与朋友共餐：全球餐饮空间的文化意义

After Singapore gained independence from Malaysia in 1965, Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew embarked on an aggressive urbanization program. His public housing looked at first glance much like the high- rise apartment buildings you’d find any- where else. But the concrete tower blocks had one crucial and idiosyncratic differ- ence: On the ground floor, each contained a hawker center, full of stalls selling the cheap and delicious food for which the city-state has since become famous. Hawker centers, writes Singaporean chef and writer TW Lim, were “a neces- sity of nation building”—they played a key role in creating Singapore’s identity. From the beginning, the government sub- sidized hawkers’ rents, making their food accessible to all. …