Culinary Diplomacy Served At Singapore Embassy
WASHINGTON, April 2, 2011 – The Embassy of the Republic of Singapore played host to a vibrant display of culinary tradition and music at "A Dash of Singapore Culinary Diplomacy," which featured a performance by erhu soloist Kong YanYan, a presentation by writer Cheryl Tan, and a discussion moderated by BBC Washington correspondent Adam Brookes.
Jack Garrity, Executive Director of Asia Society Washington, said the Asia Society was proud to co-host the event with the Embassy and that "Personally, I am happy to show another side of Singapore in Washington." Ambassador Chan added to this sentiment as well, saying "Sometimes diplomacy can be pleasurable, and cultural diplomacy can be very pleasurable."
Kong Yanyan, who has won every major erhu competition in China and has played with the Singapore Chinese Orchestra, opened the evening by playing "Rasa Sayang" ("The Feeling of Love").
Following the performance, Cheryl Tan presented highlights from her recently published memoir A Tiger In the Kitchen. Originally from Singapore, Tan left home to attend university in the United States and later became a freelance fashion journalist in New York City, writing for Instyle and the New York Times. A Tiger in the Kitchen recounts her personal journey back to Singapore to master her family's home-cooked dishes.
Tan described her decision to return to Singapore after living and working in the US, saying that eventually "The higher I climbed, the more I thought something was missing."
Learning how to prepare her family's recipes was not an easy experience, as Tan's relatives turned out to be quite formidable teachers. She described how in her work as a journalist she had grilled powerful people such as CEOs of major companies, but added that "none have scared me as much as my aunties in the kitchen."
Throughout the experience, Tan learned the stories behind the food that her family prepared. The origins of a dish her family knew as grandmother's "gambling rice," for example, turned out to be from when her grandmother ran a gambling den in order to support her family. The dish was invented so that she could feed her customers and not have them leave when they got hungry. As Tan explained, "They could hold the bowl in one hand, and gamble with the other."
BBC Foreign correspondent Adam Brookes moderated the Q & A session following Tan's presentation. A reception in the embassy foyer followed that discussion, featuring a selection of food for the audience that included Hainanese Chicken, Beef Rendang, and Chai Tom Kway, among other Singaporean specialties.
Reported By Adrian Stover