ATTN: OWNERS & EMPLOYEES OF SINGAPORE CAI PNG STALLS

RE: CAI PNG IN SINGAPORE — AVENUES FOR IMPROVEMENT

Dear cai png aunties of Singapore,

It is with a heavy heart that I write you this missive.

For the longest time, members of your profession have been ambassadors of the everyday Singaporean staple, known fondly as cai png. You provide sustenance, and have become a key pillar of strength.

Because you have such an important role, I am writing this letter because I have observed a few practices that have plagued your industry. Like other Singaporeans, I find that writing letters are a legitimate and efficient way to highlight and solve my problems.

These are some issues I have noticed:

1. Gender and size prejudices

Firstly, please do not give me less rice just because I am a petite woman.

I notice that you scoop a full bowl of rice for the person (probably male) ahead of me in the queue. But when it comes to my turn, you skim about a quarter of the rice off. This doesn't happen for just the rice, but for the dishes as well.

This 25% attrition rate for my cai png is unacceptable. I may be smaller in size than the average Singaporean, but to think that I necessarily consume less-than-average portions is an unfair assumption.

Additionally, one son of a cai png stall-owning couple has said openly that at least for him, good-looking people tend to get larger portions.

In this day and age, it is appalling to think that such prejudices against non-chiobus still exist. We simply cannot allow the objectification of people to proliferate and affect food serving portions.

With a ladle in hand, you dish out affordable, tasty food for many Singaporeans. However, you are more than just a server of dishes. In fact, you hold immense power over how our day turns out.

If you are stingy with your food, you potentially ruin our day — we are still hungry by the end of the meal but too full to buy another, and it is an incredibly frustrating place to be.

However, if you are generous with your portions, everybody is full, satisfied and happy. With strength derived from full bellies, the nation progresses.

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2. Unethical practices with meat

Secondly, please do not conceal your meat in omelettes (or any other vegetable dishes) and then charge it as a meat dish. This is an unethical practice.

As an uninformed consumer, I should not have to pay extra for something that I did not know about nor want in the first place — which brings me to something else I couldn't possibly know: that the meat in the omelette/fresh-looking dish was actually leftover from yesterday, with the sauce washed off(!!!).

As providers of sustenance, you have the responsibility of ensuring top food hygiene levels. It was horrifying to read that these things are happening.

3. Poor return and exchange policy

When concern over certain dishes are highlighted (due to its ingredients or otherwise), you voice your irritation from the inconvenience of having to swap the dishes. This could have all been avoided if consumers can make informed decisions.

It is unrealistic for every consumer to enquire about every single dish and its ingredients before ordering. A more realistic and feasible approach would be for the stall to display their dishes in a more transparent fashion.

One thing that can be done to improve this is by placing clearly-worded labels for each dish. This should be replaced daily, and as and when trays of food are refreshed, to prevent confusion.

Ideally, these labels should also contain information related to allergies like gluten, buckwheat, soy, prawns and peanuts, as well as any other types of food that may contain allergens, because as we know, allergic reactions can be life-threatening, and not every person who might be allergic to certain food would know that the various cai png dishes might contain them.

In light of PM Lee's National Day Rally, a reinforcement of our nation's only-known-to-us war against diabetes, you can participate in our effort to eat healthily by displaying a calorie count of each dish as well. This is important, and nation-building, to assist people with making informed decisions regarding their health.

4. Exerting unnecessary pressure

When people hold up the line and take more than two seconds to choose their dishes, you snap at them to hurry up.

Some of us put in the effort to plan our choices of dishes beforehand, but yet, you impatiently cry "What else?! What else?! What else?!" at every single customer you serve.

Now, to be fair, not all of you do this. There are really pleasant cai png servers who patiently and silently wait on every indecisive potential diner who is studying what's on offer. But for those of you who do, kindly refrain from your impatient yelling. When you lose your patience at us, you exert unnecessary pressure on people, pushing them into making poor life decisions. These elevated levels of stress, consequently, also translate to reduced productivity in the workplace.

We hope you now realise how you are inextricably tied to society's strength and productivity. We also hope you understand that great responsibility has been endowed upon you by our country. Hence, I hope you will take these points into consideration, for the betterment, longevity and sustained prosperity of the cai png industry as a whole in Singapore.

Thank you.

A Concerned Consumer.

Top photo adapted from Flickr user Fortesfidelis.