Singapore

The Asian Food Capital


Basmati Bismi
Bismi brand basmati rice dispenser next to your truck box.
Red X-Plosive
Chillies are one of the essential ingredients in many Singaporean dishes.
change time
Malay women shop at a food market in Singapore's Tekka Mall.
men's task
Ethnic Tamil Singaporeans buy vegetables at a street stall in Little India.
lively night
Singapore's Chinatown street is lively and full of people savoring the small nation's specialties.
other flavors
Austrian cook sells Wiener sausages on the streets of Singapore's Chinatown, to date of photography, with huge success.
Decoration and signs
The astrological relationship has not been proven, but a scale lies next to an aquarium on a stand in the Tekka Mall food market.
flavor silver
Detail of one of the traditional dishes served at Hawker Centers in Singapore.
Tian Yuan
Owner of a Hawker Center stall stocked with ingredients and a bilingual menu posted.
jelly fruit
Detail of a dessert as colorful as it is simple that combines pudding with gelatin.
Durion-flavored architecture
A detail of the Esplanade - Theaters on the Bay, the most emblematic cultural building in Singapore, inspired by the national fruit, the durian.
Lunch break
Rickshaw driver recovers his energy by devouring a home-cooked meal.
Vegetable's Chias
Women at a vegetable stand in Little India
There were 4 ethnic groups in Singapore, each with its own culinary tradition. Added to this was the influence of thousands of immigrants and expatriates on an island with half the area of ​​London. It was the nation with the greatest gastronomic diversity in the Orient.

Os hawker centers they are a kind of Singaporean institution.

We felt officially desperate at the abundance of indoor stands twinned in several rows and with their specialties and menus arranged in a similar way.

We were hungry but we limited ourselves to going around that aromatic area of ​​the Teka Mall. With that, we only fueled the enormous indecision, made even more ridiculous by the simultaneous nods and appeals of the counter employees of the closest establishments:

“Come here, try my specialties! They'll love it!” or "It's my food they're looking for, I'm absolutely sure!"

Singapore is one of the most orderly nations on Earth, there is no doubt but these shopkeepers had to do for a living and the vision of two outsiders trying to decide was stronger than the most uncomplex.

Lost in the Menus and Flavors of the Teka Mall, at the Doors of Little India

We ended up giving in to the call of one of them, of Malay ethnicity. We approached his window and unleashed a list of questions about what consisted or contained this or that.

Singapore Asian Capital Food, Chillies

Chillies are one of the essential ingredients in many Singaporean dishes.

Enlightened, we ended up asking for a fried rice (fried rice with pieces of meat and vegetables) and a large mommy (a soup of noodles rich and quite spicy).

When the food was ready, the lady served us without big smiles at the table where we had been seated.

It took us forever to share the two dishes, largely due to the potency of the soup that we weren't prepared for.

Then we tried a glass of chendol.

Singapore Asian Capital Food, Jelly Fruit

Detail of a dessert as colorful as it is simple that combines pudding with gelatin.

We celebrated when we saw how similar it was to the halo halo desserts that we had devoured countless times in the Philippines, made from coconut milk, rice flour, gelatin, palm sugar and, as with the chendol ahead of us, often fortified with red beans.

More than satisfied, it occurred to us that this was a real food court. It's not that Singapore didn't have them in large numbers, too, in its countless shopping centers that are little or nothing different from what we have here.

Already a covered area, huge like that, with hundreds of mini-restaurants side and side, grouped by ethnic groups, to avoid as much as possible quarrels and confusion, serving a little of everything, that we were not used to seeing.

Hawker centers like Teka and dozens around the island are not just for lunchtime meals during the week. Even when Singaporeans dine out in groups, they prefer them to conventional restaurants.

Thus, they take advantage of its convenience, much lower prices and the endless diversity of offer that had left us so confused.

Singapore Asian Capital Food, banking market

Owner of a Hawker Center stall stocked with ingredients and a bilingual menu posted.

The Historical, Ethnic and Gastronomic Wealth of Singapore

Singapore has always been a key Asian port served by a population largely from elsewhere.

Over time, the cuisines of the Malay natives and that of the island's largest ethnic group, the Chinese, mingled with each other and with those of the Indian ethnic groups – especially Tamil -, the Peranakan of Chinese descendants for a long time. installed in Penang, Malacca, Indonesia and Singapore itself.

