Welcome to the Eat, Shop, Play, Love blog. This is a writing experiment that aims to lend a voice to the millions of Asians around the world who have left their native countries to live their lives in a different place, for whatever the reasons may be. Read the authors' profiles here.

Friday, July 9, 2010

Chrysalis on Eat: Spare a Thought for Food

Now that I’ve started work after what seems to be two long years as minister of Australian home affairs, lunch is no longer a war. Gone are the days of having to negotiate between sparring kids and a temperamental toddler trying to assert his independence at the dining table while trying to chow down my steaming hot bowl of instant noodles and mopping up the destruction left behind by my toddler who thinks it’s fun and hilarious playing catch with his own food.

However, lunch is also not a leisurely affair –- one that evokes fond memories involves bonding over a cup of teh tarik (tea with milk) after lunch with my ex-colleagues back home in Singapore.

You see, my lunch at work is only half an hour. Yes, 30 minutes and I can almost hear your collective gasp of shock and disbelief.

It seems pretty common at the Australian workplace to have half hour to forty-five minute lunch breaks, as I found out from my Aussie colleagues. The hub’s workplace also practises 30-minute lunch breaks.

The rationale is a simple one: take a shorter lunch break and go home earlier. Take my workplace for example. I have to clock 7.6 hours in a day. So I chose to start work earlier at 8 a.m. (rather than the official 9 a.m.) and end at 4 p.m. This leaves me enough time to pick up the kids from childcare and return home to prepare dinner.



One of the many advantages of leaving work early: avoid the rush-hour traffic



With lunch hour this short, most people also tend to have lunch at their desks or at the pantry. Lunch is usually leftovers from the previous night’s dinner or a simple sandwich and soup. It is just as well the lunch hour is short as eating out can be quite expensive (you won’t get away with less than ten bucks for a decent meal and drink) and you won’t find many people having lunch out more than two times a week. Well, unless they have deep pockets.

And fellow Singaporeans who are reading this blog, get ready to let out another gasp of disbelief. In Australia, it’s actually acceptable and relatively common to dabao (get a doggy bag for) what you cannot finish on your plate. The waiter’s not going to give you the look when you ask for containers to doggy-bag the leftovers. Neither will you be charged 20 cents for the empty boxes.

As much as I enjoy the convenience and easy access to cheap, delicious food back home in Singapore, gripe about expensive, below-par Asian food in Melbourne food place, and whine about having to cook even when I am tired and don’t feel like it; in the grand scheme of things, life has for us changed in more good ways than bad since moving to Melbourne in the food department.

First, I get to finally flex my dormant culinary skills (“I didn’t know you can cook!” says the hub).



All of a sudden, I have culinary superpowers

Next, I decide what goes into our meals (goodbye, MSG).

But best of all, there is a certain sense of "want not, waste not" when it comes to consuming.

In Singapore, food is so cheap that we wouldn’t have thought twice about leaving leftovers on our plates if we can’t finish it. Somehow, moving here has given us a whole new mindset toward wastage.

We don’t cook more than we can’t chew and when we do have leftovers, we turn it into our lunch for tomorrow or transform it into a different dish come tomorrow evening.



Still the best: Homecooked meals

I’ve been telling the hub that if we were to transport this lifestyle back home, we would be rich.

Now, that’s food for thought.

3 comments:

  1. Hear hear! Ever since I found a saner job that actually gives me time to plan for my meals.. I am able to bring food for lunch in the office. In fact, I actually make it a point to cook more for dinner so that I have leftovers for lunch. Reason? Home cooked food is waaay better than eating food from the food court soaked in unhealthy oil and cooked with loads of salt and MSG.

    It definitely does not save me money because in Singapore, cooking at home tends to be more expensive than eating out. But, I relish the fact that I'm pouring in healthy food into my body.

    My husband, has recently become jealous of my healthy routine, and now demands that I 1) Buy him a food jar 2) include him in the routine!

    Cheers to healthier living!!

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  2. that food spread in the picture looks amazing!! (also makes me wither in shame...you cooked that AFTER work??)

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  3. tianni: Hee, that was a pic of a recent home gathering, didn't have time to source for our usual weekday dinner fare with my new job. Weekday dinners are usually just one-pot affairs.

    katiemom,: yes I do agree cooking at home in Singapore may not be cheaper than eating out, well unless maybe you buy in bulk and freeze like what we do here in Australia. Given the time constraints and also distance (not as convenient as Singapore where you just walk to the supermarket), we usually buy enough for a few weeks of food.

    With the temptations of easily available food in Singapore, I salute you for taking the time and trouble to cook! Yes, homecooked food's still the best! So keep doing what you are doing and get your hub in with you! :)

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