Traditional Food Essay

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Question 1: Traditional foods eaten
In the 19th century, Sir Thomas Raffles realized Singapore’s potential and established Singapore as a proper trading station. The island policy of free trade attracted merchants from all over Asia and as far away as America and the Middle East. The population grew immensely, in 1819 just 150 people inhabited Singapore and by 1860, 80,792 had immigrated to Singapore with cultures mainly comprised of Chinese, Indians and Malays. When these earliest settlers arrived at Singapore with them came new foods which were left on the island and grown to make them readily available. Those foods therefore make up a vast part of the historic diet in which Singaporeans have today. Some of the foods grown were; wheat, cassava, spinach, garlic, beans and breadfruit and Singapore's two staple foods rice and noodles. Chicken, duck, boar and buffalo were the only animals in the area and they were relatively sparse. However their diets were quite healthy and nutritious as a lot of vegetables and proteins were in the country.
Historical ingredients include; leafy green vegetables (spinach), coconut milk, chicken, rice/noodles and sauces etc. Many of these ingredients and more are used in traditional and modern day Singapore meals.
Nowadays, Singapore is formed by many diverse cultures and these simple ingredients have grown into well renowned cuisines.

Breakfast:
Kaya Toast is a traditional but very popular breakfast meal. Kaya Toast is prepared with kaya (coconut jam) and contains a topping of sugar, coconut milk, eggs and pandan. This breakfast can also be eaten dipped in egg. It is generally served on toast or crackers. Kaya toast is considered a breakfast staple in Singapore and is usually consumed with ginge...

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...s are imported to Singapore in bulk and are chopped into portions and placed in freezers. This storage device keeps the food frozen for weeks and is taken out and defrosted when needed. This has made Singapore more diverse and has introduced different types of meats. For example veal and pork are more commonly found in Singapore and chicken can last longer but still have the same nutritional benefits when kept in freezer storage. This change has made Singapore vaster and has allowed different foods in to the country that wouldn’t have been there previously due to the possibility of bacteria growth and food contamination.

Technological change has impacted Singapore greatly and seen new ingredients enter Singapore and processing, storage and the equipment available for preparing foods has dramatically changed from the innovations which have evolved from technology.

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