The ethnic spice did not stop there.

Singapore Asian Capital Food, Chinatown

Singapore's Chinatown street is lively and full of people savoring the small nation's specialties.

The genetic fusion of the Portuguese who dominated the spice market for two centuries and continued to inhabit Malacca and Singapore with the natives, English, Dutch, Chinese and Indians gave rise to the Kristang group.

Its cuisine also enjoys great prestige.

As was to be expected, in addition to a countless number of ingredients and dishes from all those places as well as their variations, many other recipes today considered hybrid or multicultural have also appeared on the island.

Singapore Asian Capital Food, Snack

Detail of one of the traditional dishes served at Hawker Centers in Singapore.

A Multi-Ethnic Nation with a Multi-Awarded Food

We only need to move from the localized but delicious and invigorating world of Hawker centers to the world of international prestige to see the popularity of Singaporean cuisine.

In 2011, CNN decided to conduct an online election of the “50 Most Delicious Foods in the World".

Four of the most popular dishes were idolized in Singapore: Hainan Chicken Rice, Crab Chili, Laksa (Perakanan noodle soup) and Roti Prata, usually served with meat or vegetable curry and which can be cooked with cheese, onion , banana, beans, chocolate, mushrooms, eggs or others.

Esplanade - Theaters on the Bay, Lunch Break

Rickshaw driver recovers his energy by devouring a home-cooked meal.

Ingredients like these are obtained in different markets conveniently adjacent to the hawker centers.

There are those of meat, fish, vegetables, etc, etc., in which several restaurant owners maintain other businesses and where everyone is supplied.

Singapore Asian Capital Food, banking market

Malay women shop at a food market in Singapore's Tekka Mall.

After that meal and others in similar places, we almost never resist wandering through its confusing corridors.

Among housewives wrapped in saris, under hijabs or in Western and modern dresses, attended by butchers, fishmongers, and other merchants, given body and soul to the trades.

Singapore Asian Capital Food, Basmati Bismi

Bismi brand basmati rice dispenser next to your truck box.

Wandering through Singapore's Prolific Markets

A large part of their purchases are dedicated to almost secular homemade meals, sometimes shared by groups of different religions, in this case, paying attention to the restrictions of each one: the pork for the Muslims, the cow for the Hindus, preferably poultry or vegetarians if both are seated at the table.

On any other day, we were walking through the neighborhood of little india when we came across the strange scene of dozens of Indian Singaporeans on a terrace, almost all of them with lassis in hand, watching what looked like a Bollywood classic.

Outdoor Theater, Little India, Sari Singapore, Singapore

Spectators at an open-air cinema session in Little India.

Curious, we sat down, ordered two and watched the last moments of the noisy feature film. In the end, we found ourselves chattering away with a haughty Sikh and infectious speech.

We spoke to him about the phenomenon of lassis and ended up getting involved in a long three-way debate that involved the Singaporean political system and the true importance of Indian ethnicities in the country. But it also obviously went through the food.

“What are you guys, by the way? Catholics, Protestants? Are they nothing? Ah, OK, that's it, those are free thinkers no god or gods, I get it.

The Role of Gastronomy in Singaporean Complex Identity

Well, anyway, you have to understand that here in Singapore, things have been working like this for a long time”, sought to enlighten us, Singh, who was increasingly excited by the interest we showed and the depth that the conversation took on.

“We coexist with our ethnicities and religions but the rivalry between ethnic groups remains.

One of the ways to prevent our identity from being lost in that of others or, worse, simply in the West, is to respect traditions. Those weary and gastronomy in general plays an unavoidable role in Singapore.

It only takes some money for a family from here to cross the entire island to get to a restaurant with food they really like, whatever the time.

In fact, it's even common for Singaporeans to return home earlier than they thought from abroad just because they miss their favorite dishes.”

The dissertation continued. It left us convinced and more attentive to the matter.

In the last days of our visit, we explored the Marina Bay area, at the mouth of the Singapore River.

Singapore Asian Capital Food, Esplanade - Theaters on the Bay

A detail of the Esplanade – Theaters on the Bay, the most emblematic cultural building in Singapore, inspired by the national fruit, the durian.

