How enthusiasts in Singapore are leading a wet market revival

When Ms Pamelia Chia was in primary school, a fishmonger at Lakeview wet market gave her the nickname “assam fish”, inspired by her favourite childhood dish, which her mother often cooked using his fish.

“Back then, it was a thing for my family to visit the Lakeview market regularly. My grandparents would take me along for breakfast, or my mother would take me grocery shopping; it was a ritual,” says the 33-year-old chef and cookbook author.

When the market was slated to be demolished in 2000, most of the vendors relocated to the nearby Shunfu wet market.

Around the early 2000s, supermarkets became more prevalent in Singapore, and Ms Chia’s mother started frequenting them instead of Shunfu market.

According to the Singapore Food Agency, there were 168 supermarkets in 1993. By 2000, there were 193. By 2023, the number had jumped to 691.

“Suddenly you had, like, so many options, and they were air-conditioned. You didn’t have to put up with the smell or the wetness. And I think it was a very novel thing back then to not only have local produce, but ingredients from Japan or from South Korea, or from the West,” recalls Ms Chia.

“I kind of lost connection with the wet markets because of that. I didn’t go back... until I was working as a chef,” says the National University of Singapore food sciences graduate, whose culinary career included stints as a line cook at one-Michelin-starred Peranakan restaurant Candlenut and as a pastry chef at the now-defunct Lollapalooza restaurant.

In 2019, she published Wet Market To Table, a cookbook that quickly became a national bestseller and is now in its fourth printing. It showcases more than 80 recipes using lesser-known produce such as chayote, snake gourd and moringa, which is found in wet markets.

Through her research and writing, Ms Chia has developed a deep appreciation for the vibrant market culture. Today, she passionately encourages young Singaporeans to step beyond supermarkets to uncover the gems at wet markets.

“I think, definitely, wet markets are worth preserving... (But) the wet market has to adapt to local times. We see a lot of young vendors who have come into the picture and who are revitalising the business, while still retaining its soul,” says Ms Chia.

Over the years, wet market visits have steadily declined, according to the National Environment Agency (NEA). Its 2018 survey of 1,103 Singapore residents aged 18 to 69 found that 39 per cent had not stepped into a wet market in the past year – up from 33 per cent in 2016 and 23 per cent in 2014.

There are now 83 wet markets managed by the NEA and NEA-appointed operators, compared with 691 supermarkets.

As convenience becomes an increasingly important factor, more people are also turning to digital solutions for their grocery needs.

A 2023 survey of 1,000 Singapore residents conducted by digital grocer RedMart by Lazada and consumer research firm Milieu Insight showed that 80 per cent of the respondents shopped for groceries online. Within this group, three in five households did so at least once a month.

Mr Jeyaseelan, the third-generation owner of Jeya Spices, which sells customised blends for curries, stews and soups as well as other provisions at the wet market in Yishun Street 22, is feeling the heat.

“Based on the footfall and income that we generate, I would say the number of people who shop at wet markets is steadily decreasing. I won’t say that it’s too drastic, but it’s definitely a cause for concern, if you are talking about 10, 20 years down the road... If let’s say people don’t continue to support us, it’s definitely a dying trade,” says the 35-year-old, who goes by one name.

This generational shift is reflected in the experience of media professional Tan Li Jing, 32.

When she was growing up, she would tag along with her parents on their daily trips to the wet market in Tampines Street 81, a 10-minute walk from their home. The family cooked around four dishes and a soup for dinner almost every day.

Even today, her parents – a retired truck driver and a housewife – rarely shop at supermarkets and have never used online grocery platforms. They enjoy comparing items at the wet market to make sure they get the best value for money, while clocking up steps and chatting with long-time friends and neighbours.

However, that habit was not passed down to Ms Tan, who moved to an estate in Ubi with her husband in 2023. The nearest wet market is a 20-minute bus ride away in Eunos.

The couple prefer to eat at one of the food centres near their home, buy takeaways or have food delivered. A few times a week, they go to her parents’ home for home-cooked meals.

“Young people these days don’t like to cook at home, so they don’t even know how to choose good ingredients,” she admits, noting that the fruits her parents buy often taste better than those from supermarkets.

“I want to learn (how to choose food items), but I have no time to accompany my parents to the market all the time to learn from them.”

Despite the declining footfall at wet markets, a small group of enthusiasts – both novices and experts – have emerged in recent years.

Rising inflation and cost-of-living concerns are prompting some young Singaporeans to seek out affordable, better-quality produce in wet markets. Online forums are filled with discussions and tips on wet market shopping, indicating a growing interest.

The amount households spend on food includes not just ingredients for meal preparation or home consumption from grocery and convenience stores, but also meals from restaurants, cafes, hawker centres, foodcourts, coffee shops and food kiosks.

