I am going to respond and react to my former Straits Times colleague Wong Kim Hoh’s article (“You are what you eat”) last Sunday about the love in food which, as you know, differs vastly from love FOR food. I can not just taste but feel the lotus root and red dates in the soup his mummy brewed for Kim Hoh. Like him, I am as Cantonese, love my soups and leftover stews and fuyue (fermented beancurd) but just unusually a bit more curious and inquisitive with the palate.

I think, it’s more like- you eat what you are, instead. Food today has been touted as a “lifestyle” product and culture. Yep, it’s an excuse to monetize and commercialise the whole thing and turn chow to “wow”. We put chefs up on a pedestal, accord them stars, make them culinary heroes and wear their achievements on our national jacket of pride. We have too many food television shows here and still, the viewers lap it up series after series. The local food blogs, wah, lets not even go down that deep ditch. In short, we are told and shown how we must enjoy our food. But I’ll tell you this, I don’t know what “subliminal” taste like nor do give a hoot about molecular gastronomy. But I admire Ferran Adria, the father of molecular gastronomy, for his art, which can only come about when you are crazy in love with food, not for it. I can eat and enjoy his food (haven’t so, still waiting for the stars to align a chance for me), but I’ll probably digest the love and passion in his heart. I have been asked many times how I can tell one seemingly similar dish from another and even give it a rating or accord it our ultimate accolade- die,die,must try. The smokey answer, just in case you want to ask that next time we meet, is that “I eat with my eyes and digest from the heart”. Not so cheem, if you follow the instinctive natural rule of enjoying your meal. Just let the moment take you.

A plate of Char Kway Teow

When you next consider a char kway teow meal, watch the cook. Enjoy the act- from cleaning the wok (notice how they wipes and quick rinse but not washes it as it has to do with enhancing wok performance), to how he keeps his eyes on the noodles as he sears it ( he stops just short of burning it to achieve that scent of fire in his noodles). Notice how exacting is his control of sauce portions, fire strength (they usually employ different temperatures at different stages for a purpose) and how he never keep his eyes off the wok. And when he finally cracks that egg over (ever wondered why the eggs come last), he pays attention to its doneness and knows just when to fold the well fried and flavoured noodles over. He basically uses the wet eggs to smoothen the whole plate of char kway teow. That, to me, was four minutes of culinary foreplay executed with love. The hawker knows he is serving up a plate of pleasure for his customers. Okay, even if he overdid the sweet soy sauce part, you would still have enjoyed that wok and roll act and partaken a slice of the cook’s culture. Any cook who does not do anything like the above, is a con-man wannabe.

And the next time you come across an arrogant chef or hawker, take a step back and note where all that anger or frustration came from. Often, and sadly so, it has to do with us as customers. We show inconsideration, impatience and just have disdain for their craft. They resort to curt reactions and cold responses so as to create a fake (sometimes) hard veneer to protect their love for their craft. The only pleasure they derive is seeing you devour and polish that plate as you go.

If the food is good and done with love, you won’t need a campaign to get attention and appreciation. Not much is needed on presentation either. For if even the visually challenged and the hearing impaired cannot enjoy it as it is, you know it’s all hype. Kim Hoh’s mummy’s recipe may a yuck to some, but it was made with an ingredient called love and he enjoyed it as a human being and as a son of his mother who created with it with love. He had no need for reviews and blogs to direct him how to.

He eats, therefore, he is.