Young food hawkers received recognition at WGS this year
Jun 23, 2022
SINGAPORE – USA Rice was the official rice sponsor at the World Gourmet Summit (WGS) here last month. The food show is Asia’s premiere haute cuisine festival that features Michelin-starred chefs and vintners from around the world.
“In addition to our primary rice partnership at WGS, USA Rice also sponsored two awards, Chef Apprentice of the Year and Chef Mentor of the Year,” said Jim Guinn, USA Rice director of Asia promotion programs. “The Chef Apprentice award goes to the winner of a cook-off that features U.S. rice as the key ingredient.”
At the awards ceremony, USA Rice set up a tabletop display with all eight brands of U.S. rice available in the local market, mostly California short and medium grain rice.
“The theme of this year’s show was equilibrium, discovering an ideal balance between food and soul,” said Guinn. “Included in that celebration of equilibrium was the Hawker Award Series, a nod to the influence of the ubiquitous street food hawkers on the local food scene. There were 15 awards in this category, three of which were for talented young hawkers 35 years or younger. USA Rice was a presenter of one of the awards in this category.”
In 2020, hawker culture was included on the UNESCO Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity as an indication of how important it is to the identity of Singapore.
Singapore imports approximately 365,000 MT of rice annually – about 3,000 MT is U.S.-origin – and then re-exports about 110,000 MT to nearby markets such as Indonesia, the Philippines, and Malaysia.