If you've not already noticed, food and beverage products often have the phrase "for illustrative purposes only" on their packaging.

For most people, it's normal to expect that the food isn't necessarily going to look like what's in the photos used to depict the product, especially when the product is hawker fare.

This one Singaporean, however, felt that it was such a big issue, she passionately wrote the following letter to The Straits Times forum on Oct. 16, 2017.

In today's episode of "Forum letter writers that make my day", we have Ms Joyce Ong, who probably ate for the first time in her life! pic.twitter.com/CdT80aERnk

— Alfie! (@_Alfieee) October 16, 2017

Signboard pictures promise more than what hawkers deliver

A big portion of the population eats at hawker centres, foodcourts and coffee shops.

There are often signboards at the stalls showing dishes that look attractive, like they would appeal to our taste buds.

However, when the food is served, a good many people are invariably disappointed. The dishes, more often than not, look very different from the pictures shown, and the taste is not up to expectations.

Surely it is considered false advertising to serve something other than what is displayed.

Many hawkers seem to believe that what they are offering is value for money.

But the quality of food is going downhill, service is poor and the condition of the eating places leaves much to be desired.

It is not uncommon to see cleaners sweeping food debris off tables with filthy rags.

They throw crockery into the collection bins, sometimes making patrons jump.

Many coffee shops also place their collection bins right next to the area where food is served.

At times, I wonder if I will get food poisoning when I eat out.

Much improvement is needed before hawker food deserves the universal praise being heaped on it.

Joyce Ong (Ms)

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Real food cannot be photoshopped

It's understandable that no one wants to be shortchanged when it comes to food.

Say, if a restaurant serves you tiny bites of fish instead of what you think would constitute a plate of fish and chips. That's understandably underwhelming.

However, folks who are used to having hawker fare know that having food vary a little from the illustration on the signboard is inevitable.

No carbon copies

No two plates of cai png are fully visually identical to each other, let alone the same as the stall's picture of cai png. The same goes for char kway teow.

Just like any advertisement, promotional images for food and beverages are made to look more tasty, tempting and convince you on how delicious a product is.

In the case of hawker stalls, more often than not, their signboard pictures serve only as a quick visual reference to a layperson what the stall sells, not how good its food looks or even how well it tastes.

Hints on the looks and tastes of a stall's food can be judged by food reviews, queues, media cuttings featured at the stall, and one's actual ordering and tasting of the food.

Don't throw hygiene into the mix

On matters of hygiene, food poisoning from a hawker centre is not unheard of, but it's safe to say that throngs of Singaporeans can and still continue eating their hawker fare without fearing the worst.

There are also stall cleanliness ratings to go by -- even though there is admittedly always room for improvement with hawker centres.

In any case, we don't think hawker culture needs "much improvement" before it "deserves the universal praise being heaped on it" -- after all, we got the Michelin stars for a reason.

Meanwhile, if Ong still feels that hawker food is not up to standard, well, there are plenty of other food options -- that's one less person joining the hawker queue, anyway.

More for the rest of us.

Top image adapted via Burpple and The Straits Times website

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