LIFESTYLE Food

Musings of the Hungry Bunny

“Food porn”, as I like to call it. I’ve always loved watching lifestyle channels on TV and with the advent of the internet, I have discovered the guilty indulgence of reading food blogs. I love the gorgeous mouthwatering pictures of food and salivate over the descriptions of the flavours and experiences of food bloggers. I used to get hungry just looking at the tantalising photos. And then I wondered, how hard is it to start a foodblog of my own? I’ve toyed with the idea of starting my own food blog for some time now and admittedly, it took a bit of pushing from a number of people to get this done.

If I didn’t become a lawyer, I would have loved to be a TV food and travel guide. Alas, I’ve heard myself on tape, and trust me, I sound like a distorted version of Mickey Mouse. Not adorable at all. And my “good friends” will attest to that.

I have to confess, I hate coriander, celery and garland chrysanthemum. I dislike spring onions, onions and garlic, unless they are completely wilted and cooked through till they have lost their pungency. I don’t care for supposed delicacies such as durians, sharks fin, gingko nuts and foie gras. I won’t eat cockles, clams, mussels, geoduck, sea cucumber, century eggs, brinjal, asparagus, artichokes and lady’s fingers, all of which I know are loved by many. The list goes on. Alright, I admit that I’m extremely picky – have been since I was a child and took two hours to finish every meal, if it was finished at all (unless it was fried chicken wings or roti prata). That’s why I don’t profess to be a true blue foodie, one in the league of Anthony Bourdain who will try anything once, including balut, a Filipino delicacy of a boiled half-formed duck embryo, so you end up eating feathers, beak and all. But, mine is a subjective blog after all, one that is written from my point of view. Also, I like to think I’m extremely low maintenance because I don’t like expensive food such as abalone, escargot or bird’s nest.

You know how some people who, after working out, will keep to a healthier eating regime so as not to negate the hours put into gruelling exercise? And you know how some people work out just so that they can justify their pig-out sessions after? I belong to the latter category where my only motivation is to think about what I’m going to eat after exercise. To me, that is the whole point of exercise.

I hate eating with people who watch their diets obsessively. Dieting and counting your calories takes the joy out of eating. I believe a person who doesn’t enjoy his/her food is a person who hasn’t truly lived.
Passion for food correlates to a passion for life.

I am determined that my blog not be reserved only for haute cuisine. It’s pretentious to blog only or primarily about fancy schmansy fine dining restaurants. Singapore is largely characterised by world class hawker cuisine, which is second to none. If I were to be based overseas, I wouldn’t miss food from the fine dining establishments in Singapore; I would mostly miss the food in the hawker centres. The Singaporean food that will be missed are precisely local food like char kway teow or hokkien mee which are not easily available overseas, and even if they are, they are a mere shadow of the versions here. On the other hand, there are so many Michelin and Zagat rated restaurants overseas which arguably Singapore cannot compete with because those are truly in a league of their own. Where else but in Singapore can you get great soul food at relatively clean places and ridiculously cheap prices?

I also don’t understand the masochistic Singaporean habit of queuing up for hours on end and/or enduring abuse by “Food Nazis”, just to eat “good food”. Isn’t eating supposed to be an enjoyable experience? I find it perplexing that Singaporeans will endure the foul moods and abuse of some of our country’s infamous “Food Nazis” just to eat “good food”. Service is part of the food you eat. I don’t expect fine dining attentiveness and politeness when I go to a hawker centre, but I draw the line at being abused. The food, no matter how wonderful, should never deprive one of basic manners.

Further, here’s a tip. Singaporeans have very short attention spans. Food fads come and go faster than it takes for Amy Winehouse to go in and out of rehab. So if there’s some newfangled food fad, wait six months; there’ll be no more queuing by then.

I’m glad to inform that my food blog is finally up and running, after more than six months of learning the intricacies of the numerous and confusing applications in the blogosphere by myself (which is a tremendous personal achievement seeing as I am somewhat of a tech-idiot) and with the help of the brilliant IT support guy, of course.

Bernice Tan
Harry Elias Partnership
http://thehungrybunnie.blogspot.com