For Singaporean chef Pamelia Chia, missing all these shared experiences on foreign soil spurred her to document and preserve Singaporean food heritage through her community Singapore Noodles, her podcast series (dubbed the Singapore Noodles Podcast), and a quarterly publication Seasonings Magazine.

Pamelia, who previously had stints at Michelin-starred Peranakan restaurant Candlenut and the now-defunct Lollapalooza, is now based in Daylesford, Australia, along with her husband. The Singaporean makes it a point to come back to Singapore whenever she can, or as she says the sunny island is where “the coffee does not give her anxiety”.  

A huge part of what Pamelia is doing is to make Singaporean cuisine accessible, whether it is through dialogues and banter, cookalongs, and even the sharing of family recipes of Singaporean dishes. As part of our Love x Heritage series, SNCF interviewed Pamelia on why food heritage matters, how she strives to inspire younger Singaporeans to learn how to whip up heritage food, and her two-cent on the infamous The New York Times curry recipe.

Sng Ler Jun: Living overseas, which Singaporean dish do you miss most?

Pamelia Chia: It’s so difficult to just pick one! But I guess I miss anything with durian because it is impossible to get fresh ones where I live. There are some Asian grocers that do stock the frozen food, but you lose that wonderful thin membrane and creamy texture when you freeze the fruit.

LJ: You have created and documented countless Singaporean dishes on your website, even created a series of podcasts and a quarterly publication on that. What inspired you to embark on this journey of documenting dishes that Singaporeans of all races eat?

PC: I see this journey going beyond documenting Singaporean dishes. At the heart of it, it is getting young Singaporeans to cook from our heritage.

When I was growing up, I found Singaporean cuisine intimidating. Each attempt to learn from the women in my family was exasperating because there were no exact measurements or precise explanations. Like typical Chinese, they were honest in their criticism and scant with encouragement. I wanted to spare myself the scrutiny and began learning how to cook cuisines other than our own. Even when I became a professional cook and started gaining confidence in the kitchen, Singaporean cuisine still felt inaccessible.

When I moved to Australia in 2018, homesickness sparked a journey of learning how to cook local dishes, and experiencing firsthand how cooking food from your own heritage can connect you to home even when you’re miles away.

With everything that I do at Singapore Noodles, be it the podcast, online membership, or Seasonings Magazine, they all point towards the same mission – creating a Singapore in which Singaporeans are proud of the rich and diverse food culture that we have, and playing an active role in keeping our food heritage alive. 

LJ: What do you hope to achieve with your Singapore Noodles podcast and Seasonings magazine? 

PC: I believe that we now stand at the crossroads where we are witnessing the vanishing of traditional dishes and the gradual erosion of our rich food culture. I hope that by listening or reading the stories of fellow Singaporeans, and by watching my video tutorials and participating in the cookalongs, Singaporeans would feel empowered and encouraged to cook food from their culture.

LJ: What do you think of the latest NYTimes curry recipe which received wide backlash on social media?

PC: Singaporeans are some of the most food-obsessed people on the planet, which means that we also feel strongly about our food.

I can understand the backlash — curry is so beloved in Singapore, just like chicken rice. And people who watch the reel will take that piece of content from an international food platform such as NYT to be the authoritative way to make chicken curry in Singapore.

But the line between feeling pride and gatekeeping can be so blurry. By defending our food so fiercely and drawing strict lines around it, are we inadvertently contributing to its demise? How will young people find the courage to try cooking traditional food and share about their attempts in a culture where you'd be shamed and called out for your "inauthenticity"? Can someone only "teach" a dish when they have grown up eating it?

It is true that the chicken curry in the reel does not completely match up to the versions I've grown up eating, and perhaps the positioning of the video could have been more like "this is my attempt at this recipe" rather than "this is Singaporean chicken curry", but the comment section left me feeling rather dismayed.

LJ: What of the comment section on that Instagram video, which has since been taken down?

PC: People rant about her use of pandan or lime juice, lack of potatoes, and the spice paste rempah (and sure, the execution of the dish could have been improved) but we have to understand that the original recipe came from a Singaporean. In saying that this recipe isn't Singaporean, are we invalidating someone's lived experience?

People are lambasting her for using the phrase "Singaporean curry" because there are so many variations of curry in Singapore, yet in the same breath, they fault the recipe for veering from the fixed notion of the dish in their minds.

It also makes me wonder — how many of these people, who are criticising her attempt on chicken curry, actually know how to cook a proper curry from scratch? They might be familiar with curry in Singapore, but do they know the techniques and the ingredients required to get it to look and taste the way it does?

Commenters have to understand that the situation is always far more nuanced than what can be conveyed in a short clip. While accurate representation on a global stage and proper journalism are important, let's show one another some grace because, at the end of the day, everyone's just trying their best.

LJ: On the topic of lived experiences, I would say not many Singaporean youths are aware of some of the recipes of their family’s meals these days. What is your opinion on this issue?

PC: It is very sad to see that many young Singaporeans hardly cook at home, let alone cook food from their heritage. In Singaporean culture, you live with your parents until you get married, so most Singaporeans only begin picking up skills on how to cook in their late 20s or 30s. For some, cooking might be such a great hurdle for them that they start relying on takeaways, the hawker centres, food deliveries, and processed food. My friend once showed me the insides of his fridge and I was stunned to see that there was no fresh produce (vegetables or meat). Everything in his fridge was ready-to-eat meals.

I feel that we stand to lose so much by not knowing how to cook. Hawker food and food deliveries may be convenient, but relying on them for all meals of the day is definitely not healthy. Cooking local food also connects us with our heritage; Singaporeans take it for granted, but what we have is so unique and precious. If we do not embrace our food heritage, how can we pass it down to our children? What food memories will the next generation have in the realm of the home? Bubble tea and pizza deliveries?

LJ: What inspires you as a chef?

PC: I don’t see myself as a chef. I see myself as someone who is a passionate cook with a mission of inspiring young Singaporeans and equipping them with the skills that they need to be comfortable in their kitchens. I get inspiration from home-cooks from the older generation, who prioritise flavours over the way something looks on social media. I was chatting with someone on the podcast last month and he was telling me about this hae bee hiam (a condiment comprising spicy dried shrimp and sambal) that one of the elders in his family used to make — she would render pork fat, use the rendered oil to fry the dried shrimp and rempah, and then stir the crunchy croutons of fat through the finished sambal. It sounded absolutely delicious!

LJ: What can we look forward to from you in 2022?

PC: I am currently working on a second cookbook, to be released next year. Seasonings Magazine will also be releasing a National Day Edition, sharing stories and recipes on what it means to be Singaporean.

But mostly, this year, I would really love to focus on helping young Singaporeans through my online membership. It was launched late last year, and it is a truly wonderful feeling that we have over a hundred members now who are committed to putting local dishes on the table regularly.

Sometimes I can feel despondent about the demise of home-cooking, especially the cooking of Singaporean dishes, but little milestones like this give me hope!

All Images courtesy of Pamelia Chia | By Sng Ler Jun