Everyone seems to be glad to be rid of 2020, and with the vaccines rolling out this year, it seems 2021 may have a glimmer of hope for life returning to (semi) normal. Since we’re all stuck in Singapore, our latest issue theme is a perennial favourite: food.
Read our latest issue here.
Future of food
What will the food of the future look like? Is it going to be cultured meat (p.2) that comes not from farms, but from labs? Singapore’s already approved the sale of lab-grown chicken meat, and our locally-based Shiok Meats is on the way to developing the world’s first lab-grown seafood. What’s next?
Speaking of the future, dystopian movies and fiction can often be relied upon to predict what life would be like, even down to food. From tasteless goop to 3D-printed molecules to… nutrition bars made of humans, we check out what some of the most popular dystopian titles have to say about our future of food.
Food in fiction
How many of us watch cooking or food-related shows? A lot! We start off with some of the most popular food-related anime (p.3), showing us the diverse offerings of not only food, but also the stories that revolve around them. Another popular medium for showcasing food? K-dramas (p.16)! They’re responsible (partly) for getting us hooked on Korean cuisine. Beyond fiction, there’s also a number of food-related reality programmes (p.4) that showcase everything related to food, from cooking to travel.
Food also plays a big part in novels (p.18), and we showcase the many ways food becomes part of the plot in the titles we feature.
Food in Singapore
It’s not an exaggeration to say that Singaporeans love their food! Since Singapore’s hawker culture has been inscribed as a UNESCO asset, we’re featuring some of the fancier offerings you can find at your heartland hawker centres (p.7). Singapore’s had a love/hate relationship with sugar, and we explore what this means (p.6) to our health.
Speaking of health, we’re more conscious of what we eat these days, and fermented foods have been touted as the new age health fad. However, not all fermented foods – like kimchi or kombucha – are good for you. If you’ve got underlying issues, they may actually be harmful for you (p.10).
Fast food empire
No matter how much we all try to go healthy, fast food will always have a way into our hearts (and stomachs). We explore some of the ways fast food companies, from Subway to Wendys, are innovating in their marketing campaigns (p.9). Some of these fast food brands can seem quite bold in their campaigns, marketing their brands as saucy tai tais and sexy cooks (p.20).
And as if we don’t have enough variety of fast food options, a new crop of brands have emerged, specialising in fusion fast food that combine flavours as audacious as ramen and burgers (p13).
The world of food
When they say that you can travel the world on your palate, it’s not a stretch of the imagination. The food you eat is often influenced by different cultures and people, so you’ll find a different interpretation of food in every country. For example, you may know of fried chicken – but depending on where you go, it looks, tastes, and smells very different (p.14).
From Southern Fried Chicken in the US to tori karaage in Japan, these dishes are steeped in the history of their birthplaces. Conversely, we’re also featuring Luso Foods (p.17) which showcases how the Portuguese have actually influenced the flavours of food around the world – from tempura in Japan to feijoada in Brazil, they have left their mark in every country they’ve visited.
To read these stories, read free online here. You can also access all our past issues for free! Once campuses start to open, you can also pick up a free copy of our physical magazine at your campus (distribution list here).
If you’re interested to write for Campus as one of our many student contributors, do email us at interns@campus.com.sg.
