Yep, our newsPAPers did it again. CNA and Today have the same article asking how we can “square the circle”. Huh? Yao mo gao chor ah?
The article starts off reporting that people are scolding our hawkers for expensive food. The hawkers of course have their explanation, but the majority of Singaporeans are top scorers in drawing models to figure out how many marbles Tong, Dick and Halid have. Their mathematics is too sophisticated to understand that a 1% increase in GST does not just lead to a 1% increase in operating costs and a 1% increase in living expenses. Are these folks scolding the right people? Or should they be scolded instead?
Before we start scolding everyone, how on earth did we get here? Like I’ve mentioned in my YouTube video on choices, the concept of eating out in Singapore has evolved over the years. Fast food was once considered atas. Now, it may give you more bang for your buck than hawker food. Why? Because fast food is done in bulk on a production line. Everything is mechanised and non-artisanal. Hawker food is different. It’s artisanal or at least it tries to be artisanal. It is thus relatively less cost effective compared to fast food. Initially when the fast food outlets’ operating costs were high, hawker food would be cheaper but as the hawkers’ operating costs go up, the gap closes.
As a boomer growing up in the 1960s and 70s, the only time I stepped into a restaurant during my childhood was when an uncle or aunt was getting married. Dining in restaurants was an absolute luxury and the only reason I had more that my fair share of restaurant meals was because I had more uncles and aunts than most people.
The restaurants today are packed on weekends. Even on weekdays, some places are full during lunch and dinner time. You will not fail to see long queues outside some famous hotpot and bak kut teh places. Families spend hundreds of dollars over a weekend, prices have risen sharply but you don’t see people posting snapshots of the receipts to complain. You can’t say that we’ve not progressed but these are the visible ones. I’ll talk about the “invisible” ones in a moment.
And if you have been following the food prices over the years, restaurant and clubbing bills have increased by more than 1% too. Why is it that nobody complains until the price of chilli crab hits $1000? Still reasonable at $200? What is it about hawker food that they need to be cheap?
Of course, if you don’t live at Ridout Road, you probably can’t afford to dine at restaurants every day. I do my own cooking and eat at home most of the time, but the majority of Singaporeans either can’t cook, are too lazy to cook or are simply “too busy”. They’ve become completely reliant on hawker centres and coffee shops for their nutritional needs – something which Hunkle doesn’t fancy. Why complain about hawker centres selling expensive food? Why not complain about restaurants? Because restaurants are a luxury. Hawker centres are a “necessity” (though not for me). But here’s the thing. Hawking is a business. No hawker owes us a duty to provide affordable and nutritious food. They are a business. They set the price and if it’s not agreeable to us, we go to the restaurant for expensive but agreeable food or cook our own. If you’re addicted to a certain type of food or if you just can’t cook a decent meal, you jolly well pay someone to cook for you. What is this nonsense about squaring the circle? It’s not our restaurants that awarded recognition by UNESCO. Why must hawkers be cheep cheep cheep while thick crowds gather at durian stalls?
Like I mentioned in a previous post, the coconut that Joanne Peh thought she got cheaply in Thailand was actually overpriced and the same as Singapore.
And let’s face it. The folks who take pictures of “economical” rice and post on social media can afford smart phones and a data plan. The “invisible” folks who really can’t afford don’t even have the means to complain. They are probably wolfing down canned food, leftovers, bread and instant noodles.
I once saw a woman being chased away at the yong tau foo stall because she didn’t pick a minimum of 7 items. These are the folks who really can’t afford hawker food at yesterday’s prices and they are the ones who really need help from a society that has left them behind. The rest of us are better off eating cheaply and healthily by cooking our own food. 3 packets of vegetables cost only $1.80 at the supermarket.
Frankly, looking at the awful transformation of the food scene here in Singapore – with Korean, Japanese, mala dominating our makan places, I don’t have the same level of sympathy I have for them that I have for the traditional stalls. Still, it’s clear in my mind that hawker food is as unhealthy as fast food and I only eat it once in a while. Eating out is a “luxury”.
I can imagine how rising prices can hurt the pocket when people rely on hawkers to provide three or more meals a day. Then again, it’s not like we don’t have a choice. The impact can be somewhat mitigated. Unfamiliar with hawker prices, a $5.80 plate of beer hoon with long beans and chicken wings did make my jaw drop recently and I haven’t touched that thing for months now.
But with the elections looming, our leaders are pressed to do something about complaints directed at our hawkers who are expected to be cheep cheep cheep even when they’re graduates and paying crazy rents. How do they square the circle? Our politicians take the scoldings from those who failed their maths seriously and confer on our hawkers the noble duty of feeding the people.
I hereby dub thee Hawker – feeder of the masses. It’s an honour by virtue of the new yardstick that I bestow upon you. Make sure you offer budget meals. Thank you and long live Your Majesty. The inflationary pressure is still there. The trick is to give the vocal folks less reason to complain – at the expense of our hawkers.
Now, they’re conferring on these noble cooks the task of feeding Singapore’s millions with their budget meals. That should please voters who can be quite clueless about the source of their problems as the same source also throws out vouchers and other freebies that bring ecstasy to gian png Singaporeans. Everyone needs to get used to being poorer except for the natural aristocrats.