Hawker Centers

term ‘hawker’ refers to a person who informally sells something in public. A hawker center is where there are many hawkers selling, in this case, different varieties of affordable meals in a complex. Hawker centers are conveniently located at the heart of housing estates, usually with adjoining wet markets. Hawkers rent the stalls from the governing authority at a subsidised rate. This allows them to keep their prices affordable to the public.

Hawker centers differ from food-courts in that food-courts are indoors and air-conditioned. They are found mainly in shopping malls and other commercial venues. Like the hawker centers, food-courts sell a variety of different foods Customers typically pay a bit more for a meal there than for a similar meal at the hawker centres for the air-conditioned comfort.

Dining at a hawker centre is a quintessentially Singaporean experience,  allowing one to experience a wide variety of multicultural food and drinks at affordable prices. It is said approximately 80 percent of Singaporeans eat at hawker centres more than once a week. This, when one-third of Singaporeans eat out more than seven times weekly. This is not all that surprising. For authentic local food and flavours, you are more likely to find them at the hawker stalls.

Besides the authentic food and flavours, and the affordable prices, it is the convenience. The hawker center starts operation in the morning and closes late in the evening. For those near tourists areas, some close in the early morning hours. In this way, one can go to the hawker center at any time of the day to have something to eat. You can have breakfast, lunch, dinner and supper at the hawker center because different stalls cater to different crowds.

Hawker Centers. Many stalls selling local favourite foods.

You can have a light snack between meals, or …

… you can have a full meal.

A sugar cane drink. One of my favourite drinks.

In 2016, two Singaporean food stalls, both located in hawker centres, became the first food vendors to be awarded a Michelin Star for excellent food.

In 2019, Singapore submitted its nomination to inscribe its hawker culture on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Inscription was announced on 16 December 2020, when UNESCO described the hawker centre as "‘community dining rooms’ where people from diverse backgrounds gather and share the experience of dining over breakfast, lunch and dinner." - Wikipedia

You can click on the picture for a better view.

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