In December 2020, Singapore's Hawker Culture was inscribed into UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, marking Singapore's first entry into the list, and a milestone achievement for the preservation of what could be considered Singapore's national pasttime. This cache commemorates this achievement, and is located at a historic food centre in the heart of the city: Maxwell Food Centre.
The Sign Above the Entrance (which is still there today!)
This structure you see today began its life as the Maxwell Road Market in 1929 to help to centralise the street hawkers who would peddle their goods in Chinatown's narrow streets. Rather amusingly, rather than pay the rental to set up shop within, many hawkers decided to peddle their goods around the building, and the authorities were caught blindsided by this. After some deliberation, it was decided that the interior of the market be used for the placement of cooked food stalls, along with tables and chairs for dining and entertainment stages for operas and getais (performances during the Hungry Ghost Festival). Thus, the Maxwell Food Centre found its humble origins.
During the Japanese Occupation, the market continued in its role of providing for the Chinatown community, with rental reduced to once again try to entice vendors to set up shop within. Goods sold were rationed and sold at fixed prices as per the practice during wartime. After the war, the returning British government set up a "Family Restaurant" within the market, which sold food at a fixed low price to families who were in need and displaced after the war.
Yet, the fight to keep the Market viable continued as hawkers continued to set up shop outside the building instead of within. After decades of the government tussling with the hawkers to get them to move inside, the market was finally fully occupied in 1972 when the famous Telok Ayer Market (today's Lau Pa Sat) was closed down for redevelopment and its vendors moved into this Market. At this point, the Market was a mix of fresh produce stores and food stalls, much like many of the wet markets in the heartlands today,
The Rather Empty Market in 1986
It was in 1986, after the stalls from the Lau Pa Sat moved out, that the government decided to convert the Market to a dedicated Food Centre by moving the hawkers from the streets around China Square, down the road, into the market. Many of the stalls in the Food Centre trace their roots to those once set up at China Square, a legacy preserved in some of their names.
Maxwell Food Centre in 1992
The Food Centre was nearly demolished when URA decided to move its headquaters into the area, but the push to conserve a heritage building prevailed, and after redevelopment in the 2000s, the Food Centre we know and love today took shape.
Today, Maxwell Food Centre has become an icon in its own right, of course, with famous chefs and online personalities heaping praises on the food sold here, so there's no excuse not to grab a bite or a drink after getting the cache. Hawkers in the city have been hit especially hard during the last two years owing to lower footfall due to Work From Home requirements for many companies in the Central Business District, so do support our hawkers and the intangible heritage they embody!
Maxwell Food Centre (before the Pandemic, of course)
Happy hunting, and enjoy the location!
Photo credits: National Archive of Singapore and Wikipedia.