You Can't Hurry Larp

Weave palm and carry on: the meaning and making of Hainanese larp.

- Christopher Tan

If “Hainan” and “rice” came up in a word association game, the response triggered in most Singaporeans would inevitably be “chicken”. However, Hainanese rice prowess goes far beyond the iconic poultry dish. Take, for example, yi buah, which pairs ginger-spiked coconut, brown sugar, peanut and sesame filling with glutinous rice skin. Both the skin and the filling are combined in various shapes and formats to make a related suite of sweet dumplings, seldom seen outside of Hainanese coffee shops and hawker stalls.