To me, knowledge is like an island, the bigger it is, the longer your shores of curiosity. In short, the more you know, the more you don’t understand. Sounds strange, but try unraveling more of that rich Chinese dialect food culture that gave roots to our culinary heritage and that river of facts will lead you to a sea of information.

"Do not fry the cereal for more than 10 seconds as it will burn” was one of my mantras for fried cereal prawns while conducting the hands on cooking masterclasses at the Singapore Culinary Institute.

Over the last ten days, I had been very fortunate to have had the chance to see, touch, cook, smell, speak of and of course, makan the various local Chinese dialect chow which was the theme of this year’s Singapore Food Festival. I had all the usual favourites – Hainanese chicken rice, Cantonese stewed duck, Teochew fried prawns with fish maw, Hakka red wine lees with prawns, Heng Hwa stir fried vongole clams and of course Hokkien kong-bak buns.

One of my fave desserts- the Hakka Black Bean Kueh,
by the Kew Garden Restaurant folks.

The finale event, which was held at the heritage food buffet at Clarke Quay’s Read Bridge last Sunday was an eye opener for me. Over one hundred (115 to be exact) dishes was dished out by five Chinese dialect food restaurants where each had to create a minimum of 20 traditional items. It was laid out across the covered foot bridge( or food bridge), like a long line of great smelling curios on chaffing dishes in a food museum. Some items are so old and rare I thought I saw fungus in them, all edible of course. The Hakka Kew Garden Restaurant touted one of my favourite desserts – their black bean kueh, a bean not normally used for desserts but done just gently sweet. I have not seen another menu that offers this in their restaurant. The Hainanese offerings, and it is indeed rare to still find an eatery specializing in that robust food culture, had the Yeh Lai Siang kitchen tout a cold noodle dessert or Hainanese Liang Fen. It was a cold glutinous yet softly firm glass noodle sitting is a bowl of iced coconut milk- something I’ve never had before. Nice, especially after a spicy plate of noodles but not something I’ll dream about. There was another “desperate food” item- fried fresh made tapioca starch noodles. It was basically strips of thick translucent starch noodles fried with savouries. Three mouthfuls and the starch it filled you up, like what food should do back in the desperate hardship lean years of yore. I was full just after one mouthful of this hard to get noodle because it came after my first round of desperate feeding frenzy at the buffet.

Even Teochew Chef Francis Yeo of Tian Jin Hai was curious about the Hainanese liang fen cold noodle dessert at the heritage feast buffet on Clarke Quay’s Read Bridge.

I’ve learnt more than I bargained for at this festival and did you know:

The so-called iconic yam abacus seeds or suan pan zi is not a distinct snack among all Hakkas. Many today have made their homes in Indonesia and as far as Jamaica where many arrived in the mid 1800s and helped build the Panama Canal.

That Mr Sin Leong, one of the leaders of the Four Heavenly Kings of food here, entered the culinary business to escape conscription into the Japanese army in the mid 1900s. “I just had to hide and work in a kitchen”, he said.

That the famous Kong Bak Pau, is the most popular item offered by David Chang, the hottest culinary maestro in New York at this Momofuku restaurant and that this Hokkien dish was an evolvement of the Tung Ann braised pork which uses another cut of less fatty pork. David has Korean roots.

The first Chinese folks here to offer western fare were the Hainanese, because of their association with the colonial culture here. They worked for and were house helpers, cooks and butlers in English homes and western restaurants. Old eateries like Jack’s Place and Han’s, all have Hainanese roots.

That ancient migratory patterns has largely only the Hokkiens settle in Philippines. Hakka food is totally strange to many of them, especially those who have not travelled much.

Bak Chor Mee, that famous iconic Teochew noodle dish, made with a glorious sambal and vinegar, is invented here in Singapore. Even our close Malaysian neighbours with a very similar food heritage, does not commonly offer this street noodle dish in their land.

This year’s food festival ends officially on the 25th of July and I sure am looking forward to what I can glean and clean out at next year’s festival.