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[Music]
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when asked what is the national dish of
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Singapore the answers range from Hine
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and E chicken rice mixed fruit and
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vegetable salad with peanuts and thick
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sauce known as rojack to panican style
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Curry noodles like laxa or even Kaya
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toast with hot
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tea this is because of the cultural
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diversity that has Blended in to
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Singapore's
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identity there may not be a specific
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national dish but Singapore does have
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its National dining room the Hawker
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[Music]
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Center known for its variety convenience
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and renowned cleanliness Hawker centers
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feature permanent food stores lined up
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on both sides each with a clear sign
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displaying the shop name menu and prices
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the central area is filled with tables
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and chairs for dining which are usually
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fully
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occupied even on hot and humid days
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typical of the equatorial climate the
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Shaded and Rain protected space with
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fans and open sides for ventilation
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provides
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Comfort most importantly the food is
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delicious affordable and
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varied this is the Hawker Center the
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dining hub for
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singaporeans kfo a Singaporean food
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expert takes us to explore a hawker
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Center he visits
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frequently Sito describes Hawker centers
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with a simple analogy if Singapore were
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a home the Hawker Center would be the
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dining room in a Multicultural Society
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like Singapore's where the three main
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ethnic groups Chinese Malay and Indian
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live together along with foreign
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Nationals whove come to work and settle
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the dining room therefore features a
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colorful mix of various ethnic
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Cuisines during colonial times Hawkers
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or Street Benders often set up stalls or
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carts to sell food in business districts
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and residential areas these street food
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vendors provided convenience for
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consumers on the other hand they also
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caused problems for the city such as
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lack of hygiene waste and obstruction
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traffic after gaining independence from
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the United Kingdom in 1959 and being
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expelled from the Malaysian Federation 2
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years later Singapore under the
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leadership of its first prime minister
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Lee quu focused on developing this small
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resource poor island country for
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survival the street food vendor was part
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of this development plan Street vendors
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and carts scattered throughout the city
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not only made the place untidy but also
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present presented Food hygiene issues
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due to the lack of proper storage and
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cleaning facilities they also generated
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waste and food scraps that were
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discarded on the streets and into
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drains initially leanu intended to
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completely ban street food
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vending although it caused disorder and
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filth however it had become an essential
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part of life for most
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singaporeans the solution was not to ban
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or eliminate it but to find a way for
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people to continue accessing this kind
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of food while ensuring order and good
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hygiene the government thus established
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the Hawker centers upgrading program to
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design develop and manage Hawker centers
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it required vendors to register
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allocated space across communities for
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convenience without causing obstruction
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and systematically installed necessary
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facilities such as electricity and water
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supplies refrigerators drainage waste
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disposal and and
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seating strict hygiene standards for
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food preparation were also implemented
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all of this within a space of 5 to 13
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square m per stall all the Hawkers
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needed to do was move their stalls into
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these designated areas stall they have
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uh I mean they can they have exhaust
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hoods so uh they they worry about
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pollution right and then it's clean
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everything here is stainless steel no
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wood right so that's that's compuls
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everything you look is stainless steel
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that is a requirement by the government
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for safety safety and hygiene because it
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has a fire wood will everything you look
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around here everything around here you
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look around they are they are almost
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fireproof organizing the Hawkers is not
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easy though although Singapore is a
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small country it has over 22,000
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Hawkers it took the government almost 10
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years to fully relocate Street vendors
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and carts to the Hawker
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centers from the initial goal of
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creating Hawker centers for cleanliness
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and order in the city and for the health
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of the people another outcome is the
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unique food culture of
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Singapore if you want to see more great
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content from all over the world please
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like the video subscribe to our Channel
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and hit the Bell icon thank you
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[Music]
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with an area of only 721 Square km
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Singapore is the smallest country in
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Southeast Asia currently the island
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nation has one9 Hawker centers managed
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by the government this means that for
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every 6 Square km there is a hawker
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Center offering delicious clean and
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affordable
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food Limited residential space and a
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busy schedule mean that most
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singaporeans can't cook every meal for
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themselves as a result seven out of 10
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meals for most people are eaten in their
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other dining room the Hawker Center how
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often do you dine at a hawker Center
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almost every day okay yeah if I'm going
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to eat outside in
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Singapore um I try to even when I meet
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friends or like I hang out with my
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family we try to go to the Haw centers
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uh personally my favorite HW food would
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be like uh Chinese food specifically
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like uh scissors cut curry rice yeah
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what would come to your mind if we talk
