Wartime Kitchen: Food and Eating in Singapore

by Hong Suen Wong, Christopher Tan (Contributor)

Wartime Kitchen: Food And Eating In Singapore (1942-1950) examines the experience of people during the period following the fall of Singapore in 1942 up to 1950. The author presents an in-depth yet lively research comprising anecdotes, personal reminiscences on food and eating and a collection of recipes in wartime Singapore. How did people cope with the food regime of rationed goods, bureaucracy and unpredictable supply? How did they sustain themselves by exploiting opportunities in varied and imaginative ways? Atmospheric and nostalgic in retrospect, it examines how hunger and the need for food became an impetus for creativity.

With references made also from the Oral History Department of the National Archives of Singapore under the Japanese Occupation Project, this book is a miscellany of memories, valued for how they reveal the textures of everyday life, lend an immediacy and vividness to events and flesh out the details embedded in archived records. It focuses on the memories of the local population rather than that of officers and men of the British and Australian military forces and the European civilian internees.

In reconstructing a history of food and eating in wartime Singapore, the book has taken from personal accounts including Chin Kee Onn’s Malaya Upside Down (1947); one of the earliest and most detailed first-hand accounts of life under the Japanese occupation; as well as comprehensive studies that have drawn from both personal memoirs and archival records, statistics and newspapers.

144 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 2009

Reviews

[C · Rating 4 out of 5]

i’m surprised at the low ratings for this book, i enjoyed reading it and was fascinated by the archival materials included. the recipes are not appealing yes but it’s literally wartime food? what are we expecting lol. there couldve been more done with the materials like some critical analysis etc but for what the book is supposed to be, i think it did well while keeping it short and simple. some things that couldve been improved was a clearer sense of how the transition occurred, and before reading readers need to have had some context of the japanese occupation of singapore beforehand as the book doesnt do that. also, maybe clearer and more powerful chaptering couldve taken this book further. otherwise i thought this was a fun read and a necessary angle to include in singapore’s japanese occupation analyses.

[Ryan · Rating 2 out of 5]

A glimpse into trying conditions under the Japanese Occupation and the years following the return of the British to Singapore, when shortages of every kind were the order of the day. The inventiveness and ingenuity of common folks in eking a living out of whatever available materials at hand is apparent in the variety of dishes created out of tapioca and sweet potato, the two most widespread foodstuffs on hand. It is educational to learn how life was like when basic necessities are no longer easily available due to imports being severely curtailed. We cannot rule out that such a situation will not recur in future, given the coming energy scarcity we face this century.

Interestingly even back then when the island's population was much lower, it failed to be self sufficient in rice and meat even though the authorities tried hard to get people to grow more food. Only vegetables did not need to be regularly imported. And while people did suffer from malnutrition due to lack of protein and vitamins, the lower calorific intake, especially of carbohydrates and sugars were likely beneficial compared to the unhealthy excess of food that is giving rise to high obesity rates all over the world today.

The book is illustrated throughout with photographs, drawings, cartoons and pictures of scenes from the period, but the text itself is loosely organized into three chapters that are barely distinguishable from one another in content, coming of as repetitive. The last third of the book is an actual cookbook that provides examples of the dishes people ate in those days made with cheap ingredients, most of which, to our modern eyes do not look that appetizing I must say!