The Parallels of Language and Food
(On food) … there is an intimate transfer going on; they are telling you that this recipe is a reflection of what my parents taught me, my grandparents, my region, my language, my culture, and my history.
- Anthony Bourdain
Ingredients that go into our local cuisine.
Food and culture are always tied in an intrinsic relationship. Ask any Singaporean and majority would agree the national past-time is eating. And then followed by finding the next best version of the one's favorite local dish at the other end of the island.
Our food is the melting pot of our history, and our history is the amalgamation of nationalities, religions, tastes, from days past to find common ground in the present.
The print in Cube (right) and the new unisex Tesseract (left).
Similarly, our language has taken a strange twist as a result of this beautiful mix. A mix of dialects across the different races and still understood by all Singaporeans with a simple ‘lah’, ‘leh’, and ’lor’. One can mean a myriad of expressions from confusion, to admonition, to affirmation with a simple ‘eh’.
Across all races, we can unanimously agree that, when we gather around the table to share a meal, our conversation topics centre around food even while eating; food talk if you will.
Signature Origami for a slight Perankan touch.
Makan Slang-uage is Shirt Number White’s play on food talk, a Toile de Jouy print canvasing the colonial founding, inspired by local ingredients not yet cooked, and summarised briefly in local slang littered throughout the print. We start off with the Merlion (Mermus Leo), this mythical hybrid of lion and fish that reflects this beautiful melting pot of culture, food and language. Further examination reveals the varietal squid, common fowl and crab amongst others.
Toile de Jouy ala Makan Slang-uage.
