I was a bit nervous coming to Singapore because I can be a picky eater and at home, I typically eat the same thing every day. Coming to a different country, I knew I would be presented with foods I had never seen or even heard of before. I realized very quickly that if f I try something new, the worst thing that can happen is that I don't like it and don't have to eat it again. However, the best thing that can happen is that I find a new food I love! This way of thinking really encouraged me to try new foods, even if I didn't think I would like them. And as a result, I have found several foods that I really love! One of my favorites is char siew pau, which are small steamed buns filled with char siew. Yum!
In the hawker centres, the food is prepared in the stall. For a typical dish, raw noodles are thrown into boiling water to cook and a small bowl of soup is taken out of a larger bin. The meat is either already cooked and just cut up into smaller pieces or cooked fresh in the back fresh. To ensure that the food stall is operating safely, the National Environment Agency tests each food stall's hygiene and gives them a letter grade. "A" is the best. This letter-grade is posted on the stall so that customers know the hygiene of the stalls when making a decision on where to eat.
