Craftsmen who make noodles, bread, mead and tableware share their stories
KAREN NAH
Founder of My Singapore Food and Handpicked
A passionate foodie, Karen Nah first launched My Singapore Food—a website featuring 50 traditional recipes by home cooks—in 2012 to bring heritage home-cooked food back on everyone’s dining table. Nah later launched handpicked.sg to provide the everyday home cook with an artisanal selection of pantry basics and specifically, fresh noodles hand made by a local manufacturer, Hiap Giap.
How would you define an artisanal product?
I believe artisanal products are made using traditional methods, which are often passed down by masters of the craft. They are also perfected with time through experience and aptitude.
Should artisanal products naturally be more expensive?
My personal take is that costs and artisanal products are non-related. Some artisanal products are reasonably priced while others are not. How much an artisanal product is priced is very much dependent on how much work goes into producing the products, and the resources/ingredients used.
What’s your take on adding machines to the equation?
Having produced noodles since the 60s, we are termed as a master of the craft. That said, when we first started out, we would use bamboo poles to make our noodle dough, but we have since evolved to using machinery to produce our dough. We are able to maintain the quality and texture of our dough despite incorporating machinery into our processes because of our in-depth knowledge on how noodles were done traditionally. We are familiar with the intricacies and the little details, which helped us to design machines that are able to replicate a similar texture and quality as the ones made using bamboo poles. With these machines in place, they helped us to stay relevant in the industry and be able to fulfill demands. Over the
Bu hikaye WINE&DINE dergisinin March/April 2019 sayısından alınmıştır.
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