Globetrottie 

isSingapore Food Culture vs Canberra Food Culture

 

6.3.15

After being here for a while, I realised that we have too often taken Singapore food variety for granted! Now when I am craving for a decent plate of Nasi Lemak, I have to drive to the City just to eat at Papparich. We had Hokkien Mee and Penang Laksa! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Canberra is different. They have many food festivals speckled around the annual calendar, so people actually attend the food markets. The recent one was the Enlighten Night Noodle Market. Although they have noodles there, the longest queue was for the Caramel BBQ Pork and Chicken Satay which is as long as my forearm. And each chunk of juicy meat is at least half my fist size. It's like super-sized satay if you will. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So far I have lost a good 3kg after coming here. I think it is because I loved to snack in Singapore and when I arrive here, the stuff I like is not available, and I will have to make them myself- And you know how lazy I am. I just gave up snacking altogether. 

 

I'm just born to snack ok? When growing up, biscuits with milk can be my breakfast. Cut fruits for an afternoon snack, and chocolates for another mid day snack. Pineapple tarts, Mochi, more cookies, tau huay, wasabi coated peas, frozen yogurt, grapes... wine and cheese at night. I'm constantly touching the fridge, and my mouth rarely stops moving. 

 

Good points on FOOD in Canberra

 

1) The food is fresher: Grain-fed Free range chicken, Organic Produce, Superfoods like Cous Cous/ Quinoa. Or perhaps I should say, eating healthy is affordable and available! 

There are of course imported fruits but it is not difficult to find locally grown Mangoes, Avocados, Garlics etc. Sometimes one super huge mango can be $2 AUD during season. Don't get me started on the huge bananas. Every morning, it is cereal and bananas OR oats and honey. When you eat stuff that's fresh out of the farm, it makes you happier!  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2) Healthy foods can be cheap too! 

A huge tub of yogurt, for your small 600ml tub in Singapore. SAME PRICE. I usually go for Paul's in Singapore because I find that the other brands are pretty much sugared down... I feel like I'm eating CREAM more than yogurt.  Paul's yogurt is really yogurt. So since now there areI try other brands, I'm trying them out. Sometimes they have recipes on the package.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3) Nutritional Panels are clearly stated on the labels of processed foods. Yes, it is the same in Singapore. You can't stay away from really good sauce as much as I preach against processed food. I just have to be really selective, or I make my own sauces - Sauce is the boss! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4) Supermarket variety is greater. Over here, the huge variety in the supermarkets for a certain type of food- for example smoked salmon, beats NTUC hands down. So you can have 20 types of smoked salmon, and you slowly make your decision. Hey, no one is hurrying you here anyway. There is no auntie with a cart to click her tongue at you with a "Tsk"- the most irritating sound in Singapore. One "tsk" is like an entire vocabulary of disgust encapsulated. 

 

5) We don't eat out much. 

Cooking at home is fast, easy and cheap. Sometimes we eat at friends' place. Besides there being LOVE in the food- it's free. lol. This is the chicken rice one of my friends made. SO DELICIOUS! Boon Tong Kee famous chicken rice recipe!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6) Hygiene standards are set into place. This is similar in some Singapore food courts as well. Food preparers have to wear a hair net and gloves etc. Such rules are hard to regulate in Singapore's local coffeeshops. I love coffeeshops, but don't tell me what's going on with the food when I'm picking out my 2 meat 1 veggie Chap Chai Peng (combination rice). We all know what's going on. The chefs wake up at 6am to prepare the food, and the food is left there on display until the lunch crowd(and flies) come. That's as fresh as it gets. If you order as part of the dinner crowd, what you will get is food that has been sitting there is the humid singapore air for the last 10 hours or so. Don't you wonder why these veggies are usually mashy?  Potatoes, Brinjal, Greens... you can't tell how long the food has been sitting there whereas salads wilt and you will know instantly it is not fresh. Since there is no coffeeshops (Kopitiam) in Canberra, we wouldn't have the risk of half-cooked cockles in our char kway teow, and cockroaches swimming in our porridge. 

 

7) If you do eat out, portions are huge. Big for us, normal for Aussies. 

 

Bad points

 

1) Eating out is expensive

Labour cost is factored into the food, obviously. And without much competition here, compared to Singapore and Sydney, (OMG SYDNEY FOOD IS AWESOME), the food here is much more expensive, and less delicious...My trip to Sydney- the only regret was that I didn't eat enough! That's JJ, my eating buddy. lol! See, he looks so happy cos authentic Korean fare was only $13 per pax for dinner! NO service charge, NO GST!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2) Cravings rarely satisfied

Who can blame me? I don't know but some restaurants serve a very unauthentic version of whatever- sushi doesn't taste like sushi.  Not even a basic standard. But somehow Pho is like the best ever Vietnam Pho with the right herbs and chewy sliced beef and all. It has something to do with the ethnic demographics I guess. Indian food is pretty good as well.

I think they are trying to cater to the local taste. Aussie diet is very much sandwiches and burgers. Bland to the discerning asian palette. Some Aussies take spicy food, but only once in a while. But my, do they LOVE their version of Asian food! Yum!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3) The Asian food here is damn oily and gross. I really don't know why!  *Swings head from side to side hysterically* There's just something about Canberra, they can't get Asian food right. Sydney knows it much better. Trust me. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well, all in all, Canberra is livable in terms of its food standards. One thing they really know how to do is to work the barbie- that's the BBQ. Sometimes there are free BBQ lunches around for the community. Smells so good! You definitely can't die of hunger here. I did a calculation. When I cook at home with all those fresh ingredients, I average $1-2 AUD per meal. Sure you can afford a couple of bucks for all that goodness that is going into your body!