{"id":49813,"date":"2018-06-13T06:45:39","date_gmt":"2018-06-12T22:45:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rubbisheatrubbishgrow.com\/?p=49813"},"modified":"2018-06-13T09:52:44","modified_gmt":"2018-06-13T01:52:44","slug":"what-the-trump-kim-lunch-menu-tells-us-about-the-singapore-identity-and-politics-and-that-damn-20m","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rubbisheatrubbishgrow.com\/zh\/2018\/06\/13\/what-the-trump-kim-lunch-menu-tells-us-about-the-singapore-identity-and-politics-and-that-damn-20m\/","title":{"rendered":"What the Trump-Kim Lunch Menu Tells us About Singapore Identity and Politics (and that Damn $20M)"},"content":{"rendered":"

https:\/\/twitter.com\/meridithmcgraw\/status\/1006374341657931782<\/a><\/p>\n

Lunch was served as a classic 3-course affair: appetisers, mains, and desserts. For each course, (I suppose as in the traditional way) there is a choice of 3 dishes. For example, for the appetiser, you can order the prawn cocktail (American) OR the green mango kerabu salad (Singaporean) OR the Korean stuffed cucumber. But if you’re the POTUS or a dictator, I guess you can have more than one item per course.<\/p>\n

Since there are 3 choices in each course, it may be assumed that each choice can be categorised into American\/Western, Korean, and Singaporean cuisines.<\/p>\n

American Cuisine<\/span><\/p>\n

The American cuisine is represented by prawn cocktail with avocado salad<\/strong>\u00a0(starter) and beef short rib<\/strong>\u00a0confit<\/strong> (main).<\/p>\n

The prawn cocktail<\/strong> is a really strange choice because it is super old-school, popular in the 60s to 80s, when Trump was in his prime (20s to 40s). English food writer Nigel Slater wrote that the prawn cocktail<\/a> has “see-sawed from the height of fashion to the laughably pass\u00e9” and is now served as an “ironic wink.” Of course, it shouldn’t been seen as ironic when served to Trump (although the man is a joker, snatching away jobs from comedians). Serving prawn cocktail plays to his sense of nostalgia or it could mean Trump has not let go of his past.<\/p>\n

\"\"Trump loves beef and likes to eats (well-done) burgers wherever he goes in the world. The beef short rib confit<\/strong>–which I suppose is sous-vide?–is really a smart upgrade. As many foodies know, cooking beef well-done destroys the texture and taste of the beef; it becomes dry and hard. But the beef short rib confit is cooked over time, so it is thoroughly cooked and becomes tender and delicious. Smart move.<\/p>\n

Korean Cuisine<\/span><\/p>\n

The Korean cuisine is represented by oiseon<\/strong> (Korean stuffed cucumber) for starter and daegu jorim<\/strong> (soy braised cod fish) for main.<\/p>\n

Singapore Cuisine<\/span><\/p>\n

The Singapore cuisine is represented by\u00a0green mango kerabu salad<\/strong> for starter and\u00a0sweet-and-sour pork with fried rice<\/strong> for main.<\/p>\n

\"\"Photo Credit: Season with Spice<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Green mango kerabu salad<\/strong> is a Peranakan dish. This is a puzzling choice because few Singaporeans have eaten or even heard of this dish before<\/a>. I have eaten at at least 1800 eateries in Singapore and blogged more or less for about 10 years but have not come across this dish. Why not serve rojak for salad? Furthermore, the dish is too similar to the more popular and famous Thai green papaya salad (som tum) and it becomes confusing to differentiate between national cuisines.<\/p>\n

\"\"The\u00a0sweet-and-sour pork with fried rice<\/strong> is, like the beef, another smart dish to offer because the dish is familiar to both Americans (through their Chinese food takeouts) and Koreans (who have their own version of the dish called tangsuyuk\u00a0<\/em>\ud0d5\uc218\uc721<\/span>). But ultimately, this is a Chinese dish; it is not a Singaporean dish.<\/p>\n

\"\"Why didn’t we serve Singaporean cuisine? Where are the chicken rice<\/a>, nasi lemak<\/a>, ayam buah keluah (pictured above), chilli crab, and laksa that STB has spent millions to promote all over the world? Isn’t this a good chance to put Singapore food on the world stage which is often stated as a reason for us paying $20M? We have four internationally recognised Singaporean eateries, serving Singapore cuisine, awarded Michelin star<\/a>. The Americans offered their cuisine (and Trump showed his personality through the American cuisine); the Koreans offered their national cuisine; but why did we offer an almost-Thai dish and a Chinese dish?<\/p>\n

Because we are nice hosts. We bend over backwards to accommodate guests and make them comfortable. We take selfies with them at Garden by the Bay and we celebrate their birthday in advance. We offer our guests the kind of food that they are familiar with, Thai food and Chinese food, and not the food that shows our heritage and identity. We say yes to everything. When Kim wanted to come to Singapore, several agencies came forward to sponsor him, including\u00a0the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN)<\/a> and HotelPlanner.com<\/a>. But Singapore taxpayers had to fork out 20M to pay for a dictator who has likely assassinated his own brother<\/a>. We pay because we are good hosts.<\/p>\n

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