Before coming to Singapore, I honestly did not know what to expect from the food. I had never really heard someone describe “Singaporean food” before. I knew that Singapore had once been part of Malaysia, so I expected some overlap with Malaysian food, but that was about it.
After living here, I’ve learned that one of the most interesting things about food in Singapore is how multicultural it is. Chinese, Malay, Indian and other cultures have all influenced what people eat here. You can see this everywhere, even in my university cafeteria!
I am studying at the National University of Singapore (NUS), where our cafeteria has different stalls serving different types of Asian food. This is very different from my home university, UC Berkeley. At Berkeley, I might grab a sandwich, pizza or pasta for lunch. Here, rice and noodles are much more common. I have definitely eaten more rice since moving to Singapore!
I have tried a lot of new foods since arriving, but I want to show you three meals that have become some of my favorites.
First is satay, which is meat grilled on small wooden skewers. I tried chicken, lamb and beef satay with peanut sauce. Beef was my favorite! In the United States, I usually associate meat on skewers with summer barbecues.
