Category: Reflections!

CONNECT
What does it mean to me now to conserve our heritage? Is it a showcase for tourists? Or for our future generations?

Xin Ying:
Now, to me, my direction to conserve our heritage is for our future generations to still be able to go to the hawker centre and taste the delicious bowl of culture and heritage.
Even though yes, our regular neighbourhood Hawker centres are popular among tourists, i feel that it is not actually the main point because if the future generations do not or do not want to understand this heritage, it will still not be available to tourists.

Jamie: I think that conserving our heritage can let the future generations learnt more about the past and appreciate itand it can also be a showcase for the tourist who do not now much about singapore. I think that hawkers now is earning lesser and lesser as the utilities bill is going up and there will be lesser people wanting to be a hawker and the culture of it will start to be lesser and the future generations may not be able to trt it.

Joanna:
For me, conserving our heritage is for the future generations to understand and appreciate more about the past, especially the types of food in the past to let them know more about their cultural taste. Nowadays, hawker centres are mostly popular to only tourists and not new generations as people now prefer fast food in air-conditioned shopping malls, but it would still be necessary and important to preserve the heritage.

Chai Rong:
I think that conservation groups our heritage is both for future generations and showcase for tourists. For future generations, it is how they can identify themselves as a Singaporean, and it also helps them to better understand the lives of their ancestors. For tourists, it is so that they can increase their knowledge of Singapore and understand the place they are visiting.

Xin Yi:
Conserving our heritage for me now is for our future generations to fully understand and empathise the sacrifices of the previous generations, not forgetting their efforts to keep up the hawker food culture going and protecting and preserving that heritage. Trying to understand something without experiencing it personally is a disadvantage, and in this case, when the future generations are trying to empathise and understand Singapore culture, they should be able to experience true hawker food in a proper hawker centre with no aircon, instead of food from fast food restaurants or food courts. Hawker food culture is one part of Singapore’s heritage. Without it, the future generations will have a tough time understanding that part to its fullest. Conserving this heritage would give the future generation the chance to get to know Singapore’s heritage to a greater depth.

EXTEND
What can i explore to demonstrate my new understanding of conserving this aspect(s) of heritage (tangible or intangible)?

Xin Ying:
I can explore trying to support it by patronising Hawker centres regularly, giving them business and income. I can also try educate my friends and family on the hawker heritage and it’s importance.

Jamie:

• help in building urban identity and pride in its residents.
• go beyond just resorting and preserving historical assets,
• lead to well-being and security, through broad community participation and involvement.
• generate opportunities for job creation and poverty alleviation
• broadly, and in the long-run, help achieve sustainability goals as well.

Joanna:
I can try to visit hawker centres more often during my free time instead of going to fast food restaraunts like Mc’donalds, KFC, and Starbucks. Hawker centre food are cheaper but equally tasty, so why not enjoy the traditional local dishes more?

Chai Rong
I can try to visit local snack or traditional food stored more. I can also visit fast food restaurants less as the food there is unhealthy and they already have a lot of customers as compared to hawkers. I will visit hawker centres more as the food there is cheap and delicious, and I also feel responsible for supporting out local culture so that it will not go missing lol.

Xin Yi:
I can visit hawker centres more often and recommend hawker centres that we’ve never been before to my family, rather than going to the same few fast food restaurants. When going out with my friends, I can also suggest going to hawker centres and recommending them the good food, not forgetting to encourage them to visit hawker centres more so as to support the local hawkers who work very hard daily.

CHALLENGE
Some of our heritage has disappeared and is disappearing, what are the challenges?
What questions do you have?

Xin Ying:
The younger generations and their parents are not willing to take on the hard work of being a hawker since they have the qualifications to do a higher class job. Other than that, globalisation is leading them to preferring fast food to local hawker food. Without the demand, nobody would want to carry on the hawker heritage. The questions i have are How can we change the mindset of the younger generations? Why are people not that proud of this heritage despite it being one of Singapore’s trademark?

Jamie: The younger generations will not want to be a hawker next time and the hawker culture wil be disappeared and they will all prefer fast food to hawker centreas gast food is also more comfortable

Joanna:
Younger generations do not want to become a hawker when they grow up, they don’t want to wake up early in the morning to open the stalls and close late in the evening, and they are lazy to take up the responsibility of keeping the stall clean. Most people also prefer to have a high class job which is easier and more comfortable.

ChaiRong:
Our local food culture is disappearing because a lot of the younger generation would prefer a job that’s more well paying and gives them a higher social status, compared to being a hawker. Some questions I have are: Why do the younger generation prefer fast food over those that they had been eating since long ago? What makes fast food so captivating and attractive? Why are the younger generations so concerned about their ego when taking on better jobs?

Xin Yi:
Many pioneers are retiring and very little teenagers are willing to take on the job as a hawker due to many reasons: laborious work, dirty, uncomfortable, low salary, tiring etc. They also have bigger ambitions and have bigger dreams, not willing to be a blue collar. They rather be a white collar, having a job with a higher pay, stable income and also a higher social status. Their tastes have also changed, from tradition food (slow food) to fast food, which was brought to Singapore through globalisation. They take traditional food for granted and think that it would not disappear, but little did they know that without the demand, there is no supply.
Questions I have: Why does the younger generation prefer fast food over traditional food when fast food is more fattening? Has traditional food been existing in Singapore for too long that the younger generation is sick of it? What is it in fast food that attracts the younger generation? What is the younger generation looking for when deciding on their meals?

Scenes from Joo Chiat that aroused our curiosity! :”)

Xin Ying:

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Joanna:

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Xin Yi:

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Chai Rong:

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