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about HW um good food uh
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convenience um and it's very economical
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and uh almost every territory every town
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in Singapore you can get haa food good
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hka food convenient
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yeah Hawker food is thus a part of
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almost every Singaporean lifestyle this
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makes it not just sustenance but also
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part of the culture for
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singaporeans this culture is now however
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in some Peril if you look into the
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kitchens of the small stalls lined up in
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the Hawker centers over 90% of those
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cooking frying and Grilling in front of
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the stoves are
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elderly many are of retirement age while
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young Hawkers are almost most
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non-existent this issue stems from the
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fact that the Singaporean government
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stopped building Hawker centers in the
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1980s as a result people turned to
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office jobs and with the Advent of the
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internet in the 2000s nobody wanted to
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become a
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hawker even Hawkers themselves don't
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want their children to take up the trade
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despite the good income it's hard labor
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intensive work with no rest pite
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typically requiring 12 to 14-hour
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days our yol's stall is located at the
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far end of a hawker Center but this
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doesn't affect its popularity her prawn
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tempora with pumpkin sauce combines the
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freshness and crispiness of fried prawns
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with a rich pumpkin sauce creating a
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delicate dish her coffee crabs feature
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aromatic coffee roasted with a few
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ingredients creating a caramelized
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flavor that balances sweet and bitter a
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taste unique to her store she alone
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developed and perfected this dish known
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as the queen of invention our Yol is
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celebrated not just for her Innovations
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but also for the quality and taste of
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her dishes which rival restaurant level
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food but at Street
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prices at 70 years old AR yoke still
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Cooks most dishes at her store though
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she wants to retire her concern is that
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no successor can match her cooking skill
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and that her recipes will be lost to
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time this keeps her
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going in recent years the Singaporean
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government has recognized that when this
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generation of Hawkers retires the unique
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food culture might
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disappear they've begun to highlight the
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interesting stories of Hawkers to
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attract and Inspire young people to take
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up the
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trade meanwhile they have also been
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considering what other aspects of
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Singapore
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beyond the 160-year old Botanic Gardens
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recognized by UNESCO as a world heritage
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site should be
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acknowledged as an adviser to the
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government Sito suggested that
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Singapore's Hawker food culture itself
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deserves UNESCO recognition so I said
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Hawker food
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culture and every we look at me what no
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but our neighbor our neighbors have very
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good food I said no it's not about the
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food Thailand may have good food
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Malaysia you may have good food but they
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don't have our culture right the
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government builds this to protect the
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thing and they uh um they manage this
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it's it's entrepreneurship you know if
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you have a skill you can make money out
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of a store like this and people here by
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now you come on and eat who the hell
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want to cook this at home it's so
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difficult yes you know look at this
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sauce
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alone oh my
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god um and and it is a tourism icon um
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people unconsciously love it and I say
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Hey listen we must recognize this
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culture in March
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2019 the government submitted an
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application to UNESCO for Singapore's
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Hawker culture to be recognized as an
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intangible cultural heritage of humanity
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in
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2020 the nomination highlighted the
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michelan Star level deliciousness the
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art of food preparation and cooking from
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various ethnic Roots the legacy of
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secret recipes passed down through
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generations and the diverse clientele
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who queue and dine together without
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discrimination this scene is a common
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site at any Hawker Center making them
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more than just food centers they are
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Community dining rooms and a vital part
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of Singapore's
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identity in 2020 UNESCO finally
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recognized Singapore's Haw culture
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highlighting its significance in the
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country's social
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fabric Haw centers are communal spaces
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where singaporeans from all walks of
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life gather to enjoy affordable and
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diverse street
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food the government continues to support
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these centers ensuring that they adapt
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to Modern needs while preserving their
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traditional ch
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[Music]
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technology and the internet bring
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Relentless changes to modern society
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many businesses emerge generating
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massive Revenue opportunities through
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technology While others decline or even
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shut down due to these
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advancements the food industry which has
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a great impact on everyone's daily lives
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is no
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exception particularly in food delivery
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service numerous players enter the
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market
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recognizing it as a lucrative segment
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within the food
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sector this has led to the concept of
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cloud or shared
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kitchens Smart City Kitchen is the first
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Cloud kitchen service to launch in
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Singapore it offers rental kitchen
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spaces solely for preparing food for
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delivery so this is uh the space for
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restaurants to come set up their
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business their modular K behind each one
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of these doors and restaurants typically
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set up their operations um inside each
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kitchen and operate a brand so for
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example this is lean
