In my opinion, the major cause of this is the ingredients. In the olden days, the hawkers prepared all the essential ingredients by themselves. They pounded the chilies, made the pastes and soup stock, deep-fried the shallots and even made the noodles used in their trades. This made the taste of their respective food unique only to them.

In contrast, many hawkers nowadays buy ready-made ingredients such as chili paste, noodles and even deep-fried shallots to cut down on preparation time and cost. That special touch in making the taste unique is lost. The ingredients used by one hawker is used by a few others who get their supplies from the same wholesaler. Mass production in the name of economy of scale is slowly killing what Penang has been famous for.

Once in a while, I still pine for the hokkien mee that the uncle sporting a crew cut hawked beside the bus stop opposite the PBA (Pihak Berkuasa Air) in Rifle Range. The spicy prawn and pork bone-based soup was simply delicious. Thinly sliced prawns and pork were generously added into the noodles. That was when I was still in primary school. Those were the days when hawkers went the extra mile to ensure that they put in only the best ingredients. How I miss those times.

Related posts:

1. Penang Hawker Food
2. Penang New Lane Chee Cheong Chook
3. Ah Beng Best Penang Char Koay Teow
4. Penang Banana Leaf Char Koay Teow In Ipoh
5. Penang Char Koay Teow At 1 Utama

Koay kak.
Photo by Wuan.

Penang is famous for its hawker food. The dishes do not taste the same everywhere and the ingredients used may differ too. Therefore it takes a little hunting to get ones that are nice and relatively inexpensive. I usually do not patronise the more popular spots like Swatow Lane, Lorong Selamat or Gurney Drive because they are over-rated and more expensive than other places in the island.

Popiah.
Photo by Wuan.

The food court at the Batu Lanchang incidentally is wheelchair friendly and parking spaces are in abundance. Whenever I am around the vicinity and looking for food, I would invariably stop there. Among my favourites there are the koay kak, popiah, che hoo and ais kacang.

Ais kacang.
Photo by Wuan.

With this brief introduction of some of my favourite Penang hawker food, I am passing the baton to Minishorts. Thank you all for spending time here accompanying us throughout the Blogathon. For those who have not pledged, please do so now. This is all for a good cause. May God bless you all for your kindness.

* The entry was posted at Bloggers are Morons for Blogathon 2005.

Related posts:

1. Penang Banana Leaf Char Koay Teow In Ipoh
2. Penang Hawker Food Slowly Losing Its Unique Tastes
3. Penang Char Koay Teow At 1 Utama
4. Jalan Sayur Char Koay Kak
5. Ah Beng Best Penang Char Koay Teow