[Oyk]

Sadly, Singapore has permanently lost its once great hawker culture. In the past, I would have argued with anyone that Singaporean hawker fare can go head to head with Malaysia or Thailand.  Now, I have to admit that it's degenerated to some sanitized and tasteless version of what were once great dishes.

Low TFR is the root of the problem.  We don't even have enough yang peepur for both the private and public sectors, so where to find the next generation to continue the skill?

You can bring in doctors, bankers and IT professionals from other countries and even get a generous supply of them with the right cooperation like the Comprehensive Ecocomic Cooperation Agreememt. (CECA)

But you can't bring in char kway teow men.. the pioneer generation of Teochew ah hia has either passed away or are too old to carry on...so this dish will never taste the same anymore even if someone sells it.

But we are consoled or compensated in many ways.. we lose our CKT which is only one dish but in return we get many dishes back like tandoori chicken, butter chicken, fish tikki...the food of rajahs replacing coolie food.