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Wee Kek Koon

I was in the departure area in Terminal 1 at Singapore Changi Airport recently and was looking for things to buy as gifts for friends in Malaysia.
I headed towards the famous Singapore bakery Bengawan Solo because I knew that some of them love its kueh lapis legit, the Indonesian layered cake also known as spekkoek in Dutch.
Now when Malaysians say they like a certain type of food from Singapore, you know that they must really, really like it.
Standing in the queue at Bengawan Solo, I observed that most people were visitors, and they happened to converse in Mandarin.
A group of three women behind me were looking at goods in the glass display case, and were wondering out loud which of the many delicious confections were pandan chiffon cakes. They had no idea, but they were buying a few each for friends and family back home in Hangzhou, in China’s Zhejiang province.
There were plenty to go around, seeing as there were several stacks of red and yellow cardboard boxes containing the fluffy, fragrant sponge cake in the distinctive shade of green.

Bengawan Solo’s pandan chiffon cake has become one of the must-buy Singapore souvenirs for visitors, especially those from the Greater China region, which includes Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Many Southeast Asians are familiar with the sweet, slightly buttery scent of Pandanus amaryllifolius. Pandan leaves and the green-coloured juice extracted from them are used to flavour many foods and beverages in this part of the world. Some drivers even use fresh pandan leaves as an inexpensive but effective deodorant for the interiors of their vehicles.
Early Chinese migrants to Southeast Asia quickly discovered culinary uses for pandan, which they added to the dishes they had brought with them from their homelands in southern China.

Examples include the tangyuan, globular dough balls in a light syrup eaten during the winter solstice and on the 15th and final day of the Lunar New Year, which was just last week. Chinese Southeast Asians add a sprig of pandan leaves when boiling the water, which transforms the liquid from a syrup that is merely sweet to a delicately scented delight.
The version of zongzi, sticky rice dumplings eaten during the Tuen Ng, or Dragon Boat, Festival, made by the Chinese Peranakans – descendants of intermarriage between early Chinese migrants to Southeast Asia and local women – is characterised by the addition of a blade or two of pandan leaves nestled among the bamboo leaves used to wrap the dumplings.
There is, of course, the pandan chiffon cake, where pandan leaf extract was added to chiffon cake, an early 20th-century American invention, to create a delectable treat unique to Southeast Asia.
The close association of pandan chiffon cake and various other Southeast Asian foods like bak kut teh, laksa and satay with Singapore by people outside the region has riled many Malaysians and Indonesians, who feel that Singaporeans have “appropriated” these foods and claimed them as our own.

The annoyance is misplaced, because many of these foods predate modern national borders.
It does not make sense to say certain foods were invented by Malaysians or Singaporeans because when these foods came into being through the fusion of multiple culinary traditions, there were no such people as “Malaysians”, “Singaporeans” or “Indonesians”. These distinct national identities only came into existence less than 100 years ago.
The reason many people in the world today associate these foods with Singapore may be similar to why dim sum is associated with Hong Kong instead of Guangzhou or any other mainland Chinese city or region, or why Japanese ramen is more well-known than Chinese lamian.
Factors unrelated to the foods themselves are involved – geopolitics, a country’s or city’s international profile, government or private efforts in marketing and promotion, food fads, and at times, pure luck.


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Food and Drinks

An ode to pandan, from famous Singaporean bakery’s chiffon cake to its use in other dishes

Kueh lapis and pandan chiffon cake from Bengawan Solo. Although it is often associated with Singapore, pandan is popular all over Southeast Asia and used in food and drinks across the region. Photo: Zhang Dayu

A Bengawan Solo shop in Changi Airport, Singapore. Photo: Shutterstock 

Iwel iwel is a traditional Indonesia dish of glutinous rice, grated coconut and brown sugar served wrapped in pandan leaves. Photo: Shutterstock

