An open letter

Dear reader, it has been a year and a half since I started Singapore Noodles as a community and online food resource for all.

Growing up, I had always found Singaporean cooking intimidating. Trying to learn how to cook in the kitchen with my mother/ grandmother, notebook and pen in hand, was always a futile attempt. The lack of precise measurements and explanations often left me exasperated, and I chose to learn from Western cookbooks and celebrity chefs instead. Even when I started working professionally as a cook, I’d very rarely dabble in local cuisine - it was still inaccessible to me, despite my growing comfort and ease in the kitchen.

Moving abroad and experiencing prolonged homesickness for the first time was what really sparked a desire to attempt making all the things I had grown up eating but took for granted. It was a period of reading a lot (mostly from Singaporean bloggers), calling my mother and mother-in-law to ask questions, and lots of trial-and-error. Though there are great resources for quick and easy local dishes, there wasn’t a gold standard resource I could refer to when I wanted to learn how to make something more technically challenging or uncommon, such as vegetarian beehoon with all its mock meat toppings, or flaky curry puffs.

I wanted to create a space to document Singaporean recipes and cooking techniques, a small sliver in the vast world of cooking that I felt was not well understood or represented. But life always gets in the way, and life as a chef was hectic and tiring.

When COVID happened and the hospitality industry took a hit, I found myself with a huge chunk of free time. That was the kick in the arse that I needed to make the resource that I’d been thinking about a reality.

It has been a wonderful journey, really. I couldn’t have expected the impact of this platform. People have sent me messages about how family recipes have been lost with the passing of elders, and they had not tasted a certain dish for years. Others - locals and foreigners alike - have expressed a sentiment of being ‘locked out’ of Singaporean cuisine and food culture. Within the span of a year, Singapore Noodles has grown to encompass recipes, video tutorials, podcasts, a print magazine, and more. I had never felt more fulfilled or invigorated about the work that I was doing - I felt like I was truly making use of my strengths, for something that I believed in.

But of late, it has been starting to feel overwhelming. It has been non-stop content creation for SEASONINGS and Singapore Noodles, and on top of that, I still get messages to request for new recipes, to troubleshoot what went wrong, and to get advice on cooking matters. It has gotten to the point where there have been moments where I do feel taken for granted. Or used. Almost like an ATM machine, but for free recipes and consultation. It felt like I was feeding an insatiable beast that constantly demands for more.

I’ve wondered so many times if I was doing the right thing - people were sending in their recipe requests because they’ve tried many recipes out there that did not give them good results. While I understand their frustration, it was almost as if I was the only one bearing the brunt of the cost of ingredients, effort, and time, in exchange for others’ successes in the kitchen. Don’t get me wrong - there’s nothing more fulfilling for a recipe developer/ cookbook writer/ content creator than to see one’s recipe cooked in another kitchen and being enjoyed. But, over time, it felt like Singapore Noodles was becoming less and less sustainable as a platform as time went by, as it grows to help more and more folks.

At the start, I believed that Singapore Noodles should be a free platform because I wanted people who wouldn’t ordinarily be interested in local cuisine to be curious. I didn’t want to be preaching to the choir. I envisioned the generous sharing of recipes and tutorials to be friendly entry points for Singaporeans to realize that our cuisine really isn’t as inaccessible as we had thought, and to also rediscover what a blessing it was to have such a rich and diverse food heritage.

But now, it is becoming increasingly clear for me that preserving food heritage has to be a joint effort. It can’t just be one person giving all the time - that wouldn’t be sustainable at all.

I’m sure that many in the creative or F&B industry can relate to feeling that there is an unspoken assumption and expectation to not talk about money/ do work for free/ do work for cheap, because it demeans and sullies the craft. But any work that creates value for others should be esteemed, and not expected to be done for free.

It is tiring enough to make things like Nonya zhang (something typically made communally) alone. It is doubly challenging to be a one-woman crew + kitchen team - cooking something incredibly laborious while filming the entire process from multiple angles, in order to present the material in an easy-to-understand way.

If Singapore Noodles is to have a chance at continuing to provide valuable content that truly helps for many more months/ years to come, then I have to challenge my initial assumption that this should all be given away for free.

All this is to say that moving forward, I would be charging a monthly/ yearly fee to access the recipes and video tutorials on the site. I’m typing all of these thoughts here (my heart is so heavy now, gosh) in hopes that you would understand the decision that I’ve made to keep Singapore Noodles going.

As part of this member-funded community, you will receive full access to all content on the site. There would be new weekly recipes + video tutorials, and virtual cook-along sessions for you to ask any questions you may have. You’d also be able to join a private Facebook group to chat with other members, get advice/ ideas for your next meal, and share variations on recipes from Singapore Noodles. To join, click here.

Whether or not you are able to commit to becoming a member on the platform, I would like to express my thanks for every one of you who have tried a recipe and shown me your results, dropped me an encouraging message, shared with me about how Singapore Noodles has impacted you, or supported the products that I’ve created, such as Wet Market to Table, the Singapore Noodles 2021 planner, and SEASONINGS Magazine.

My tutorials on Youtube from 2020 to this point, as well as the podcast episodes, will still be available for you to enjoy. And from time to time, I’d also be sharing with you kitchen stories, cooking tips, and the occasional recipe via this newsletter.

Thank you all for reading, and for your support on this journey so far 🙇🏻‍♀️ 💌