Designers from Raffles Design Institute were invited to research, reflect, and respond to Singapore’s Ubiquitous Hawker Culture – our food, our multiculturalism, our architecture, our social innovations, the way we eat, the way we socialise, the wares we use, our way of life.
Communal dining is the practice of dining with others. The practice is centred on food and sharing time with people who come together to connect over meals and conversations. Singapore’s tradition of communal dining at hawker centres has been recognised by UNESCO for its cultural significance – the United Nations’ cultural agency inscribed Singapore’s hawker culture to its Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in December 2020.
“Hawkers prepare a variety of food (‘hawker food’) for people who dine and mingle at hawker centres. These centres serve as ‘community dining rooms’ where people from diverse backgrounds gather and share the experience of dining over breakfast, lunch and dinner”, reports UNESCO.
