The Food Court as an example of Hybridization

The concept of the foodcourt has often been assumed as something local. However, the food court was first concptualized in the States as an indoor plaza contiguous with the counters of multiple food vendors and providing a common area for self-serve dining. In the States, food courts became popular in the 1980s in shopping malls and airports. Food courts usually (but not always) consist of several small counters of fast food outlets.

That is the US version of the food court — which is not that similar to the ones we have here in Singapore. In Singapore, instead of fast food outlets, the counters sell local fare similar to the type normally obtainable in hawker centres.

Hawker centres, which were built partly to address the problem of unlicensed street hawkers, are increasingly being replaced by food courts. This is due to the increasing affluence of the population, as well as the association of hawker centres with unhygeinic food and a less comfortable environment.

The local variation of the food court is extremely common, particularly in shopping malls. At a typical food court, patrons queue to order their meals at one of the many counters, then carry the meal to the common dining area on a standardized tray. This hybid combines local fare with the comfort of the fast food resturant’s clean environment.

The Social Implications
When the food court was first introduced in the early 90s, the price difference between the food court and the hawker center was not well-received. However overtime, the response towards the food court improved.This acceptance can be interpreted from two perspectives. Firstly, the ubiquity of the food court and dwinding of hawker centres has left consumers with little choice but to dine at food courts. In this case, the ‘choice’ to eat at a food court is made out of necessity or default.

However, the second perspective seems more realistic. Overtime, the price of food at hawker centres has gradually caught up with the prices of food at the food court. Therefore, the difference has become less distinct. This is the case whereby people actively choose to dine at the food courts instead of hawker centres because of growing affluence and accustomization to the comfort and system of the food court. Thus normalizing the food court so much so that it has become taken-for-granted.

As a side note, it is interesting how the local food court has been exported overseas in the form of Kopitiam food chains (in countries like China) and marketed as the “true Singapore taste”.

(Information from Wikipedia)

-Daniel Lee