association between food and locality
in singapore, if you sell indian rojak, any association or connection with waterloo street will serve to enhance the value and marketability of your stall and its foodstuff. the association between food and locality can last for sometime, even after the stalls have moved out from that locality: like laksa and katong, seafood and ponggol, teochew porridge and owen road and fish-head curry and race course road.
so, it is not uncommon to find many stalls, even in the heartlands, selling indian rojak which claim some link to waterloo street. often the name waterloo street is included somewhere in the signboard. anyway, the proof is in the pudding. you can have all the association but if your ware is not up to the mark, there will be few return visits.
like today when we went to seah imm food centre after our morning walk, victor headed straight for the indian rojak stall. could have been the two words "waterloo street" that pulled him there.
anyway, he chatted in tamil with the owner who gave him a bit of history. the owner's grandfather used to have an indian rojak stall at waterloo street.
in the 60s and 70s, when around eight stalls sold indian rojak, mee goreng and nasi goreng along this road that faced the field used by st joseph's institution, it seemed many of us would walk past them but we did not eat there as often. victor, who used to lived along bras basah road, ate there a few times only because " he could not afford to eat often".
these days, we still cannot afford to eat indian rojak too often but it is for a different reason. it is no longer the financial constraint; it is for health reasons as we have to eat less fried food.
5 comments:
Not to forget roti prata's association with Jalan Kayu.
BTW, just in case your readers are wondering, this is a different Victor from your friend who lived in Bras Basah Road. I lived in that area too - Cheng Yan Place which is off Queen Street.
I too patronised the rojak and mee goreng stalls in Waterloo Street a few times on my way to the old National Library in Stamford Road. (Read my post here.) But I don't know Tamil.
i had read about your post and chun see's where mention was made of the indian rojak at waterloo street. like me and many others, chun see also could not afford the 30 cts then; you were one of the lucky few who could.
but my favourite was not the Indian rojak but the mee rebus at Waterloo St. On Fri, I happened to be at the SMU in Bra Basah. Such a big change from the old days. Even the Cathay building looked so different. Might as well tear it down and build something new if you ask me.
The street hawkers along Waterloo Street were first resited to Palmer Road carpark. From the carpark they were relocated all over the island. Hence, you find a number of Indian rojak in food centres, food courts and eating houses claiming to be from Waterloo Street.
palmer rd car park, the one near the former s'pore polytechnic building? i ate there a few times but cannot remember the indian rojak stalls being there.
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