SMALL TALK

Food scientist-turned-chef Pamelia Chia’s first cookbook is an ode to the wet markets of Singapore and the gems found within

Food scientist-turnedchef Pamelia Chia’s first cookbook is an ode to wet markets

Growing up in a family “where adventurous eating was encouraged and cooking was taken very seriously”, it is no wonder that Pamelia Chia (pictured) has fond memories of the wet market. “I used to live on Marymount Road, and the Lakeview Market was in front of our house. I visited the hawker centre regularly with my grandparents for breakfast, and we would often bump into my kindergarten schoolteacher. It felt like a tightknit community space where everyone gathered together,” enthuses Chia. It was the same story over at the adjacent wet market, where Chia would go grocery shopping with her mother. There, the roast seller would remember Chia’s favourite slab of char siew, and the fishmonger, her favourite assam fish dish. While wet markets are a microcosm of Singapore’s multicultural society, they are increasingly losing their place to supermarkets and online grocers. “What clearly distinguishes a wet market from a supermarket is the fact that it almost forces human interactions upon you. With no labels, no price tags, no self-checkout machines, one has talk to the vendors and person shopping beside you. Relationships are fostered and there’s a spirit of generosity in the sharing of tips and [stories] of one’s life,” says Chia. Keeping this spirit of wet markets alive formed the impetus for the food science and technology graduate, who later worked in the kitchens of homegrown restaurants such as Michelin-starred Candlenut, to write her first cookbook, Wet Market to Table. The book features over 80 recipes using uncommonly used vegetables, fruits and herbs found in Singapore’s wet markets, peppered with anecdotes from market vendors.