The term ‘foodie’ is synonymous with being Singaporean. On this sunny little island, we take our food very seriously. By that we mean it’s basically an unofficial religion. We have unrealistic expectations of food standards, probably due to our diverse ethnic demographic which gives us the entire regional cuisine of South East Asia available right at home.
Now there’s definitely a bias when we say Singapore has the best food, but let’s be real. You’d be hard pressed to find another place with the rightly earned title of ‘Food Paradise’. We firmly believe the term foodie was coined solely because our food paradise needed a name for its citizens. But what started as a collective love of food has now evolved into multiple different types, with society progressing into a diverse and tolerant one.
With so many choices today, the question remains: What type of foodie are you?
1 | The Diet Junkie
This particular foodie is probably the newest of the bunch, having evolved over time with the introduction of trends and fads that include gluten-free diets and quinoa (we still don’t really know how it’s actually pronounced). They are easily identifiable by their Instagram account – think fancy plated meals in dark colored bowls on a nice white or wooden background and throw in a hipster fade. It’s raining hashtags over there too, from #cleanfood to #gymlife.
Secretly we all really want to be this person, but deep down we know we don’t have that kind of willpower or perseverance. We’ll end up resuming our self-deprecating food habits and envy your toned body with flawless skin from afar.
2 | The Chaotic Foodie
We think that to some degree, most of us are or have been this person at least once in our lives. Singapore has been notoriously famed for our ‘kiasu’ way of life which results in the entire country constantly rushing to win some invisible race we’re unaware of. You’d be lying if you denied any emotional attachment to instant food, because they have been everybody’s savior at some point. They kept you warm and well-fed through the darkest of times, when all hope was lost (the nearby hawker centre closed already).
The Chaotic Foodie’s signature move is to add an egg or crab sticks into their ramen noodle soup to have some sort of semblance to cooked food to defend their unhealthy eating habits. While it seems like plenty of negatives, make no mistake that this is the person you’d want to be friends with in the event of an apocalypse or war. They have a kitchen full of instant noodles and microwavable meals to supply you like an endless ammunition closet in a video game.
3 | The Comfort Foodie
Everybody has that one friend who falls in this category, and we have to universally agree that it’s a love-hate friendship. It’s like every time you make the conscious effort to start eating healthier, this person comes round with their tubs of ice-cream to entice you into eating your feelings together with them.
Not forgetting the ridiculous excuses they come up with to justify their extreme diet of all things fat and sugary – ‘oh it’s a rainy day so I’m sad so we must consume tons of chocolate’. (What?) Girls in this category have it the easiest, they just need to blame it on pms while internally praying no one notices that technically they’ve been pms-ing since the start of the year.
4 | The Binge Eater
It’s like there’s an inversely proportional relationship between the amount of food this person consumes and their body weight. There’s a class of binge eaters blessed with magical genetics that allow them to feed the monster that is their insatiable appetite without ever gaining an ounce of fat. Majority of us have to deal with a food baby resembling a pregnancy in its third trimester after just one meal. Meanwhile, these binge eaters are starting on their third helping with a stomach so impressive it could model for Victoria’s Secret.
How? We don’t know, and neither do they. If however you happen to fall on the other end of the spectrum – meaning you binge eat but need to make the conscious effort to maintain your weight (basically you’re normal, just saying) – you shouldn’t worry too much. We can mourn together over the curse that is our appetite with a few drinks (jokes, let’s invite the Comfort Foodies and eat our feelings together). And hey, this just means there’s more of us to love. Whichever foodie you identify with, fret not (if it’s all four, then high five!). foodpanda Singapore has all the food you need, and we deliver.
