A sybarite’s Singapore

"Live to Eat," proclaimed the official guide

to the recent Singapore Food Festival. That

was a clarion call to the hedonist, but

thankfully the organizers of the festival,

notably the Singapore Tourism Board, did

not take it literally. It instead prepared a

well-wrought program that was as

aesthetically sound as the most

sophisticated gourmet dish.

We particularly refer to the way the festival was organized around the

island-state’s tourist attractions, such as breakfast and dinner in the Jurong

Bird Park, candle-lit dinner at the Mount Faber Cable Car Station, and lunch

with the lions at the Zoological Gardens. ("Are you sure it’s not lunch for the

lions?" I asked my guide.) It is true of course that this was nothing new. What

the festival achieved in fact was a consolidation of its innovations and

strengths. For a city-state that is obsessed with efficiency and perfection,

refining and improving old strengths is an achievement in itself.

But the coup this year was Singapore’s hosting of the World Gourmet

Summit. The theme of the summit, "The Rising Stars of the Century," pointed

to a rare culinary adventure, the charting no less of the future of the culinary

arts.

Holistic

Barring new achievements in gastronomic science, the future, if the Singapore

Food Festival is any indication, lies in combining taste with other sensual

feasts in one total, holistic program.

Take, for instance, the innovation this year: the "black-and-white affair" called

"Dinner with the Penguins." Held at Jurong Bird Park, the affair attracted

diners to the Penguin Parade, a glass showcase of various species of

penguins and puffins, not so much for the food, as to bask in the presence of

the furry sub-Atlantic creatures with the funny gait and an equally funny way

of diving and swimming.

Then there was the tour of the Spice Garden at Fort Canning, the former

British military base and even before that, the seat of power of the ancient

Malay kingdom, Temasak. The Garden is really a replica of the original

19-hectare tract that Sir Stamford Raffles built in 1822 as an experimental

botanical garden.

The morning tour was conducted by volunteers on a Saturday, and for

Filipinos like me who had yet to take to spicy fare, it was a rare occasion to

become enlightened on the whys and wherefores of Southeast Asian taste, its

strange predisposition to the hot and the spicy.

Botanically, it is easy to see the European fascination with spices that was the

main impetus for the western age of conquest. Spice plants, for instance, run

the gamut of flora—from the majestic Rain Tree to the exotic Yellow Flame,

Birdis Nest Fern, and Nutmeg.

Cuisine-wise, of course, spice flora remain the rage in Europe and much of

Asia. Indian- and Malay-based cuisine have spread like wildfire all over,

resulting in a globalization that has removed borders, transforming the world

into one big, merry kitchen.

In fact, after the tour, it was to the kitchen we went, not only to have a

traditional breakfast of tea and spices, but also to receive instruction from top

Malay culinary guru Zarina on the rigors of Malay cooking. This, in fact, was

one of the highlights of the festival. At least it reminded festival revelers that

there was more to food than eating.

Culinary school

In the hands-on training, we were made to cook Chicken Rendang (rich

coconut chicken stew), Long Beans with Tempeh, and Tamarind Prawns. I

am happy to announce I passed the course with flying colors, thank you. At

least, I was able to cook something edible.

The tour and instructional were organized by the at-sunrice, which runs a

culinary school, a shop, and a café at Fort Canning; it also organizes events

such as the Spice Garden tour. Its director, Kwan Lui, seeks to integrate the

many aspects of food and cooking into one culinary adventure.

Already at-sunrice is developing a curriculum and internship program to cater

to chefs and culinary enthusiasts interested in pan-Asian cuisine. The effort

will surely go a long way in evolving fusion cuisine and globalizing culinary

taste. (For information visit http://www.at-sunrice.com or e-mail

zeke@at-sunrice.com).

Another instructional workshop was the cooking workshop at the Senbazuru

Japanese restaurant at the New Otani Hotel, with no less than the hotel’s

GM, Chester M. Ikei, as instructor. Ikei took the participants on a survey of

the rituals and formalities of Japanese cooking and dining, which was really a

survey of Japanese culture and attitudes.

For appetizer, the workshop covered Marinated Jellyfish, Roll Maki,

Futomaki, and the indestructible Sashimi. For hot dishes, there were

Assorted Tempura and Deep-dish Tofu. The ensemble was served in bento

boxes, and dinner could not have been simpler and more delicious.

Dining high

An extraordinary experience was dining 60 meters above land through the

Singapore Cableway System that spans Mount Faber to Sentosa island. The

cabin fleet has undergone a recent S$10-million facelift and the new

upgraded cabins are luxurious and spacious, accommodating six passengers

at any time. The cabins are in rainbow colors and they sport wider glass

panels that offer the passenger a bird’s eyeview of Sentosa leisure island.

The dinner gave festival revelers a new high. According to Yap Tiang Seng,

manager of Sentosa Discovery Tours, many couples have spent many a

romantic dinner inside the cable cars. The peak season in fact is February 14

and thereabouts.

Perhaps the most popular among families was the Breakfast Eggxtravaganza

with the Birds at the Songbird Terrace of the Jurong Bird Park. The event

featured an array of egg dishes done in every way imaginable. For the

health-conscious, there were even scrambled egg whites.

Over at one corner, a parrot told a visitor’s fortune by picking a card from a

shuffled pack. Mine read, "Pay more attention to the activities around your

home. Money is not your main priority, enjoy life more." Tell that to my boss.

There was also a short bird show, a prelude to the daily 11 a.m. show that

featured biking macaws, swooping hawks, genteel flamingoes, and a parrot

that counted 1 to 10 and sang Happy Birthday.

Leonine feast

Back by popular demand was Lunch with the Lions at the Zoological

Gardens. It took place in a small pavilion beside the lion enclosure. A glass

wall separated the diners from the wild cats, which sometimes would jump at

the glass in their eager rush to catch the food being thrown at them by

zookeepers. Strangely enough, the leader of the pack stood above the fray,

merely gazing at the pack paternally and with a distant air. Truly a lion king.

After the lunch, we strolled down the Fragile Forest in order to get

acquainted with the fragility of the ecosystem and the creatures that thrived in

it.

It was this joining of the festive and the relevant, of gastronomy and

education, of cuisine and conscience that made the Singapore Food Festival

memorable. Surely, the festival was about something much more than food

and eating. After all, man does not live by bread alone.