We found that even the architecture of Esplanade – Theaters on The Bay, the main arts center in the country, is reportedly inspired by the durian, the malodorous national fruit that the authorities had to ban from the public transport network.

São Tomé and Principe

Cocoa Roças, Corallo and the Chocolate Factory

At the beginning of the century. In the XNUMXth century, São Tomé and Príncipe generated more cocoa than any other territory. Thanks to the dedication of some entrepreneurs, production survives and the two islands taste like the best chocolate.
Singapore

The Island of Success and Monotony

Accustomed to planning and winning, Singapore seduces and recruits ambitious people from all over the world. At the same time, it seems to bore to death some of its most creative inhabitants.
Suzdal, Russia

The Suzdal Cucumber Celebrations

With summer and warm weather, the Russian city of Suzdal relaxes from its ancient religious orthodoxy. The old town is also famous for having the best cucumbers in the nation. When July arrives, it turns the newly harvested into a real festival.
Enxame Mozambique

Mozambican Fashion Service Area

It is repeated at almost all stops in towns of Mozambique worthy of appearing on maps. The machimbombo (bus) stops and is surrounded by a crowd of eager "businessmen". The products offered can be universal such as water or biscuits or typical of the area. In this region, a few kilometers from Nampula, fruit sales suceeded, in each and every case, quite intense.
Little India, Singapore

The Sari Singapore of Little India

There are thousands of inhabitants instead of the 1.3 billion of the mother country, but Little India, a neighborhood in tiny Singapore, does not lack soul. No soul, no smell of Bollywood curry and music.
Sentosa, Singapore

Singapore's Fun Island

It was a stronghold where the Japanese murdered Allied prisoners and welcomed troops who pursued Indonesian saboteurs. Today, the island of Sentosa fights the monotony that gripped the country.
Fergana Valley, Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan, The Nation That Does Not Lack Bread

Few countries employ cereals like Uzbekistan. In this republic of Central Asia, bread plays a vital and social role. The Uzbeks produce it and consume it with devotion and in abundance.
World Food

Gastronomy Without Borders or Prejudice

Each people, their recipes and delicacies. In certain cases, the same ones that delight entire nations repel many others. For those who travel the world, the most important ingredient is a very open mind.
Amboseli National Park, Mount Kilimanjaro, Normatior Hill
Safari
Amboseli National Park, Kenya

A Gift from the Kilimanjaro

The first European to venture into these Masai haunts was stunned by what he found. And even today, large herds of elephants and other herbivores roam the pastures irrigated by the snow of Africa's biggest mountain.
Braga or Braka or Brakra in Nepal
Annapurna (circuit)
Annapurna Circuit: 6th – Braga, Nepal

The Ancient Nepal of Braga

Four days of walking later, we slept at 3.519 meters from Braga (Braka). Upon arrival, only the name is familiar to us. Faced with the mystical charm of the town, arranged around one of the oldest and most revered Buddhist monasteries on the Annapurna circuit, we continued our journey there. acclimatization with ascent to Ice Lake (4620m).
Architecture & Design
napier, New Zealand

Back to the 30s – Old-Fashioned Car Tour

In a city rebuilt in Art Deco and with an atmosphere of the "crazy years" and beyond, the adequate means of transportation are the elegant classic automobiles of that era. In Napier, they are everywhere.
Boats on ice, Hailuoto Island, Finland.
Adventure
Hailuoto, Finland

A Refuge in the Gulf of Bothnia

During winter, the island of Hailuoto is connected to the rest of Finland by the country's longest ice road. Most of its 986 inhabitants esteem, above all, the distance that the island grants them.
Bertie in jalopy, Napier, New Zealand
Ceremonies and Festivities
Napier, New Zealand

Back to the 30s

Devastated by an earthquake, Napier was rebuilt in an almost ground-floor Art Deco and lives pretending to stop in the Thirties. Its visitors surrender to the Great Gatsby atmosphere that the city enacts.
Athens, Greece, Changing of the Guard at Syntagma Square
Cities
Athens, Greece

