Indigenization and Hybridization of Food Cultures in Singapore

Tai Wei Lim is a Senior Lecturer at the Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS) and a Senior Research Fellow adj. at the National University of Singapore (NUS) East Asian Institute (EAI). He teaches world history and East Asian history-related courses at the SUSS and researches on heritage issues as well as industrial technological changes. He has also done research on the ceramics industries and mass production in Jingdezhen (China), Arita (Japan), Yingge (Taiwan) and urban pottery clusters in Hong Kong. He has an interest in the history of export porcelain wares from Jingdezhen/Arita.

• Part I.- 1. Introduction.- 2. Food Vessels: A Brief Historical Survey of Ceramics Use for Food Consumption in Singapore’s Hawker Centres and Coffee Shops (kopitiams).- 3. Diversity in Southeast Asian Serving Vessels.- 4. Late Modernity: Food-Serving Vessels Used in the Mid-Twentieth century.- Part II. - 5. Promoting Singapore-Japan Ties Through the Soft Cultural Power of Food Diplomacy: The Hybridization, Cross-Pollination and Indigenization of Contemporary Japanese Food Culture in Singapore.- 6. The Korean Wave in Singapore’s Multi-cultural Food Scene: Indigenization, Localization, Hybridization and Cross-Pollination.- Part III.- 7. Conclusion.