Singapore Food & Beverage Fair 2012 (美食与饮料展)

Just look at the CROWD!!!

   Alright, so the best thing about Singaporeans is that WE LOVE OUR FOOD. Okay, maybe not the best, because that just means that there's more competition for all of us. So you can tell that I was not surprised when a whole stampede of people charged right through the doors of the convention hall. This fare is not for the claustrophobic at heart. seriously. But if you're willing to stand the heat, the noise, the occasional rude uncle shoving you aside or the stepping of one's foot on your littlest toe, then why not? TWO HALLS filled with Singapore's best food? Not such a huge price to pay now is it?

THE one thing we're ALL here for

Yes. Free food. That's why half of the people there ARE there. They're the stalls bombarded with people coming for more and more of their free 'samples'. Trust me, people actually come here for lunch and they can actually get filled up with just the samples. It's even come to the stage where they don't even bother with politeness and actually listening to the sales personnel. They just TAKE and GO. and the TAKE again. OKAY, I admit, I was one of them. But the food was just soooo so good that I just had to come back for more.

Some odd wheat stuff

Now this was something that got me hooked on coming back for fifths and even sevenths. They are kinda like a wheat staple, made of soy beans and oats. This stuff, is DA BOMB. Or maybe its just the way the lady cooked it. I wouldn't have ever imagined dried soy beans could taste this good. They taste plain on their own, but with a drizzle of oil, a pinch of spices and a handful of chilies and onions, These things turn into addictive little munchies. I could eat these everyday for lunch. They just taste so warm and cosy and homey. kind of like hot chocolate in front of a fireplace kind of cosy. Home-cooked meals kind of cosy. If you ever decide to stop by the Fare, be sure to check these out.

Close up of the bean-curd-like-thing

BEWARE!

So, I feel I must warn you. NOT everything that's free tastes good. In fact, this stuff shouldn't even be allowed for the public to sample without a warning. Well, unless you like the taste of rotting garlic, of course. YES. Fermented garlic. It seems that (according to the brochure) garlic, when fermented, slightly alters in its chemical properties and therefore, one would gain more antioxidants when he or she consumes this foul thing. Pfft. As if Garlic on its own wasn't foul enough. Adding FERMENTED to the equation would do it no better. I tried it thinking that it'd be as brilliant as the other free stuff, but I immediately recoiled at the moment the thing touched my tongue. Its sweet, but not pleasant. its a very sharp, acidic sweet, like what you get with anything rotten. Imagine the sweetness of rotting onions, combined with the taste of sour putrid vomit, that leaves you with a bitter aftertaste that smells like sewage. I think I'd rather miss out the Anti-Oxidants.

POP!

 There are many interesting sights, sounds and smells to experience at the food fare, and I came across this particularly interesting piece of machinery. The machine fills in grains of rice into a small circular hole, and then compresses it while electrocuting the grains until it they fry like pop corn. And its REALLY LOUD when it does this. When the rice reaches a certain temperature, the cooked rice cracker it then sent flying out of the machine where it crashes into a container full of the other rice crackers. With a LOUD BANG. It scared me the first time as it was just a really unexpected way of making rice crackers. Here's the failed photo I tried to take of the flying disc of rice. trust me its hard. I took like ten shots and this was the best one, which isn't really exactly nice since its all blurry and stuff.

OF course, thats not all. Not even close. So here's to me saying goodbye and leaving the rest of the stuff there as surprises for you to discover. Sharksfin soup going at $5 for 3 bowls? Thai tapioca/ coconut desert? fried squid on a stick? you're just going to be spoilt for choice. 

Hungry bunny over and out~

Venue: Suntec City convention centre.  Halls 403-404

Admission is free!!! (and that's the best part.)