photo: Nasi Lemak dish with Chicken Rendang
For people residing abroad, the practice of cooking and eating together are linked to their memories of home according to Dr Kelvin Low, an Associate Professor of Sociology at the National University of Singapore.[1]
Food is an important aspect of culture no matter where one resides. For Singaporeans living or working abroad, food is the one thing they missed most when feeling homesick.
As a result, some expat Singaporeans have resorted to picking up cooking skills and selling their creations. One example is Mr Jasni Zakaria, a 52-year old who has lived in Finland for over 23 years. Restaurants selling Chinese or Indian food somehow do not satisfy his taste buds. This craving for Singaporean-flavours have led him to start cooking his own meals. Eventually he proceeded to selling Singapore snacks at food festivals and outside football stadiums. His signature dish is the curry puff – a snack made with chicken breast meat and potatoes in deep fried pastry.[2]
Another example is Ms. Faridah Zee Jusuf, a 57-year old, who moved to the United States 17 years ago. After retiring from the real estate industry, she went into the food business launching ZippyZee Kitchen.[3] She tries to locate pop-up events or farmer’s markets to sell dishes such as nasi lemak – a combination of coconut rice and chicken rendang. Singaporean Angie Tan and German Fabian Böddecker lamented the near absence of Singapore cuisine in Germany. The closest matching cuisine was Malaysian foods, but these items were often included as part of the menu of Chinese restaurants. Both of them started experimenting with recipes and eventually opened their store – riceandbread – in Germany, selling dishes such as Chicken Curry.[4]
photo: A Chicken Curry dish