Eating has long been Singaporeans' most well-known pastime; food is always on our minds.

It is, thus, unsurprising that the Michelin Guide trend has caught on so easily in Singapore, with customers queueing for hours just to have a taste of a new prestige ("Long queues at lauded hawker stalls"; July 16).

However, some people have shown discontent with the choices of restaurants and establishments, causing a massive uproar and commotion online, especially when what they deem undeserving choices make it into the Michelin Guide ("Michelin Guide: Some hits, some misses"; July 24, and "Dismay over eateries that were not represented"; July 23).

Yet, we do nothing constructive to show support for our favourite hawker food, aside from criticising the choices with friends.

Complaining, perhaps, does make us feel better, but if that delicious carrot cake dish is really something we value, we should be taking more concrete action. We have to put our money where our mouths are.

We can use our time, our attention and our limited number of lunches in this lifetime to show our support for hawkers we think are deserving.

We can turn to social media, blogs and even word of mouth to do this, and let the theory of economics work its magic.

These implicit payments that we make serve as a proxy for "dollar votes" that signal what we value and want in the market, in this case, recognition for that tasty char kuay teow and a place in the Michelin Guide, for instance.

As The Straits Times food editor Tan Hsueh Yun has said: "Save the outrage and the sneers. Stop rolling your eyes. It is time to get to work" ("Use buzz to fire up food scene and raise standards"; July 23).

Fiona Chan Enci (Miss)