The City That Perpetuates the Metropolis

After three and a half millennia, Athens resists and prospers. From a belligerent city-state, it became the capital of the vast Hellenic nation. Modernized and sophisticated, it preserves, in a rocky core, the legacy of its glorious Classical Era.
Obese resident of Tupola Tapaau, a small island in Western Samoa.
Meal
Tonga, Western Samoa, Polynesia

XXL Pacific

For centuries, the natives of the Polynesian islands subsisted on land and sea. Until the intrusion of colonial powers and the subsequent introduction of fatty pieces of meat, fast food and sugary drinks have spawned a plague of diabetes and obesity. Today, while much of Tonga's national GDP, Western Samoa and neighbors is wasted on these “western poisons”, fishermen barely manage to sell their fish.
scarlet summer
Culture

Valencia to Xativa, Spain (España)

Across Iberia

Leaving aside the modernity of Valencia, we explore the natural and historical settings that the "community" shares with the Mediterranean. The more we travel, the more its bright life seduces us.

Reindeer Racing, Kings Cup, Inari, Finland
Sport
Inari, Finland

The Wackiest Race on the Top of the World

Finland's Lapps have been competing in the tow of their reindeer for centuries. In the final of the Kings Cup - Porokuninkuusajot - , they face each other at great speed, well above the Arctic Circle and well below zero.
Plane landing, Maho beach, Sint Maarten
Traveling
Maho Beach, Sint Maarten

The Jet-powered Caribbean Beach

At first glance, Princess Juliana International Airport appears to be just another one in the vast Caribbean. Successive landings skimming Maho beach that precedes its runway, jet take-offs that distort the faces of bathers and project them into the sea, make it a special case.
Coin return
Ethnic
Dawki, India

Dawki, Dawki, Bangladesh on sight

We descended from the high and mountainous lands of Meghalaya to the flats to the south and below. There, the translucent and green stream of the Dawki forms the border between India and Bangladesh. In a damp heat that we haven't felt for a long time, the river also attracts hundreds of Indians and Bangladeshis in a picturesque escape.
Rainbow in the Grand Canyon, an example of prodigious photographic light
Got2Globe Photo Portfolio
Natural Light (Part 1)

And Light was made on Earth. Know how to use it.

The theme of light in photography is inexhaustible. In this article, we give you some basic notions about your behavior, to start with, just and only in terms of geolocation, the time of day and the time of year.
Ross Bridge, Tasmania, Australia
History
Discovering tassie, Part 3, Tasmania, Australia

Tasmania from Top to Bottom

The favorite victim of Australian anecdotes has long been the Tasmania never lost the pride in the way aussie ruder to be. Tassie remains shrouded in mystery and mysticism in a kind of hindquarters of the antipodes. In this article, we narrate the peculiar route from Hobart, the capital located in the unlikely south of the island to the north coast, the turn to the Australian continent.
Refreshing bath at the Blue-hole in Matevulu.
Islands
Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu

The Mysterious Blue Holes of Espiritu Santo

Humanity recently rejoiced with the first photograph of a black hole. In response, we decided to celebrate the best we have here on Earth. This article is dedicated to blue holes from one of Vanuatu's blessed islands.
Era Susi towed by dog, Oulanka, Finland
Winter White
PN Oulanka, Finland

A Slightly Lonesome Wolf

Jukka “Era-Susi” Nordman has created one of the largest packs of sled dogs in the world. He became one of Finland's most iconic characters but remains faithful to his nickname: Wilderness Wolf.
Almada Negreiros, Roça Saudade, Sao Tome
Literature
Saudade, São Tomé, São Tomé and Principe

Almada Negreiros: From Saudade to Eternity

Almada Negreiros was born in April 1893, on a farm in the interior of São Tomé. Upon discovering his origins, we believe that the luxuriant exuberance in which he began to grow oxygenated his fruitful creativity.
Joshua Tree National Park, California, United States,
Nature
PN Joshua Tree, California, United States

The Arms stretched out to Heaven of the PN Joshua Tree

Arriving in the extreme south of California, we are amazed by the countless Joshua trees that sprout from the Mojave and Colorado deserts. Like the Mormon settlers who named them, we cross and praise these inhospitable settings of the North American Far West.
Mother Armenia Statue, Yerevan, Armenia
Autumn
Yerevan, Armenia