Fried chicken wrapped in pandan leaves. Photo: Shutterstock

Why Malaysian and Singaporean food hasn’t gone global, but Chinese food has

A bowl of Singapore laksa from The Laksa Club in Hong Kong. The spicy noodle soup has not conquered the world, unlike Vietnamese pho and any number of Chinese dishes. Photo: The Laksa Club

Singaporean bak kut teh. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Nasi lemak, a traditional Malay curry paste rice dish served on a banana leaf. Photo: Shutterstock

Smashed cucumbers. Photo: Jonathan Wong

In Singapore’s pandan cake showdown, it’s tradition vs modernity

Pandan chiffon cake – a soft, fragrant masterpiece in a striking shade of green. Photo: Instagram

A Bengawan Solo outlet in Singapore’s Changi Airport Terminal 2. Photo: Shutterstock 

An advert for pandan cake from Old Seng Choong in Singapore. Photo: Instagram/oldsengchoong

Tourism experts compare the pandan cake’s popularity to that of Macau’s egg tarts. Photo: Karl Lam

Kueh lapis and pandan chiffon cake from Bengawan Solo. Photo: Zhang Dayu

How sticky rice cakes became a Lunar New Year lucky dish and different ways they are eaten

Cantonese-style sticky rice cake, or “nin gou”, is usually made with glutinous rice flour, Chinese brown sugar and coconut milk. Photo: The Peninsula Hong Kong

Nian gao – Chinese sticky rice cakes – are made to appease the Kitchen God, or zao jun, who reports the activities of every household over the past year to Yu Huang, the Jade Emperor. Photo: Pictures From History/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

Nian gao, called nin gou in Cantonese (above), are sticky rice cakes eaten at Lunar New Year. Photo: Shutterstock

Lam Yuk-ming is the Chinese cuisine executive chef at Spring Moon, The Peninsula Hong Kong’s Cantonese restaurant. Photo: The Peninsula Hong Kong

Tteokguk is a Korean Lunar New Year dish or thinly sliced rice cakes cooked in clear soybean soup. Photo: Shutterstock

Kagami mochi is eaten during Japanese New Year celebrations. Photo: Shutterstock

‘Mysterious’ fish that’s famous in Fukuoka, and why it is sumo wrestlers’ food of choice

Fukuoka chef Kazutaka Hagiwara prepares longtooth grouper. Photo: Llewellyn Cheung

Ingredients for “chanko nabe” or sumo wrestler’s stew, including longtooth grouper, a fish Japanese call kue which is a speciality of the southern city of Fukuoka. Photo: Llewellyn Cheung

Kazutaka Hagiwara, chef de cuisine of sushi restaurant Tomozuna on the top floor of the Hilton Fukuoka Sea Hawk, gets to work on a longtooth grouper in its kitchen. Photo: Llewellyn Cheung

Hitoshi Hirokawa, executive director of Fukuoka’s Nagahama Fish Market, calls longtooth grouper “the most famous fish in Fukuoka”. Photo: Llewellyn Cheung

The sharp teeth of the longtooth grouper make it difficult for sushi chefs to handle. Photo: Llewellyn Cheung

Dishes prepared using the flesh of the longtooth grouper fish, including sashimi (front). Photo: Llewellyn Cheung

A longtooth grouper at the seafood market in Fukuoka. Photo: Llewellyn Cheung

Longtooth grouper stew. Photo: Llewellyn Cheung

Lifestyle

Chinese culture

Food & Drink

Pandan chiffon cake is associated with Singapore, but pandan is popular all over Southeast Asia and seen in various foods and drinks


Pandan chiffon cake is associated with Singapore, but pandan is popular all over Southeast Asia and seen in various foods and drinks.


Lessons from China's history

Singapore

Greater Bay Area

Malaysia

Expresses the views, ideas and conclusions of the author. (Eg. Enough of Crazy Rich Asians, think of crazy poor Hongkongers.)


Column

Reflections

Reflections | An ode to pandan, from famous Singaporean bakery’s chiffon cake to its use in other dishes

Pandan chiffon cake is associated with Singapore, but pandan is popular all over Southeast Asia and seen in various foods and drinks