White Rabbit Candy... again

[First posted at Yesterday.SG, 17 May 06]

Kevin (who's in the USA as I post this) blogs about White Rabbit Candy as a cultural artifact:

You can safely claim you’re Chinese if you remember eating this when you were young. The White Rabbit milk candy was not only delicious, but fun because it had edible paper wrapper around the candy. I never noticed how the rabbits were actually high-fiving each other as seen above. Pretty funky rabbits!

It's interesting how he tags that post as "Singapore Art" as well.

This is my 2nd Yesterday.SG post about White Rabbit Candy (here's the first). I didn't know my sweet tooth extended to my choice of blog topics. Anyway, I was asking myself these questions:

• Is White Rabbit Candy really that nostalgic an item?


• Should Singapore start a Food Museum?

For the 1st question, much as I love White Rabbit Candy (I love popping about 5 at a go and chewing it), I don't really see it as a cultural icon. I thought I still see it being sold in supermarkets in the same packaging. But I've heard enough people say that it brings back memories, so I'm wondering why. Something about childhood being sweet and milky, maybe?

For the 2nd question, I think Singapore should start one. If you google for "food museum" you can find examples like the Food Museum Online (they even have a blog), the Museum of Burnt Food (I kid you not!), and Alimentarium Food Museum in Switzerland (which claims to be the only kind in the world). I don't think there's one in Asia, so why don't Singapore start one? Everyone seems to be talking about food in Asia.

Our culture reeks Food... the Hokkiens and TeoChews would greet by way of asking, "Have you eaten?" Turn on your SCV and you see so many food-related programmes, especially those from Japan and Korea (how many of you booked a holiday to South Korea because you've watched Da Chang Jin? I rest my case...)


We have the annual Singapore Food Festival. Eating is practically our national past-time. We have just about all types of food from various countries and cultures. Our hawker centres are mini-ASEAN in themselves. Being a small country, finding eating places is sometimes literally a stone's throw.

Come to think of it, I don't think it's true when people say Singapore is a "cultural desert". Food is a cultural asset, isn't it?

[View comments at Yesterday.SG]