What is a hawker center?

Question

I've seen this recommended by Singaporeans for several times already.

Answer 1

Hawker centre or food centre is the name given to open-air complexes in Malaysia and Singapore housing many stalls that sell a variety of inexpensive food. They are typically found near public housing estates or transport hubs (such as rail stations).

Hawker centres sprung up in urban areas following the rapid urbanisation in the 1950s and 1960s. In many cases, they were built partly to address the problem of unhygienic food preparation by unlicensed street hawkers. More recently, they have become less ubiquitous due to growing affluence in the urban populations of Malaysia and Singapore. Particularly in Singapore, they are increasingly being replaced by food courts, which are indoor, air conditioned versions of hawker centres located in shopping malls and other commercial venues.

In the 1950s and 1960s, hawker centres were considered to be a venue for the less affluent. They had a reputation for unhygienic food, partly due to the frequent appearance of stray domestic pets and pests. To make matters worse, many hawker centres were poorly managed by their operators, often lacking running water and proper facilities for cleaning. More recently, hygiene standards have improved, with pressure from the local authorities. This includes the implementation of licensing requirements, where a sufficient standard of hygiene is required for the stall to operate, and rewarding exceptionally good hygiene. Upgrading or reconstruction of hawker centres was initiated in the late 1990s in Singapore. At the same time, hawker centres were renamed food centres.

The hawker centres in Singapore are owned by three government bodies, namely the National Environment Agency (NEA) under the parent Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources (MEWR), Housing and Development Board (HDB) and JTC Corporation. All the centres, in turn, are managed by NEA.

Answer 2

Its pretty simple. Its a place to eat. Sort of a food court or so, but with more variety of food. Normal will have ard 10 to 20 stalls to choose from. Its non air con, and it will be quite noisy though. However, people will still love to gather there to chat. Thats hawker centre!!....short and sweet..haha

Answer 3

It's a food court. People have stalls there and sell a wide variety of food. You can try some Malay, Indian or Chinese food. By the way, just in case you didn't know, Malay food has no pork and Indian food has no beef.

Answer 4

It's a food court with food vendors selling all kinds of local specialties. It may be indoor or outdoor, and there's one in every major mall, and every neighborhood.

Here's more information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawker_centre

Answer 5

hot, no air-con eatery which most of singapore's cheapest and best food are found, normally at nerighbourhood area. CHEAP is the key word

Answer 6

Food court at its finest