On social media platform Reddit, a quick count in the popular Singapore-centric sub-group r/Singapore found 14 discussion threads on wet markets in the past year.

Discussion topics include “Wet market shopping – help!” and “What is more economical: Wet market, RedMart or grocery stores?”

One user asked: “How are you dealing with the cost-of-living crisis?”. More than 140 comments followed, with recommendations such as cooking at home more often and shopping at wet markets instead of supermarket chains.

A 22-year-old female user posted a call for help. “Trying to get better at buying fruit, but honestly a bit nervous about going to wet markets alone. (FairPrice) just feels easier, but these days the fruits don’t seem as fresh. Help me out!!” she wrote.

The post garnered 44 upvotes from Reddit users. Dozens of users enthusiastically shared tips on how to navigate wet markets.

“Go to the market and be super-polite and nice to the fruit stall auntie and uncle,” one wrote.

Another suggested: “Make sure your slippers or shoes are non-slip, and bring a wallet that you’ll designate for wet market shopping as the dollar notes they return you can sometimes smell of raw fish.

Also on board to offer guidance are gurus like Ms Chia, whose cookbook serves up not just recipes, but also marketing tips and stories from wet market vendors.

“I wanted to bring awareness to lesser-known local produce, but at the same time make wet market shopping less intimidating for home cooks,” she explains.

Ms Chia believes in building personal connections with the vendors. Once a relationship is formed, she says, home cooks can enjoy many personalised services, like getting a fishmonger to debone and make fish paste for fishballs or asking a meat vendor to grind different beef cuts for the perfect burger patty.

Ms Chia wrote a second cookbook, Plantasia, which was published in 2023 and celebrates Asia’s rich history of cooking with vegetables. She also writes Singapore Noodles, a weekly Asian food newsletter, and hosts a podcast of the same name about Singapore’s food heritage. On the podcast, she has interviewed wet market stall owners like Mr Jeffrey Tan, a fishmonger who shared tips on how to select fresh fish at the market.

One of the biggest tips Ms Chia has for novice wet market shoppers is choosing a market and becoming a regular, a habit that she says can reap many rewards.

“Shop owners have so many customers, they can’t possibly remember all of them. So stop market-jumping, stick to the one that’s closest to you, and go there on a frequent basis and chat up the owners,” she says.

Vendors remember regulars and often offer special services to those who know how to ask for them. Ms Chia’s aunt is such a regular at her market that the vendors sometimes hand her items not available to other customers, like extra-fatty minced meat and out-of-season herbs, quietly slipping them into her trolley – almost like a covert exchange.

It takes time to build familiarity and trust with the vendors, so new shoppers need to be patient and keep going back, says Ms Chia.

“I learnt so much from the vendors and from the people who shop around me, and it makes the shopping experience a lot richer.”

Ms Sarah Huang Benjamin, 35, is another enthusiastic advocate. She started visiting wet markets when she moved back to Singapore after several years in the UK.

In October 2024, the content creator with more than 12,000 subscribers on YouTube released a series called Market Adventures, in which she explores wet markets and crafts dishes based on the ingredients she finds.

For her first episode, she bought mugwort, fresh borlotti beans and a kai lan stem from the now-closed Bukit Timah wet market, and cooked her version of Hakka thunder tea rice.

“I discovered there are so many ingredients you simply cannot get outside the wet market. When I started to interact with the stallholders, I was amazed at their knowledge. This is a really untapped resource,” she says.

Through the series, she wants to make wet market shopping less daunting for others. Future episodes will feature other wet markets in Singapore and the region and cooking hacks from market vendors. Her first episode has been viewed more than 8,400 times, with viewers leaving largely positive comments and asking for more episodes.

Mr Azfar Maswan, 30, visits the wet market at least once a week. Like Ms Chia, Mr Azfar’s interaction with the wet market was minimal when he was growing up. His family lived next to a 24-hour supermarket and bought most of their daily groceries from there.

He started visiting wet markets more often when he began cooking professionally as a chef and could not find certain niche ingredients in supermarkets.

Different markets have their specialities. For instance, the Tekka market is known for ingredients used in Peranakan, Thai and Vietnamese cuisines. The Chinatown market is a great place to find dried goods, such as dried oysters and dried clams.

Geylang Serai wet market is a favourite haunt of Mr Azfar’s, especially when he is looking for ingredients for Malay and Indonesian dishes that are not commonly found in other wet markets.

At Geylang Serai, he has found yeast for making tempeh oncom, a Sundanese fermented tofu by-product, and even Chinese wine yeast, used as a starter to make rice wine. These are items he has never seen in supermarkets.

“In supermarkets, we find a lot of produce from very faraway places, sometimes unnecessarily far. I feel like wet markets are a lens into South-east Asian cuisine,” says Mr Azfar. He experiments with new ingredients to whip up lesser-known regional dishes like Burmese tohu thoke (chickpea tofu salad) and Indonesian nasi ulam (steamed rice served with assorted herbs and vegetables).

