Fiona Fernandez: Aromas of heritage

Wersquoll be doing a bit of travel today Unlike some of our friends and colleagues who are travelling for the ldquoholidaysrdquo pray when did it translate into a desi term ours will be of the armchair varietyThe island nation of Singapore piqued our imagination recently when we stumbled upon some interesting news from its culinary landscape Years ago while on a visit its riotous FampB culture sucked us in like a sponge mdash from Cantonese and Hakka to Malay Vietnamese fresh seafood and a very uniquely Singaporean take on Indian foodTurns out for three successive years now a nonprofit organization called Slow Food Singapore has been selecting 50 heritage heroes mdash this is an honour bestowed on local restaurants that pay tribute to Singaporersquos culinary heritage The idea according to the story published in a leading English language daily was to lsquopreserve heritage dishes and ingredients celebrate food culture and traditions protect its diversity and champion responsible consumptionrsquo A novel idea thisOn the Singapore list we spotted a lipsmacking lineup of over 80 dishes curated from its stalls and hawkers to its swish restaurants and bakeries As we did a virtual flashback of the triphop across its food courts street and heady restaurant fare one had to hand it to the Singaporeans for being terrific ambassadors when it came to showcasing their food and going through great pains to ensure the lsquoheritagersquo tag was justified This despite being one of the youngest nations in Asia mdash it was founded in 1819 Every street in is older precincts had signage to explain a little nugget of history connected to its food mdash depending on its original inhabitants As tourists we lapped it up it certainly added another level to our understanding of the countryChecking out this list the heritage buff that we are we immediately put pen to paper and imagined a Mumbai equivalent For starters we would have ten times over the number of foodie heritage heroes wouldnrsquot we We couldnrsquot help but wonder why such a movement hadnrsquot taken shape in Mumbai Slow food and heritage go hand in hand And in a culinaryrich cosmopolitan city like ours such a trend seems long overdue With an increasing number of woes ranging from high rents to redevelopment oldtime standalone restaurants especially the familyrun kinds are on the cusp of unknown futures Such recognition would be a shot in the arm and help increase their awareness enable funding perhaps yes we are being optimistic here sustain and insure their longevityIf Singaporersquos culinary diversity which is not a patch of Mumbairsquos can roll out such honours to keep its local heritage safe why cannot Mumbairsquos foodloving junta and gurus work out a similar model This would be a great step we believe to salvage our unique food heritage so unlike the fate met by countless examples of our tangible heritage it doesnrsquot get phased outWersquore inspired to quote cityborn Rudyard Kiplingrsquos words here ldquoIt is at Bombay that the smell of all Asia boards the ship miles off shore and holds the passengers nose till he is clear of Asia againrdquoWersquod like to believe our culinary landscape had something to do with itmiddayrsquos Features Editor Fiona Fernandez relishes the cityrsquos sights sounds smells and stones wherever the ink and the inclination takes her She tweets bombayana Send your feedback to mailbagmiddaycom