Singaporean hawker centers provide a space for the preservation and adaptation of ethnic identities through food. They house over 15,000 food stalls representing various ethnic cuisines like Indian, Malay, Chinese, and Western. Food plays a vital role in Singaporean culture and acts as a reflection of Singapore's multicultural identity. In contrast, immigrant food cultures in America are often compressed into stereotypes that damage ethnic representation. Hawker centers accommodate both consumption needs and connoisseur demands, allowing Singaporeans to actively engage with and define their multicultural identity through food.

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Acknowledgements
I would like to thank Professor Phua for facilitating this
research abroad and mentoring me in the process of
conducting sociological research. I would also like to thank
Gettysburg College giving me the grant which made this
research possible.
Conclusion
While the production of identity for immigrants via
cuisine in America is largely controlled by the
demands by an uninformed majority population, the
hawker centers of Singapore act as a microcosm of
society. They provide younger and older generations
with an outlet through which they control the
production of identity symbols through interactions
and demands as a consumer population, consuming
not only food but also preserving the ethnic identities
attached to the variations of Indian, Malay, Chinese,
and Western cuisine that most hawker centers
provide. Minority populations are able to represent
and define themselves in Singaporean society
through their cuisine.
However, considering the overwhelming pressures
of modernity upon the interests and demands of the
Singaporean individual, as well as the heavy
involvement of the government in the production of
images of Singaporean cuisine, lifestyle, and overall
identity, it is still possible that the character of
Singaporean food has been duly impacted by
outside constructs and agendas.
Introduction
Singaporean "Hawker Centers" (food courts) provide a
space for the preservation and adaptation of ethnic
symbols and identities, as well as a larger Singaporean
identity, through the use of food as a symbol of heritage
and unity within a highly modern society. I present the
experience of Singaporean ethnic identity production via
food in contrast to that of immigrant populations in America
to reveal the uniqueness of Singaporean identity issues.
Singaporean Hawker Centers
Due largely to health problems caused by street vendors
during the 1950s and 60s, street hawkers were licensed
and relocated into hawker centers by the Singapore
government. Now as many as 110 hawker centers exist in
Singapore, housing over 15,000 food and drink stalls. Stalls
are required to maintain strict sanitation and quality
standards. Ratings by the government are made public.
Significance of Food Culture in Singapore
With eating as a national pastime and a motto of “just
queue,” food plays a vital role in Singaporean life.
“The passion we [Singaporeans] have for our local food
culture is not just about eating. It says something about our
cosmopolitan cultural rojak, bonding, pride, and
lifestyles...Our people's culture, history, food and lifestyles
are linked inextricably“ (K.F. Seetoh quoted by Geok-Lin Lim, 298)
Immigrant Food Culture in America
Consumer demands in American society have compressed
most food presentations of ethnic identities into “platefuls of
stereotypes,” creating dialogues of difference and
misunderstanding that have damaging impacts on those
ethnics being represented by the “ethnic cuisine” they are
forced to produce.
Results (cont.)
"You are What You Eat”: Food as the Mirror
2006 NEA-MCYS survey:
• 93.8 percent ate out at hawker centers or brought
food home from hawker centers.
• 44 percent ate hawker food once or twice a week, and
one in four respondents claimed to eat at hawker
centers three or more times a week (Kong 2007).
The hawker center is embedded in the infrastructure of
Singaporean life for all classes. Singapore’s “C-M-I-O-
ness”—Chinese, Malay, Indian, and Other—categories
of identification, which Singaporean cuisine “taps into,”
are clearly reflected in the dishes offered in hawker
centers. Among countless others, Haianese chicken
rice (Chinese), roti prata (Indian), and nasi goreng
(Malay) are examples of this diversity.
Official advertisements for such things as “food
heritage” are extremely visible in daily life. One public
library presented a semi-interactive display, titled
“Delicious Heritage,” which provided accounts of old-
day hawkers. Additionally, the Singapore Tourism
Board makes notable efforts to promote food to
tourists. These advertisements shape the contextual
framework from which Singaporeans address food and
identity using lenses of idealism and sentimentalism,
and national pride.
Methods
Data Collection Methods
Participant observation was conducted in 10 hawker
food centers for qualitative analysis. Interviews with
Singaporean nationals were transcribed and coded, as
were materials from official advertisements, displays,
pamphlets, and websites. Relevant articles were
referenced for information and to establish theoretical
frameworks.
Interview Sampling Methods
Using the snowball sampling method, a total of 10
individuals were interviewed, with each interview lasting
from 30 minutes to an hour. All interviews were
conducted face to face. The respondents were of
Chinese descent, with one individual of Indian descent.
Apart from one Malaysian national, the rest of the
individuals were Singapore nationals.
Evaluation of Methods
As my research was more generally explorative, I
encountered little difficulty in conducting interviews. I
faced a language barrier when approaching individuals
in hawker centers. The representativeness of the
interviews could be enhanced with more interviews. The
reliability of the information is dependent upon the
integrity of the individual respondents and the validity of
other sources used.
Falon Deimler, Gettysburg College
Singaporean “Hawker Center”
Singaporean “Chili Crab”
Results
Authenticity: “A Matter of Degree”
In American ethnic cuisine, there is a
“discrepancy…between ideal and acceptance” (Lu and
Fine 539), where Chinese food, Mexican food, and
others should, ideally, have an authentic character, yet
for the sake of practicality, should also be Americanized
ethnicity in this generation is highly influenced by
convenience.
‘Consumption-oriented’ versus ‘connoisseur-oriented’
dining as it is seen in the United States also appears in
Singapore; many people travel for hours for good taste,
but often need quick solutions for daily meals. It is
possible that the Singaporean hawker center inherently
accommodates the demands of both of these
distinctions at once, thereby creating a ‘consumption-
oriented connoisseur’: the average, every-day
Singaporean, a knowledgeable consumer, who
demands both efficiency and experience from every
meal.
While for American ethnic cuisine, “Old countries are
particularly useful as identity symbols because they are
far away and cannot make arduous demands on
American ethnics" (Gans 10), the close historical and
geographical range to those ‘old countries’ for
Singaporeans increases vital awareness in what is
authentic and what is not, which pressures hawkers to
cater to powerful notions of heritage and quality.