UNESCO recognizes Singapore??s low?cost food culture 新加坡“小贩文化”申遗成功

余璐

“小贩文化”是新加坡人生活的一部分，在城市化发展进程中，为几代新加坡人提供了身份认同感和延续性。由此，新加坡“小贩文化”被联合国教科文组织列入人类非物质文化遗产代表名录。

Singapores tradition of eating out in places called hawker（沿街叫卖者） centers has been recognized by the United Nations for its cultural importance.

A hawker is a person who sells food or goods and advertises by shouting at people walking by on the street. Hawkers are an important part of Singaporean culture. Open?air eating areas where hawkers sell their goods are very popular in Singapore. “These centers serve as ‘community dining rooms where people from diverse backgrounds gather and share the experience of dining over breakfast， lunch and dinner，” UNESCO said. Famous chefs like Anthony Bourdain and Gordon Ramsay have praised them. And they appear in popular films like Crazy Rich Asians. The 2018 film showed its stars enjoying meals at a famous night market. Some sellers even received Michelin stars from a famous restaurant rating system for their meals costing only a few dollars.

The United Nations cultural agency， UNESCO， added the citys hawker culture to its Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity（人類非物质文化遗产代表名录）. Singapore was eager to have hawker culture added to the list.

Now that it has been recognized， Singapore must provide a report every six years to UNESCO. The report must show efforts the city?state has made to save and support its hawker culture.

In the 1970s， Singapore cleaned up its streets so the city moved street hawkers to new eating centers. These areas were part of an effort to improve the island. Now， the centers offer many different low?cost meals for local people and provide a pleasing social setting.

But Singapores hawker culture does face difficulties. The average age of a hawker in Singapore is 60 years old. Younger Singaporeans now want to work in offices. They are less interested in working in small restaurants.

The COVID?19 health crisis also hurt sales， preventing foreign visitors from eating out. During the first few months of this year， restrictions on movement and social distancing also stopped locals.

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What makes it necessary to add hawker culture to the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity？