Multicultural Singapore

Shiny ultra-modern Singapore is also engaging multi-cultural Singapore. That’s where all the tasty stuff is!

Here’s a bit more specificity about Singapores mixture of cultures:

Singapore’s overall population is almost 6 million people.
About two-third of Singapore’s overall population are citizens and permanent residents. Of these residents, about 75% are of Chinese heritage, 15% Malay, 8% Indian, and 2% other.
The other third, the non-residents, many come from Malaysia, China, Bangladesh, India, Thailand, the Philippines, and Myanmar.

By chance, we visited in the last few days before the Lunar New Year 2024. Which meant that festive dragons flew around everywhere.

Unlike the fire-breathing threat of European dragons, in Asian cultures, dragons represent prosperity and good luck; they fly around despite having no wings, and they bring life-giving rains. Often a pearl flies just in front of the dragon’s mouth. The pearl symbolizes wisdom, enlightenment and spiritual essence.

Quite a big difference from the grumpy greedy dragons of medieval European castles. Much more festive over in Singapore!

A warm walk down South Bridge Street introduced us to Singapore’s Chinatown. Within just a couple blocks, we found three major religious buildings: Hindu, Buddhist, and Muslim. All in Chinatown!

Our first stop was the large Buddha Tooth Relic Temple because it opens its doors to the faithful and curious alike. The temple complex looks very traditional and tidy; it was a surprise to learn that it was built and opened only in 2007.

One reason for this temple for a Buddha relic’s being such a recent building is that the relic was only (re)discovered in 1980:

[T]he tooth was discovered by Venerable (Ven.) Cakkapala, the abbot of the Bandula Monastery in Mrauk U in Myanmar, in 1980. In the process of restoring a collapsed stupa (Buddhist relic structure) and Buddha statue, Ven. Cakkapala and his assistants were said to have found the tooth within a stupa of solid gold on Bagan Hill. The discovery was not publicized and the tooth was enshrined at Bandula Monastery. (source)

Starting in the 2000s, the Bandula Monastery approached Singapore for financial assistance, and offered cooperation around the tooth relic. By 2005, supporters including the Singapore Tourism Board coalesced, a site in Chinatown was selected, and construction had begun. 

What we found was a busy welcoming temple. Alas, we aren’t at all knowledgeable about the ceremonies and sculptures and artworks we saw. But we were impressed by the fact that we, along with quite a few other people, were free to wander through the main spaces of the temple while a serious ceremony was being performed. This is an alive place. It is full of shimmering beauty.

Right next door to the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple rises the Sri Mariamman Temple. This South Indian style temple is much older than its neighbor. Parts of the temple complex date back to the early 19th century. The polychrome tower that we see was built in 1925.

Sri Mariamman Temple is important serving as a refuge for new immigrants, particularly South Indian Tamil Hindus. Besides providing an important place of worship for these immigrants, the temple granted them shelter until they found work and more permanent accommodation. Historically, the temple was the registry of marriages for Hindus. At that time, only the priest of the Sri Mariamman Temple was authorised to solemnise Hindu marriages in Singapore. Today, in addition to its religious services and functions, the temple promotes various social, cultural and educational activities. (source)

Only a block away is the more understated entryway to the Masjid Jamae Mosque. Tamil Muslims from the Coromandel Coast of South India first established a mosque on this site in 1826. The building we see today dates from the 1830s.

We found this photo of this street — Bridge Street — in 1900. You can see the earlier slimmer tower of the Sri Mariamman Temple along with the two minarets of the Masjid Jamae Mosque. 

While on a walking food tour (about which shortly!) we visited the Little India neighborhood.

Since the beginning of history, there have been exchanges between peoples of South Asia and the Malaysian peninsula. During the British colonial times, many Indians, especially from South India, came to the Malay region as agricultural laborers. While there is great diversity in the Indian community today, many current construction workers have come from the Indian subcontinent.

OK, that’s a few doses of architectural multiculturalism. Now, how about some food multiculturalism?

We have two experiences to share with you. The first is street food. The second is a remarkable experience of Peranakan cuisine; Peranakan culture is a hybrid of Chinese, Malay and Western heritage and is uniquely Singaporean. 

Street food first. 

The street-food term you hear immediately in Singapore is Hawker Centers. The history of food hawkers in the traditional sense — people selling food from a stand or cart — goes back as far as there have been people in Singapore. However, after independence in 1965, efforts began to regulate food vending to improve sanitation and security, as well as to transform Singapore into the modern international business hub that it is today. No one questioned the value of the impressive diversity of mom-and-pop food vending. But in Singapore’s signature top-down management style, the government built modern open-air markets into which the independent food vendors could (had to) operate. We’re sure there was plenty of controversy and resistance, but one result was the perpetuation of a huge range of amazing local foods to enjoy today.

Our food-tour guide was an enthusiastic local man of a certain age. He fed us from so many Hawker Center stands that (a) we couldn’t keep track of all the food, and (b) we couldn’t do more than polite bites in the last 50 stops. Well, it seemed like 50 stops. And (c), we’d very much like to go back and enjoy some more.

So, we’ll show you some of the stands along with some food from each. The signs will give you hints about what the food was.

Now, some outstanding Peranakan cuisine.

Once again, Somebody Feed Phil pointed us in the right direction. On his Singapore episode, he enjoyed a beautiful meal at Candlenut. Candlenut stands out because the chefs focus on traditional Peranakan cuisine, unique to Singapore. As you know, you can find foods from all over Asia and the world in Singapore; and that’s tremendous. At the same time, we found the idea of a precisely local food heritage fascinating.

The atmosphere of the restaurant is contemporary with heritage touches, light and airy, and far from stuffy. The servers and staff smiled authentically and were effortlessly informative.

It is not possible to convey in words the pleasure of this food. As you can see, the presentation was attractive, but not particularly fancy. We all shared the dishes with simple spoons.

But, the flavors were bright, clear and exquisite. Perhaps you’ve experienced Chinese or Indian food that is tasty, but also a bit of a mash-up of flavors. Not at all unpleasant. But like listening to a symphony with winter earmuffs on. When you take the earmuffs off, all the instruments of the orchestra come at you like separate shiny sparkles. 

That was what this food was like!

January – February 2024