Sanitary Food.

In the Sunday Times' lifestyle section today, there's an article lamenting the fact that Singaporean hawker food has deteriorated to the point of inedibility.

At the risk of sounding tired and repetitive, is that really that big a surprise?

We've managed to take an art and sanitised it to the point of complete and utter blandness. Let's see:

Fat: Lard, unfortunately, kills us. In the past we saw it as a way of making food tastier. Today we see it as heart attack onna stick.

Burnt crispy bits: See above and tack on the fact that it's all carcinogenic = Cancer warning.

Dirt: Although gross, I think that's what gives hawker food the distinctive taste. That extra "oomph".

Yeah, we can complain about the dropping standards of food but realisitically, we wanted it that way right? It's all about living the sanitary life. Free from allergens and contamination. Food that isn't going to kill you. But everything can kill you today right? Excessive salt. Fat laden foods. Slightly charred char siew. It's all bad. But that's the tragedy of it. We can have our bland healthy food or we could have tasty plates of certain death. There's no in between. We can lie and say that healthy food's tasty but we know that it's not. Not the way that lard laden char kway teow was tasty. It just ain't.

Sanitary belongs in a hospital. Or on the box of feminine hygiene products. Not on food.