A Capital between East and West

Heiress of the Soviet civilization, aligned with the great Russia, Armenia allows itself to be seduced by the most democratic and sophisticated ways of Western Europe. In recent times, the two worlds have collided in the streets of your capital. From popular and political dispute, Yerevan will dictate the new course of the nation.
Tinquilco Lake in PN Huerquehue, Pucón, La Araucania, Chile
Natural Parks
Pucón, Chile

Among the Araucarias of La Araucania

At a certain latitude in longline Chile, we enter La Araucanía. This is a rugged Chile, full of volcanoes, lakes, rivers, waterfalls and the coniferous forests from which the region's name grew. And it is the heart of the pine nuts of the largest indigenous ethnic group in the country: the Mapuche.
Solovetsky, Islands, Archipelago, Russia, Autumn, UAZ, Autumn road
UNESCO World Heritage
Bolshoi Solovetsky, Russia

A Celebration of the Russian Autumn of Life

At the edge of the Arctic Ocean, in mid-September, the boreal foliage glows golden. Welcomed by generous cicerones, we praise the new human times of Bolshoi Solovetsky, famous for having hosted the first of the Soviet Gulag prison camps.
Ooty, Tamil Nadu, Bollywood Scenery, Heartthrob's Eye
Characters
Ooty, India

In Bollywood's Nearly Ideal Setting

The conflict with Pakistan and the threat of terrorism made filming in Kashmir and Uttar Pradesh a drama. In Ooty, we see how this former British colonial station took the lead.
Fisherman maneuvers boat near Bonete Beach, Ilhabela, Brazil
Beaches
Ilhabela, Brazil

In Ilhabela, on the way to Bonete

A community of caiçaras descendants of pirates founded a village in a corner of Ilhabela. Despite the difficult access, Bonete was discovered and considered one of the ten best beaches in Brazil.
Police intervention, ultra-Orthodox Jews, Jaffa, Tel Aviv, Israel
Religion
Jaffa, Israel

Unorthodox protests

A building in Jaffa, Tel Aviv, threatened to desecrate what ultra-Orthodox Jews thought were remnants of their ancestors. And even the revelation that they were pagan tombs did not deter them from the contestation.
Chepe Express, Chihuahua Al Pacifico Railway
On Rails
Creel to Los Mochis, Mexico

The Barrancas del Cobre & the CHEPE Iron Horse

The Sierra Madre Occidental's relief turned the dream into a construction nightmare that lasted six decades. In 1961, at last, the prodigious Chihuahua al Pacifico Railroad was opened. Its 643km cross some of the most dramatic scenery in Mexico.
Riders cross the Ponte do Carmo, Pirenópolis, Goiás, Brazil
Society
Pirenópolis, Brazil

A Polis in the South American Pyrenees

Mines of Nossa Senhora do Rosário da Meia Ponte were erected by Portuguese pioneers, in the peak of the Gold Cycle. Out of nostalgia, probably Catalan emigrants called the mountains around the Pyrenees. In 1890, already in an era of independence and countless Hellenizations of its cities, Brazilians named this colonial city Pirenópolis.
Saksun, Faroe Islands, Streymoy, warning
Daily life
Saksun, StreymoyFaroe Islands

The Faroese Village That Doesn't Want to be Disneyland

Saksun is one of several stunning small villages in the Faroe Islands that more and more outsiders visit. It is distinguished by the aversion to tourists of its main rural owner, author of repeated antipathies and attacks against the invaders of his land.
Jabula Beach, Kwazulu Natal, South Africa
Wildlife
Saint Lucia, South Africa

An Africa as Wild as Zulu

On the eminence of the coast of Mozambique, the province of KwaZulu-Natal is home to an unexpected South Africa. Deserted beaches full of dunes, vast estuarine swamps and hills covered with fog fill this wild land also bathed by the Indian Ocean. It is shared by the subjects of the always proud Zulu nation and one of the most prolific and diverse fauna on the African continent.
Passengers, scenic flights-Southern Alps, New Zealand
Scenic Flights
Aoraki / Mount Cook, New Zealand

The Aeronautical Conquest of the Southern Alps

In 1955, pilot Harry Wigley created a system for taking off and landing on asphalt or snow. Since then, his company has unveiled, from the air, some of the greatest scenery in Oceania.
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