Where I'm staying is a shopping mall. Like most shopping malls in Singapore, on the top level is a food court. Years ago, the food court underwent a renovation and a change of ownership. What was once a food court that served both Chinese and Halal food was transformed into one that serves strictly Halal food. So we have halal Char Kway Teow, halal chicken rice and halal fish ball noodle. The food court even serves halal chicken cooked in "char siew" sauce. Basically, it's halal everything. And as if to assure consumers that the food served is indeed halal, the food court owner even took measures to ensure that each stall is being manned by a Chinese and a Malay. I'd like to think that is a great way to maintain harmony. But ultimately, the underlying message is for economic gain - pure and simple.
Now, people who know me know that I'm a foodie. I eat food of all ethnic types, and have a particular weakness for satay, the authentic kind. I love food and I live to eat. But when I eat Chinese food like the Char Kway Teow or Mee Pok Tah, I want it with lard, lots of it. Without lard, it's just not Char Kway Teow but fried Kway Teow to me, the kind that I usually buy for breakfast.
What the food court owner did, serving halal food across the board, is no different from what the various fast food restaurants like McDonalds, KFC and Pizza Hut have done. Getting a halal certificate for a restaurant is a strategy to increase the profit margin. But the fast food restaurants are quite unlike food court, for they serve only a peculiar kind of food. For instance, there are different flavors of chicken in KFC; but there's only so many ways to cook a chicken. Likewise for McDonalds - its business is in making burgers, nothing more, nothing less.
But a food court serves a variety of foods that cater to the different taste buds of the various ethnic groups. Don't get me wrong. I'm not against food court serving halal food per se. A food court without halal foodstall is wrong, but making it halal across the board, rather then having different stalls selling halal and non-halal food doesn't sound right to me either.
Of course, one can argue that it's a free market and I can always look for my lard-laded Char Kway Teow elsewhere...until the transformation of the next foodcourt or hawker centre.
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5 comments:
I know which shopping centre you are referring to and I know which food court that is ('cos I know where you stay mah, hee).
For the past few months, I had my Saturday lunches at that food court, all because my younger son was attending Chinese tuition classes at a nearby Community Club and he liked the Yong Tau Hu there - one of the many sacrifices that we parents have to make for the sake of our children.
Whether that food court went halal solely because of economic gains or otherwise would be determined by how long it could survive. The aim of any business venture is to make profit, if not to maximise it.(Ask Chun See if he agrees). Let's wait and see.
On the occasions when I was there, there was no dearth of customers, maybe because it was a Saturday. The observant me noticed that the majority were Chinese. Now if the food was that terrible, people would not patronise that outlet. You'll be surprised that even my 9-year old son knows how to discern good food from bad.
Frankly, I doubt that even if that food court serves authentic Char Kway Teow, it will come anywhere close (in terms of yumminess) to our favourite stall in Ghim Moh. For proof just look at, or rather taste the 'authentic' Char Kway Teow sold at other non-Halal food courts. And the end result? You will still not patronise that food court anyway even if it serves authentic Char Kway Teow. So what difference does it make anyway?
Well, if you really want a change, then boycott that food court. Not only you. You must convince people like my family and hordes of others who throng the food court every weekend - definitely not an easy task. I am convinced that only when the food court's bottom line suffers will it be changed.
I don't blame you Victor, cause a food critic you are not and you'll never be. Obviously, you've never tasted the mee poh tah at that food court. Try it next Saturday and tell me what you think. Better still, get your 9 year old to try it, cause he obviously has proven to be a better food critic then the Dad. :P
Somehow, I suspect that the majority of Chinese customers are people staying elsewhere in Singapore. Don't forget, that shopping mall is being promoted as a "learning hub" in my locality. Hordes of kids have tuition there, not quite unlike yours.
The food court is doing fine and I read the owner is even going to expand it with another outlet elsewhere.
My post is not about having a plate of second rated Char kway Teow at the food court. It's about a decision taken by an enterprise that sort of marginalised the vast majority of the populous.
As for boycotting the food court, my answer is no. The food court serves one of the best Chicken Rice in Singapore. That's my opinion. But I do wish I can have a plate lard-laden CKT there, even if the standard in yumminess is second only to the one at GM.
hmm.. i dont know where you live so i dont know what food court you are talking about and what stall you are talking about either.. hee..
but then again, you love food?! hawker type? can you tell me what nice food are there in clementi? (i live there..) i only know.. the claypot rice, curry puff, tanglin halt chicken chop, ah balling tang yuan, eh... ke ai chicken rice, i think there are others available but cant really remember now..
then again, i used to work in a restaurant before. while many shops have the "halal" cert on their shop front, the actual requirement of the board is have ALL your ingredients (yes, ALL, so you have to ask your supplier for the certs. if they dont have, means you cant have them as suppliers). i had a hard time obtaining those documents which actually are forged (some of them.)..
money money money.. thats what everyone wants. conscience somehow, isnt in their hearts anymore.
am i outta point here? haha.. sorry.. thats my opinion :P
- EteL
Etel, your comment may just open up a can of worm. So, if I understand you correctly, a foodstall with a "halal cert", may not necessarily be halal at all unless the suppliers from which he obtains his food ingredients also possess the "halal cert"? Wow, is that being realistic? No wonder some of these certs are "forged". When it comes to business, is it any wonder that some can be rather unscrupulous just so they can increase their profit margin?
uncle chris,
yes, you must have the ingredients marked with "halal" logos.. inclusive of sending the board all their certs..
now i wonder... are those that we are eating really what they are? time for home cooked dishes.. yum ;)
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