Mind Your Body, 2 Aug 06
On Monday morning, many a bleary-eyed member of the public would have opened a newspaper - over their morning coffee and kaya toast - to be greeted by the good news of how the Health Promotion Board wants to transform our hawkers into health-conscious service providers (I am one of them..though i do not drink coffee and seldom eat kaya toast)
I wonder how many people would have stood up and said 'Well, it's about time! I can't wait to have the pork lard in my hokkien mee replaced with monounsaturated olive oil; it's good for me and best of all, it'll taste better!' (Again, i'm one of them..in fact, i not only stood up..i even did a little jig of happiness)
That was about as likely to happen as global warming reversing. (So, global warming reversing is not happening..but look at the number of measures in place to reduce it)
It's more probable that people skipped over the articles, in a state of complete glazed-over denial, or rolled their eyes and thought, leave my bak chor mee man alone! And then went out and had a second breakfast of you tiao and black tar coffee. (Now i'm not of one of them..nope..not me..on the contrary, i almost let out a whoop of joy when i read that Tiong Bahru market is one of the hawker centres earmarked for such an exciting makeover)
To be fair, the scheme is voluntary and does not demand a drastic makeover. Hawkers are being encouraged to replace at least one ingredient with a healthier alternative, not a tall order by any means.
But to hardcore hawker food lovers, even such modest demands would be mind-boggling. Why be something you're not? (Have u even tried in the first place?)
Frankly, it would take a whole lot more to make hawker food truly healthy. (Think we gotta look at things in perspective here..less unhealthy does not = truly healthy)
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