Preserving What?
Examining Form & Function Within Singapore's Hawker Centre Policies
From 2023 to 2025, I was fortunate enough to receive a Fulbright and National Geographic research grant to conduct my own fieldwork in Singapore with the National University of Singapore. There, I studied the impact of government policies on its hawker centres, or open-air markets full of independently-owned prepared food stalls offering anything from wonton noodles and roti prata to fresh soymilk and lamb soup. The hawker centre is a hallmark of Singapore's food culture and one of the most striking examples I've seen of sustained state investment in public food infrastructure. In 2020, hawker centres were also inscribed as UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage, further raising the stakes of their preservation.
My research focused on what hawkers are experiencing on the ground today. After two years of fieldwork, which included semi-structured interviews with 22 hawkers across Singapore, I found that the existing policy landscape kept shying away from one pivotal question: what, exactly, are we trying to preserve? Is it the form of hawker centres -- such as their aesthetic, ambiance, and foods available -- or their function as a community third space, an affordable place to eat, and a platform for accessible entrepreneurship? Because these two lenses are not always compatible, policies that try to serve both without prioritizing either have often produced contradictions.
My final research outputs included three components: a series of papers for both academic and general audiences, an interactive timeline documenting hawker policy interventions from 1900 to the present, and a portrait exhibition featuring seven hawkers across Singapore to tell their stories beyond the stall.
Me with Tang Kay Kee's chef/owner Debbie (center) and her right-hand woman (right) after volunteering a shift at her busy hawker stall
Final Publications
Dorsey, Jenny. "Preserving What? Lessons from Singapore's Hawker Centers on Policy Design and Heritage Preservation." Fulbright Chronicles, 2026. https://fulbright-chronicles.com
Dorsey, Jenny. "The Preservation Paradox: Singapore's Hawker Centers as a Case Study in Cultural Food Policy." NYC Food Policy Center, 2026. https://nycfoodpolicy.org
Selected Talks
I regularly present my research at academic conferences and public forums. Selected talks include:
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"Philosophy of Food: What is Food?" (Panel) Culinary Minds Conference, Vermont, USA. 2026.
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"State Interventions in Public Dining: Singapore Hawker Centres." Public Diners Conference, Scotland. 2026.
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"What Really Is Hawker Culture?" Netwerk, Singapore. 2026
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"Preserving What? Examining Form Versus Function in Singapore's Hawker Policies." National University of Singapore, Singapore. 2025.
Interactive Hawker Policy Timeline
Hawker Interventions Timeline is an interactive timeline documenting over a century of government policies affecting Singapore's hawker centres, from 1900 to the present. Spanning everything from colonial-era street hawker regulations to the 2020 UNESCO inscription, it offers a bird's-eye view of just how many interventions across 5 categories have shaped the hawker trade we know today.
This policy timeline was featured at the National University of Singapore's Central Library in 2025. Browse the full timeline below or via this link.
If you are an organization interested in physically or digitally featuring this timeline, please contact me.
Hawker Portraits Showcase
Hawker Portraits is an original photography series I shot of seven hawkers across Singapore -- but not at their stalls. Too often, hawkers are displayed at their work location, amid hot woks and a busy lunch crowd. I wanted to showcase the rich and varied lives hawkers have beyond the centre by inviting them to be photographed at a location meaningful to them outside of work, be it a neighborhood park, a void deck, or a sports court. I hope these portraits reveal dimensions of their personality beyond the food they make for us and serve as a reminder that it is the people that make Singapore's food culture so special.
These portraits were presented in IMAX 3D at the National University of Singapore's Central Library in 2025.
If you are an organization interested in physically or digitally displaying the full portrait series, please contact me.
