Discarded Ingredients, Heartache, Confusion - Hong Lim Hawkers Scramble Amid Food Centre’s Sudden Closure
Apart from losing two weeks worth of business, Hong Lim hawkers like 30-year-old Algin Tan (left in pic), who runs new Western stall Burgrill along with his brother Milton, had to toss away ingredients that had already been prepared in anticipation of the weekend crowd. “We had already marinated meat for the weekend, as there [are more customers on weekends]. I had to throw away [about $300] of chicken, beef and salmon,” he says. “The whole rubbish bin was full.”
While the hawkers can save some of the food for themselves or give it away, “those that can’t possibly be finished” will have to be thrown away, says Algin. For example, he had 22 kg of peeled potatoes with a shelf life of “five days”. It is also presumably logistically challenging to distribute raw ingredients to other people amid scrambling to close shop at short notice.
However, all of the hawkers 8days.sgspoke acknowledged that preventing the further spread of Covid-19 was paramount. Gerald Tang (far right in pic), towkay of Michelin Bib Gourmand stall Tai Wah Pork Noodle, reasons: “The most important thing is to stop the spread.” After discarding his ingredients for the day, the 42-year-old went to “a nearby clinic” this morning to get swabbed before going home. “I still got [my second vaccination] jab to go,” he explains.
Algin, who has also received his first dose of the vaccine, says, “The possibility of getting [Covid-19 isn’t the most worrying part]. The worry is spreading it to family or customers. I live with my sister, who has two young children.”
“I never thought that it would happen in our hawker centre. Everyone has to take serious precautions,” says Khang Huat. Adds Ray stoically, “We still have to hold on [despite the restrictions] no matter what. The whole of Singapore, we have to do our best.”
Photos: Yip Jieying, Florence Fong, Heng Kee Curry Noodle/Facebook, Tanglin Crsipy Curry Puff/Facebook
