The HRG aims to encourage local institutes of higher learning, research institutions, and non-governmental organisations to embark on such heritage-related research projects; grow and develop the heritage ecosystem in Singapore; and promote the use and development of technologies for the documentation and preservation of Singapore’s heritage.
Culinary Biographies: Charting Singapore’s History Through Cooking and Consumption
Project Abstract
Culinary Biographies seeks to examine Singapore’s intangible food heritage from a longue durée perspective. Spanning Singapore’s documented 700-year history, this study will trace the pathways through which ingredients, techniques, and regional culinary philosophies converged in Singapore. The project will demonstrate how these conjunctures established crucial precedents for some of Singapore’s most iconic food offerings, mapping out the everyday historical contexts in which the island’s cuisines emerged and evolved. Through food, the study will encourage interest in Singapore’s social history among residents of different generations.
Our investigation seeks to construct the ‘culinary biographies’ of seven food items: fish-head curry, ice kachang, laksa, biryani, Milo dinosaur, sweet potato lemak, and betel quid. We combine a focus on cuisine with the novel concept that all food items have socially embedded ‘lives’ that change over time, revealing the long-term dynamics and historical underpinnings of Singapore’s food heritage. Each biography will trace the diversity of locations where each offering and its predecessors were prepared, the knowledge and practices of their creators and consumers, and each food’s underlying material realities. In doing so, our framework aims to consolidate understandings of how tangible and intangible notions of heritage can be mutually reinforcing.
Project Duration: Oct 2018 – Oct 2020
Research Publications:
1. “A Fresh Look at Fish through a Brief History of Fish Head Curry.” Berita Newsletter (Winter 2019/2020): 5-10 by Geoffrey K. Pakiam
Public Talks:
1. “HistoriaSG Far From Extinct? A History of the Milo Dinosaur in Singapore.” by Geoffrey K. Pakiam. (National Museum of Singapore, 14 September 2019) Transcript of Talk | Video
2. “Chew on This: Discussions and Collaborations – Hospitality and Food Rituals Panel Discussion with Alecia Neo, Baba GT Lye, and Geoffrey Pakiam.” (Asian Civilisations Museum, 27 June 2020) Video
3. “Towards a Culinary Biography of Fish Head Curry.” by Geoffrey Pakiam. (Yale-NUS College, 11 November 2020) Video
Principal Investigator:
Dr Geoffrey K. Pakiam, Fellow, ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute
Co-Investigators:
1. Mr Michael Yeo Chai Ming, Department of History, University of Oxford / Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
2. Dr Loh Kah Seng, Independent Scholar (Oct 2018 – 31 Jan 2020)
For more information, please contact:
Dr Geoffrey K. Pakiam: geoffrey_pakiam@iseas.edu.sg