socially acceptable to flaunt your status (which works in favour of all of us low ses quitters).
So let's talk about our obsession for char kway teow then since:
So why are we so concerned about expensive char kway teow??! In Sydney or Melbourne, you would have heard about the famous $10 char kway teow that Singaporeans baulk at paying for. And, i'm not the kind of Sinkie that is going to even use the argument that you should be having Angmo steak and chips or hamburgers etc., because that is not what Angmos eat.
These days in hipster town, what Angmos eat looks more like this:
Just so you know, this dish is called "Chia Seed Muesli", not made by your friend uncle chia. It looks (and probably tastes like) this:
Which, for the benefit of the other Sinkies like me who grew up in HDBs and closest experience with nature was Singapore Zoo and filling up those Biology club books, is what you feed birds... something like this:
Or if you need an Angmo in the picture to convince you its cool and Angmo, like this:
This picture has a few blonde Angmo looking people in it so it should convince you.
So anyway, there is nothing wrong with craving char kway teow or wanting to eat asian food or have pig trotters with ginger in your office kitchen, or to eat at the roast duck place, because those are usually fucking good (even better than what you get in Singapore sometimes...)
What has changed since your auntie visited London or Australia in the 90s and returned with stern warnings of racism and shitty asian food is that many other asians have also moved since, and opened many Asian grocery shops, and you can now buy all the herbal shit you ever need if you get bored of having bird seeds, avocados or hamburgers for lunch.
In fact you can probably buy more these days from Sydney or Melbourne than in Singapore....
Oh and prices? I don't dare to comment too much since my Commerce begree is not NUS one, but generally, if you earn more, you can afford to pay higher prices, so if your minimum wage is around this:
and not this:
You probably can afford the $10 char kway teow, and know that the person making it is getting paid (even if underpaid and cash only) more than the McDonald's auntie in Singapore.
Also, if you ever wondered why asian herbs are so expensive (not really actually, but I will leave the price collection and comparison to the older uncles here because i'm a latte sipping hipsta yaw look at the big picture), have you also wondered why strawberries, ham and avocado at Cold Storage Finest is so expensive??
So anyway, there is nothing wrong with craving char kway teow or wanting to eat asian food or have pig trotters with ginger in your office kitchen, or to eat at the roast duck place, because those are usually fucking good (even better than what you get in Singapore sometimes...)
What has changed since your auntie visited London or Australia in the 90s and returned with stern warnings of racism and shitty asian food is that many other asians have also moved since, and opened many Asian grocery shops, and you can now buy all the herbal shit you ever need if you get bored of having bird seeds, avocados or hamburgers for lunch.
In fact you can probably buy more these days from Sydney or Melbourne than in Singapore....
Oh and prices? I don't dare to comment too much since my Commerce begree is not NUS one, but generally, if you earn more, you can afford to pay higher prices, so if your minimum wage is around this:
and not this:
You probably can afford the $10 char kway teow, and know that the person making it is getting paid (even if underpaid and cash only) more than the McDonald's auntie in Singapore.
Also, if you ever wondered why asian herbs are so expensive (not really actually, but I will leave the price collection and comparison to the older uncles here because i'm a latte sipping hipsta yaw look at the big picture), have you also wondered why strawberries, ham and avocado at Cold Storage Finest is so expensive??
Comments
Post a Comment