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Bento
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um you have fat burger
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here you have IR penua here and so a lot
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of these are pretty popular brands in
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the city okay and the idea the idea for
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these kitchens is simple right it's that
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it takes a lot of money to start a
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restaurant with a storefront hire people
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and um you know have operations running
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we want to take out all the complexity
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from a business and operations
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perspective away from starting a
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restaurant and just let the restaurant
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focus on creating good food so in many
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ways if you can if you think about the
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restaurant business as operations and
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art we manage all the operations and all
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the art is is made here opening a
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restaurant involves countless details
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and considerable expense with the right
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ingredients and skilled Cooks being
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critical
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components having funding unique recipes
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and talented chefs does not however
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guarantee a restaurant's
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success many people dream of opening a
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restaurant but lack the funding or the
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courage to
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invest shared kitchens address this need
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by reducing investment risks allowing
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vendors to focus on sales without
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worrying about hidden costs additionally
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existing restaurants that wish to expand
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their reach can do so without the need
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to look for additional
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locations Smart City Kitchen launched
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their service in 2020 and initially
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provided 30
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kitchens of these 24 were fully
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contracted with several more in
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negotiations
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some were existing restaurants looking
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to expand hawker stalls and newcomers
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with no prior restaurant
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experience Leaf Chief a contemporary
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dumpling shop run by 28-year-old Fiona
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is one of them despite having no prior
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restaurant experience she and her father
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wanted to share her grandmother's
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dumpling recipe with
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others many young singaporeans today are
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unfamiliar with this traditional Chinese
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dish and Fiona wants to preserve this
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culinary Heritage a lot of them were
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quite surprised that you know we kind of
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changed the flavors from what they're
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you know used to um and obviously you
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know some critiques might say oh you
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know this is not like um like the
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original or you know you're kind of like
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changing something that has been you
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know so steeped in Tradition um and I
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think well you know there is always that
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room for exploration I think that's
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that's the thing with like food so
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because food is a reflection of like
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culture and like we really want to show
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that you know with globalization we
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wanted to bring that out as well um so
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so yeah so I think like our so far the
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response has been fantastic um we've had
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like quite a lot of like younger people
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finding um interest back in in such a
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dish um so that's that's really good
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Fiona chose to open her shop with Smart
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City Kitchen to mitigate investment risk
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opening a stall in a hawker Center would
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not only require a significant initial
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investment but would also have limited
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space at Smart City Kitchen she only
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specified the kitchen equipment she
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needed and within 2 weeks everything was
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installed and ready for her to
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start the emergence of new businesses
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like Smart City Kitchen supported by
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technology raises concerns that
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traditional hawker stalls might de
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F Smart City Kitchen however views
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itself as increasing growth
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opportunities for Hawkers without adding
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burdens we don't see ourselves as a
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threat at all we see ourselves as a as a
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partner for the Hawkers to expand the
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business um the Hawker World in
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Singapore the Haw preneur industry is
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extremely challenging um most Hawkers in
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in Singapore are getting older and they
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find it difficult to find a way to
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expand their business pass on their
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recipes uh and find ways to continue the
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the strong and great heritage of the
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Singapore Haw culture what we want to do
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is provide a way for them to expand
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their business create a lower risk way
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for them to continue growing and
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continuing Sito acknowledges that the
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popularity of Haw culture is declining
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Haw stalls and centers won't disappear
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from Singapore but the number of vendors
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will
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decrease Smart City Kitchen or shared
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kitchens and delivery services won't
00:17:53
destroy the Hawker culture though being
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a hawker means doing everything by by
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themselves it's not just about having a
00:18:02
great recipe and cooking skills it
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involves meticulous and labor intensive
00:18:07
work besides cooking it includes setting
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up and decorating the stall attractively
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presenting appealing dishes pricing
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appropriately and managing daily
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supplies and kitchen
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operations Smart City Kitchen takes over
00:18:23
these various tasks allowing Hawkers to
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dedicate their time and care to
00:18:30
although this might slightly dull the
00:18:32
vibrant atmosphere of Haw centers food
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delivery services and shared kitchens
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can help preserve and continue the
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tradition of Singaporean Hawker
00:18:45
food if you grow up with a food culture
00:18:48
stay true to your food culture enjoy
00:18:51
other food culture but you know where
00:18:53
your home base is this is my home base
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then people will know yeah you have
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cultural identity culinary identity and
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people are respect you for over 80 years
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street food and hawker stalls have
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evolved to support the Modern urban and
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social fabric of
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Singapore they meet all the necessary
00:19:15
criteria flavor and variety cleanliness
00:19:18
and convenience as well as
00:19:22
affordability while new technologies and
00:19:25
emerging businesses may bring changes
00:19:28
the national dining room the Hawker
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Center will continue to be a pillar of
00:19:33
Singaporean
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Society it will preserve its diversity
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convenience and
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affordability remaining an integral part
00:19:43
of daily life in Singapore
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[Music]