Young people, he says, should not be intimidated by vendors who talk “roughly” or scold when they are asked too many questions.

“They are probably just busy and do not want customers lingering around their stall, so do not take it personally,” he says.

According to enthusiasts, two of the most compelling reasons for shopping at wet markets instead of supermarkets and digital grocers are the significant cost savings one can enjoy and being able to buy the exact amount of ingredients one needs.

Madam Teo Siew Kwee, 69, works full-time as a tea lady and cooks dinner for her family at least three to four times a week. She spends around $300 a month on groceries for her family of four by getting most of her fresh produce from the wet market.

Instead of pre-packaged supermarket portions, she buys exactly what she needs – whether it’s a single piece of ginger for $1.50 or a precise amount of fish paste for homemade fishballs.

She says this helps her avoid food waste and saves money.

Another big plus of shopping at the wet market is the ability to touch, smell and inspect produce before buying.

A good rule of thumb is to inspect vegetables and fruits for bruises and discolouration. Fruits like apples and pears should be firm, and fragrant when you sniff them.

For fresh fish, check under the gills, where the colour should be a bright red. Dark red gills indicate the fish has been dead for a long time. Clear eyes also show freshness, while cloudy eyes indicate an older catch.

Madam Teo offers tips for choosing some common ingredients: An eggplant should be slightly firm, but not hard. Shiny, smooth skin means it is fresh, while dull skin shows it was harvested a while ago.

Lotus root caked in mud “tastes better, sweeter and more tender”, she says.

Choose skinny French beans because they are younger and more tender. The same goes for ladies’ fingers: The smaller they are, the fewer seeds they have and the less fibrous they will be.

Go for green cucumbers with no yellow spots and which are not too fat. The bigger they are, the more seeds they have.

Being able to choose good produce to whip up the tastiest home meals is a skill set that Madam Teo has honed over decades. For those who need guidance on the ground, wet market tours offer a fun, immersive experience.

Ms Patricia Chen, 57, founder of Sekel Kitchen, is a private chef who runs wet market tours. For $150 a person, she typically takes a group of five participants to two wet markets. Each tour lasts about three hours, during which Ms Chen teaches participants how to choose the freshest seafood and shares practical tips on how they can navigate wet markets on their own.

She has taken groups to markets in Tekka, Ang Mo Kio, Redhill and Tiong Bahru.

Before the tour, Ms Chen will ask participants to research a particular seafood dish they want to cook at home. When they get to the markets, she teaches them how to shop for the freshest and best-tasting ingredients for the dishes.

“I’d say 90 per cent of cooking delicious food comes from choosing good-quality ingredients,” says Ms Chen, who also does pop-up catering events serving dishes inspired by ingredients found in South-east Asia and sells heritage dishes like Hakka abacus seeds and Peranakan nasi ulam from home.

“I teach participants to see and touch the produce. Among other things, they learn how to tell a good prawn or fish from a bad one, cook it at home, and get to compare it with the quality they get online and from supermarkets.”

Since she started her tours in May 2021, more than 150 people have attended them. She took a break for seven months to attend culinary school in Paris, but since August 2024, she has been running a tour almost every weekend. Slots are so popular that the waiting list is filled up a month in advance.

“Most of the participants are young parents. They want their kids to eat healthily and get used to healthy home cooking,” she says, adding that many senior citizens also attend the tours to bond with their adult children.

Some other guided tours cater to more specific interests, like the ones by Pasarfish, an education and research platform.

Founded in June 2024 by Mr Kenny Lek, 32, and Mr Elliott James Ong, 28, Pasarfish advocates for traceability in Singapore’s seafood supply chain.

The pair met while working at the global non-governmental organisation World Wide Fund for Nature, and bonded over their shared love of seafood.

They have been conducting surveys on the types of fish sold at wet markets, their abundance, and the ecological impact of current practices to develop sustainable seafood solutions in Singapore.

As part of this mission, they conduct workshops and booth activities related to local seafood culture. In August 2024, they launched their Know Your Fish market tours at Tekka wet market, aiming to foster public appreciation for wet markets and the cultural heritage of seafood consumption.

Since then, they have conducted eight sessions with more than 70 participants. For $20 each, attendees enjoy a two-hour guided tour of various fish stalls. Announced via Instagram stories one to two weeks in advance, the tours are capped at eight participants and typically sell out within a day. Most attendees are aged 25 to 35.

Both Mr Lek and Mr Ong grew up visiting wet markets with their parents and grandparents, picking up tips from them.

“We are very familiar with the wet markets, but we realised slowly that that’s not the case for most Singaporeans our age,” says Mr Ong.

Mr Lek adds: “We want people to start asking questions like where and how their fish is caught. And who knows the best? Fishmongers.”