A day in the life of a Singapore hawker

This is a project by a group of undergraduates from Tembusu College, NUS. The video and story is by them.

ONE wakes up at midnight, another at 3.30am and yet another at 11.30am every day. No, they are not sleep deprived college students with messed up sleep cycles. They are the people you interact with on a daily basis, the backbone of Singapore’s cultural heritage: hawkers.

Madam Ng wakes up at 12am, a time when the majority of Singaporeans are heading towards bed. She and her siblings reach their Kian Seng Lor Mee stall by 1am. The stall only officially opens to welcome its first customers at 5am; the four hours are spent cooking in the stillness of the night. It is arduous work, preparing their signature chili and rich broth that will be guzzled down as the sustenance for work by many. They cook, sell and serve until their stock runs out at around 1-2pm and wash the stall until about 3pm. Strictly speaking, that is 13 straight hours at the “office” without nary a meal break in sight.

Mr Ng wakes up at 3.30am, a time when most people without an urgent deadline or serious computer addiction are deep in slumber. Together with his older brother, he opens his drink stall, Coffee Kid, at 4.30am to boil water and prepare breakfast. He works until 2.30 PM, a total of 10 hours each day making and selling coffeeshop staple brews, beers and cigarettes. At 2.30 PM, a second shift consisting of his relatives and friends take over the running of the store which was formerly his father’s.

Mr and Mrs Sham wake at 11.30am, when lunch is on the minds of many. They leave their house at 1.30 PM to collect various pre-ordered ingredients (depending on the day). The husband and wife begin operations at BBQ Chicken Wing by 2.30 PM. Mr Sham does most of the heavy cooking and barbecuing of satay, chicken wings and prawns, while Mrs Sham does the taking of orders, food presentation and serving even though they are cross-trained and can interchange roles seamlessly. Most of the time, they shutter only past midnight. (On the day when we visited, however, they stayed to clean their shop until 3.30am.)

Both Madam and Mr Ng have done this daily since 1980 when Clementi Food Centre began operations while Mr and Mrs Sham began in 2006 at Berseh Food Centre. Madam Ng and her siblings take a two-day break every fortnight while Mr Ng and the Shams only downtime is Chinese New Year and days when the food centre is closed for cleaning (once every few months). While business at these stalls is brisk, it is unlikely that they will be around in another 20 years – none of their children are interested in taking up this backbreaking work.

This video shows a day in the life of Mr and Mrs Sham. Even though we can scarcely prevent the gradual erosion of the hawker culture (unless you wish to be a hawker, in which case, go for it!), we hope to raise awareness and understanding of the lives these people go through to earn a living and bring your favourite under $5 dish to the table.

 

Featured image is a screenshot from the video. 

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