Eating as a National Past-Time in Singapore

Everyone has heard of how eating is considered to be the national past-time of Singapore (besides shopping) but how did this come to be? Being called the national past-time of Singapore definitely means that we Singaporeans do this with a strong passion and it is rather true as once you bring up the subject of food to any Singaporean or a group of them, you will quickly enter a debate, sometimes fierce, about what food is good and which place serves the best version of it and so on and so forth. All this can possibly be traced down to the hawker history of Singapore, as well as our strong cultural diversity, creating a wide melting pot for the many different local cuisines to come together. But besides this, our unique geographical situation as a small island does play an important role as well. Due to the small size of Singapore, it is inevitable that the locals will run out of things to do or places to go. What is more natural then to turn to the next biggest thing – eating in Singapore.

Shopping is known as another of Singapore’s famous past-times but because it’s not a necessary evil like eating in Singapore, it didn’t overtake eating to become the “real” national past-time which is prevalent at almost any time of the day or night. You can find people eating kaya toast early in the morning, having dim sum in the afternoon, or roti prata near midnight. It is a social activity that lets everybody come together and bond, sharing experiences or even making new friends. And of course while everyone is eating in Singapore, there is a tendency to start sharing new places to eat and that just continues the cycle of eating and eating again. With all these factors and with few other cohesive national traits, eating in Singapore rapidly rose to become the one thing that all Singaporeans identified themselves with – the love of food and eating. Good food can be found all around the globe but in Singapore, the obsession with food and eating has been taken to a new level. It is truly something that every Singaporean has a great interest in together with many strong opinions about it. And if you’re a Singaporean, I’m sure right now you’re already planning on what to eat for lunch and maybe dinner! Hawker favourites that will surely whet your appetite Find the best restaurants in Singapore with other foodies