Singapore .. food paradise

In Singapore, food is a must for everyone. Wait a minute, isn't food a must for everyone everywhere. Let me do it again ...

In Singapore, food plays a rather important part in tourism. Its not only the shopping malls, zoological gardens and Sentosa that contributes to the wealth of the nation but another important factor is the food that is offered in Singapore.

Having lived here all my life, its funny to say that I get every opportunity to sample all the different cuisines offered around the world all in once place - Singapore. A variety of North Indian, Mexican, Sze Chuan, Japanese, Korean, Indonesian and even African cuisines can be found in this little island.

I guess its true that food is on the top of every Singaporean's 'to-do' list. Before we could step into the office to start our day, we think of what to eat at lunch and even before your lunch gets to settle in the stomach, you think ahead of what to have for dinner. That's how Singaporeans motivate themselves at work.

Worst, at work we sometimes snack on all the interesting cakes and puffs that our different races have to offer. From Chinese roast pork bun to our Malay friend's 'epok epok' ( potato curry puff ).Sinful you may think but its the taste that counts, not the calories or cholestrol.

Look, I am not asking you to visit Singapore for the sake of international food but more for the sake of tasting the food the locals take. Rest assured Singaporeans do not eat bear's paws, fried bats or stewed worms. We eat the less exotic food like chicken, pork, mutton and beef. Of course, not forgetting the veggies too.

Whenever friends visit us from Hong Kong, Canada or anywhere else, Sandy and I will make it a point to see that they eat at least 5 times a day. My motive is to make them put on weight so that they'll have a hard time losing those kilos when they get home and to also share with them the joy of local food.

Local food doesn't mean expensive chilli crabs or sambal prawns. One can find lots of different types of local food fare NOT in fancy restaurants but usually at hawker centres or the 'not so clean' coffee shops. Best of all, the price of food served in such places are really reasonable.

Thus the next time you visit Singapore, tell your local tour guide not to bring you to a restaurant but to a hawker centre and if you do not have a local tour guide, just drop me a note and I will arrange to let you sample the various food I often talk about in my food blog - www.krameats.blogspot.com