Cover A picture inside ‘Eat Here or Take Away: All About Singaporean Hawker Culture’, featuring a hawker centre food spread (Photo: Cherely Too)
A picture inside ‘Eat Here or Take Away: All About Singaporean Hawker Culture’, featuring a hawker centre food spread (Photo: Cherely Too)
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The illustrated volume, commissioned by Tan Tok Seng Hospital and featuring the work of 34 writers, editors, and photographers, celebrates Singapore’s rich hawker culture
Very few things get in the way between Singaporeans and their hawker food, and that unwavering bond was proven again at the Singapore Book Awards 2023 on Wednesday night, when Eat Here or Take Away: All About Singaporean Hawker Culture, published earlier this year, won the award for best illustrated non-fiction title.
Boasting a large roster of 34 contributors—including acclaimed chef Violet Oon, Senang Supper Club chef Bryan Koh, food writer Annette Tan, poet and editor Daryl Lim Weijie, photographer Bryan van der Beek, and many others—the 168-page volume celebrates Singapore’s multifaceted hawker culture, which has, since 2020, been on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
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Above Cover of ‘Eat Here or Take Away: All About Singaporean Hawker Culture’ (Photo: Epigram Books)
Cover of ‘Eat Here or Take Away: All About Singaporean Hawker Culture’ (Photo: Epigram Books)
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A multimedia kaleidoscope, the book includes poetry, flash fiction, photographs, interviews, comics, and essays, spanning topics such as personal stories of hawkers, recipes of heritage dishes, and even close-up looks into the architecture of hawker centres. Commissioned by Tan Tok Seng Hospital, all royalties of Eat Here or Take Away go towards providing post-discharge support for needy patients.
Coincidentally, the previous three winners of the same award have also been books centred on Singapore's cuisine. The 2022 winner, The Food of Singapore Malays by Khir Johari, recently also won the top prize at the 28th Gourmand World Cookbook Awards in Sweden. Winners of earlier seasons include How to Cook Everything Singaporean by Denise Fletcher (2021) and The Way of Kueh by Christopher Tan (2020).
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About
Ethan is a dining writer with Tatler Singapore. Trained in literary arts and filmmaking, their work has previously been published in Esquire Singapore, Men's Folio, and with the Asian Film Archive and the Singapore International and Film Festival, across a wide range of interests from gastronomy to fashion and arts criticism.
Work
Ethan writes about exciting news in the F&B industry, specialising in fine dining, exclusive spirits launches, and new restaurants. They are always looking for riveting voices to bring something fresh to an already-dynamic industry.
Follow them on Instagram at @faustiangourmand.
