When I was in school (middle school?) we had a really famous noodle shop in our cafeteria.
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When I was in school (middle school?) we had a really famous noodle shop in our cafeteria. People loved the noodles so much that there was a huge outpour of grief when the uncle passed away.
When school security got tighter and ex students (who were now adults) were not allowed to go in to the school to eat there, people were very sad.
Whenever there was a school reunion it was often a chance to eat ‘uncle’s noodles’ again, like we had giant tables and everybody just had the same noodles we had in our adolescence.
It was a legitimately good bowl for noodles compared to stuff outside of school, and it was god tier for school food.
His wife continued his legacy.
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When I was in school (middle school?) we had a really famous noodle shop in our cafeteria. People loved the noodles so much that there was a huge outpour of grief when the uncle passed away.
When school security got tighter and ex students (who were now adults) were not allowed to go in to the school to eat there, people were very sad.
Whenever there was a school reunion it was often a chance to eat ‘uncle’s noodles’ again, like we had giant tables and everybody just had the same noodles we had in our adolescence.
It was a legitimately good bowl for noodles compared to stuff outside of school, and it was god tier for school food.
His wife continued his legacy.
Other favorite food in Singapore schools:
I ate nasi pattaya almost daily from the Muslim food stall in high school (a different school). I liked that they served it with a lot of papads. She also liked to draw funny faces on top of the egg (it’s kind of like omu-rice but with Malay style spices in the fried rice), with chilli sauce and ketchup.
By the time I was leaving high school we started to get more international cuisines in our school cafeterias. There was a Korean and Japanese stall as well. This was 2003?
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Other favorite food in Singapore schools:
I ate nasi pattaya almost daily from the Muslim food stall in high school (a different school). I liked that they served it with a lot of papads. She also liked to draw funny faces on top of the egg (it’s kind of like omu-rice but with Malay style spices in the fried rice), with chilli sauce and ketchup.
By the time I was leaving high school we started to get more international cuisines in our school cafeterias. There was a Korean and Japanese stall as well. This was 2003?
The way food works in Singapore schools is that they are run like little markets, but the food is subsidized. So a bowl of noodles that might be $3 outside of school, in the real world, might be $0.50 or $1. I think there were food subsidy like meal coupons and subsidized meals (delivered through crediting the students’ transit card, like a clipper card) for lower income kids.
The main reason why this wasn’t ‘free’ and ‘the same’ for all is that everyone has different dietary requirements. Some kids needed halal food, others didn’t eat beef for religious reasons. Also, we were used to having great variety and choice of food outside in the real world it would have broken me to have someone tell me what to eat. Even at 7 years old
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The way food works in Singapore schools is that they are run like little markets, but the food is subsidized. So a bowl of noodles that might be $3 outside of school, in the real world, might be $0.50 or $1. I think there were food subsidy like meal coupons and subsidized meals (delivered through crediting the students’ transit card, like a clipper card) for lower income kids.
The main reason why this wasn’t ‘free’ and ‘the same’ for all is that everyone has different dietary requirements. Some kids needed halal food, others didn’t eat beef for religious reasons. Also, we were used to having great variety and choice of food outside in the real world it would have broken me to have someone tell me what to eat. Even at 7 years old
In line with the ‘people eat out’ practice, I can’t think of a time when I saw significant no of kids with meals brought from home. Except for when I had a few seventh day adventist classmates, they couldn’t eat any of the food because of their no garlic / onion thing so they brought food. Everyone else mostly had food at the canteen just like going to the hawker centre / market to get food.
It’s also hard to describe but in some parts of southeast and east Asia, eating out is actually cheaper than buying all the things and eating in.
Also, most of our families were double income families and I don’t think food prep was done very much at the time.
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In line with the ‘people eat out’ practice, I can’t think of a time when I saw significant no of kids with meals brought from home. Except for when I had a few seventh day adventist classmates, they couldn’t eat any of the food because of their no garlic / onion thing so they brought food. Everyone else mostly had food at the canteen just like going to the hawker centre / market to get food.
It’s also hard to describe but in some parts of southeast and east Asia, eating out is actually cheaper than buying all the things and eating in.
Also, most of our families were double income families and I don’t think food prep was done very much at the time.
@skinnylatte it's interesting, because I love eating out but Denmark is a definite eating in country. If I ate out as much as I'd like I would be bankrupt. Instead, I cook almost every day, which I also enjoy.
But when I've traveled in Asia I eat out as much as I can and almost exclusively in food stalls, and I love it. As many times per day as I can force myself to digest
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@skinnylatte it's interesting, because I love eating out but Denmark is a definite eating in country. If I ate out as much as I'd like I would be bankrupt. Instead, I cook almost every day, which I also enjoy.
But when I've traveled in Asia I eat out as much as I can and almost exclusively in food stalls, and I love it. As many times per day as I can force myself to digest
@EvilCartyen I remember when I was in Denmark / Finland I definitely ate out more in a week than most people did in a year..
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@EvilCartyen I remember when I was in Denmark / Finland I definitely ate out more in a week than most people did in a year..
@skinnylatte I was in China once with some students, in Shanghai and Beijing, and they would mainly eat in wester fast food restaurants and it seems so pointless to me to travel that way.
I would demonstrably just walk down a back alley to find some lady serving soup or fried rice or noodles to local workers and eat there and it was delicious. We could not communicate, but I mean.. Pointing and smiling will get you everywhere with a food stall, right?
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@EvilCartyen I remember when I was in Denmark / Finland I definitely ate out more in a week than most people did in a year..
@skinnylatte one reason for not eating out is the weather and the general lack of fresh produce back in the day before globalization.
People would stay in and cook with salted or pickled or brined produce for the majority of the year. Personally, I feel like that's where we have something to offer to the world cuisine, our traditional lunch buffet is wonderful but it's cold food, not hot food. I hope you ate well in Denmark.
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@skinnylatte one reason for not eating out is the weather and the general lack of fresh produce back in the day before globalization.
People would stay in and cook with salted or pickled or brined produce for the majority of the year. Personally, I feel like that's where we have something to offer to the world cuisine, our traditional lunch buffet is wonderful but it's cold food, not hot food. I hope you ate well in Denmark.
@EvilCartyen I had good food! Mostly cured stuff and seafood. Cold food for lunch is very hard for me. I can do it sometimes
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@EvilCartyen I had good food! Mostly cured stuff and seafood. Cold food for lunch is very hard for me. I can do it sometimes
@skinnylatte sure, and many of the dishes are hot too, but much of the cured and pickled seafood is cold. It's very different from your neck of the woods that's for sure
I've always been interested in trying new types of food, but in true danish fashion I have to cook it myself which takes considerable effort and preparation. Good thing cooking is as much of a hobby as eating
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@skinnylatte I was in China once with some students, in Shanghai and Beijing, and they would mainly eat in wester fast food restaurants and it seems so pointless to me to travel that way.
I would demonstrably just walk down a back alley to find some lady serving soup or fried rice or noodles to local workers and eat there and it was delicious. We could not communicate, but I mean.. Pointing and smiling will get you everywhere with a food stall, right?
@skinnylatte the only bad thing about this approach is that if you get something amazing you don't know what it is. I've had some truly stellar meals I have no idea how to look up so I can cook them at home.
