Food is often one of the first things that comes to mind when people think about different cultures. Food is also typically thought of as one of the shallowest representations of culture. However, food can serve as a rich signifier of a people’s culture. Indeed, in the history of the United States food has often been a significant indicator of cultural ideas and changes. As such while visiting Singapore, I was very keen to pay attention to the cuisine. Fortunately, as part of the program for this trip we had the opportunity to attend a cooking class for traditional Malay food. Malay is one of the three major ethnic groups in Singapore, alongside Chinese and Indians. This class included collaborating to make a traditional Malay chicken curry. One of the differences the chief noted is that were curry powder is more typically used now, our recipe used curry leaves in the sauce. This highlights how industrialization has changed the way some Singaporean food is prepared. Examples like this show how useful food is in examining and studying a culture.
