Once in a while, my blog posts on certain hawker stalls will attract a curt retort, "Overpriced". I normally don't reply to such one word "comments" because pricing is a complex, even subjective issue which I feel cannot be dismissed with one or two sweeping words. (I learned from business classes decades ago that pricing makes or breaks a business.)
But, I just need to get this off my chest, even if I am walking on very thin ice.
Now, I just want to focus on only one aspect of the complex issue of price - pricing of superior skills. And, only one dish - fried kway teow, for illustration.
As we all know, fried kway teow is made with very humble ingredients. Just noodles, bean sprout, egg, blood cockle, chive or choy sum, soy sauce, and lard. Options include fish cake slices, lup cheong slices, etc. Sold at $4 or $5, most of the selling price goes into paying for the skill of the hawker.
In Singapore, all hawkers are paid roughly the same for a plate of fried kway teow $4 or $5. Whether it is by the most accomplished master of the land, an average hawker, or a hawker who does not know the basics of frying the noodle dish yet.
We assume that the average fried kway teow hawker is getting a fair price for his dish i.e. $4 or $5. (One can argue if $4 is too much or too little for an average plate of fried kway teow, but that is for a separate discussion. Told you price is a complex issue.)
If so, by charging the same price as the average hawker, the master is actually undercharging for his work. He has not factored in his finely honed skill in extracting flavours from ingredients and infusing them into the noodles. Then, there is the lost art of wok hei which almost no one gets in the world of Singapore fried kway teow anymore.
By the same token, the hawker who has not learned the basics of his craft but charges his customers the same price as an average CKT hawker is actually overcharging them.
Crowds have wisdom. That's why fried kway teow masters always have non stop queues from the moment s/he lights his fire till the last strand of noodle is sold and eaten relished. The master's fried kway kway is exceptional value for money.
So, when a hawker who cooks his dish exceptionally well charges more than his average counterpart, I feel he is merely charging a fair price. S/he is not "overcharging" by any means, in my opinion.
However, in Singapore, this master hawker will often get accused of "overcharging". So yeah, little wonder then that most master hawkers retire with no willing successor.
Why is this discussion relevant?
Because, if we want to preserve our hawker culture which is given life by artisanal master hawkers [who are like the Messi(s) of the football world], it is only fair that we pay for it.
The alternative is the growing dominance of "no chef" stalls (manned by minimally briefed gig workers on quick rotation like at Western style fast food chains) which charge an average price but that would mean the death of the soul of hawker culture as we know it (during its heyday).
At such places, you might really be over paying (but not many people are conscious of it or mind).
What do you feel about "overpriced" hawker food?
Written by Tony Boey on 11 Jan 2023
On point but sadly too many didn't get it
ReplyDeletePrecisely. Well said, Tony. Too many Singaporeans complain about $4 or $5 plates of food being "too expensive" on one hand and then with a straight face turn around and say "support our hawker culture, they are important for our future generations!!" on the other. Apparently their support only lasts until they realize they have to put their wallet where their mouth is.
ReplyDeleteGo other countries with comparable COL like Japan and see what $4 gets you.
Errr to be fair, with the exception of the main city in Tokyo, $4 can get u a meal with sufficient protein and soup and drink in almost all parts of Japan. Go see the price of the beef bowls (gyu don) in the food chains like Yoshinoya, Sukiya etc.
DeleteCan’t agree more
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely on point and very well-written!! This being a (largely) free market, what then happens is, hawker food where many people are willing to pay higher prices will flourish for future generations and those where - for whatever reason - most people will not pay more for quality, these food groups will slowly die out. The example I can think of is prawn mee (flourishing) versus char kway teow which you mentioned. Also the reason why less and less carrot cake and chwee kwee are handmade, because we collectively just aren't interesting in paying for quality :*(
ReplyDeleteFor hawkers that operate as a stand alone business, I agree.
ReplyDeleteBut for those that operate as franchises, or large scale branches, I disagree.
These large scale operations have their food prepared at industrial strength, located in factories. These, somehow lack the "soul" and tastes... industrial.
Some dishes just cannot be prepared in large scale quantities and still maintain the peculiar taste.
Same like pizzas frozen, or carbonara sauce in a jar.
I will gladly pay more than $4... even $10 for a well fried 'cha-kway teow'.. but not nasi lemak from 'Ponggol'..
Hi Tony,
ReplyDeleteYou surely threaded on thin ice here, opening this Pandora box of squirmy worms. Hahaha.
Let's look at it from two separate context.
Lets take the Mona Lisa portrait as an example. Comparing the original painted by da Vinci, and knock off, very good ones, from "replicating shop/stall in Saigon. Many can not tell the difference, but the expert can and does easily.
Secondly, there are those who eats to live,
and other, like us, who live to eats.
And in the above context, whose the expert who appreciate (and willing to pay) for work of (culinary) art?