endangered dish - loh kai yik

this cantonese dish is called loh kai yik. it used to be quite a common and popular dish in the 60s but today, it has become almost 'extinct' in singapore. i came to know about it when i heard the name mentioned while we were eating teochew kway chap at havelock road food centre. someone in the makan group recalled that there was a cantonese equivalent of the kway chap. when he started to describe it, i realised that i had seen it being sold in my kampong in the 60s.

as usual, i did a search on the internet and found out that there is one stall at people's park food centre selling the dish. perhaps, this is the only stall in singapore selling loh kai yik. such a rare find cannot go unreported. the name of the stall is loh mei - which is another name for loh kai yik - specialist. like most local food, you can choose to eat at the food centre or you can buy 'takeaway'. i can see the similiarity between the cantonese dish and the teochew kway chap. both use a large shallow basin to contain the assortment of foodstuff and to keep it warm. the differences: loh kai yik does not come with 'kway'; kway chap does not have kangkong, chicken wing and cuttlefish.

in the 60s, most of the people who sold this food were itinerant food sellers. the general characteristics of such a person were: cantonese, elderly (could be either male or female) and working alone.

one person described a pot-bellied man who would go around on a bicycle with a big pot filled with tau pok, cuttlefish, pig skin, pig intestines, liver, belly pork and kangkong.

another talked about an old woman who carried a pot of the stuff moving from house to house. she announced her presence with shouts of 'loh kai yik, loh kai yik'.

according to a third person, there was a shop in joo chiat which sold this dish.

over at prince charles crescent, there was an old cantonese woman, who wore a sombrelo, selling this food. the customers would provide their own bowl and they could choose the items that they wanted, just like when you buy kway chap or yong tau foo.

the gradual disappearance of this dish could be attributed to two factors: (i) it was time-consuming to prepare; and (ii) people, now being health conscious, would avoid eating this dish.

if these are the reasons, then many other dishes, which are currently available, will have also gone the way of the dodo.