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Singapore’s hawker culture at a crossroads
Hawker centres have been a key part of life in Singapore, but change is inevitable, and they may take on very different forms in the future.
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While itinerant hawkers were known to exist in Singapore’s early history, 1923 marks the first known “shelter for hawkers” (in People’s Park) –
PHOTO: ST FILE
Lily Kong
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Do you know that Singapore’s oldest hawker retired only recently at the age of 90, while the average age of new entrants is 34?
These were among the findings that emerged from my second extended exploration into the world of hawkers in Singapore. In 2007, I was the happy author of Singapore Hawker Centres: People, Places, Food. I had always wanted to chronicle this evolving institution, and the National Environment Agency (NEA), in inviting me to write the book then, had given me just the opportunity to turn hawker centre trips into “field work”.
