Sweet potato is featured in the history of Singapore, specifically the Japanese Occupation. However, recently, the "Sweet Potato" diet fad has cast a new light on the perception of sweet potato as a wartime food.
When I was younger, I came across an article titled "Grandma and the Sweet Potato Porridge" in my primary school textbook, in year 2000. It featured the grandma cooking the sweet potato porridge, and the grandchild asking about it. The Sweet Potato Porridge was a wartime recipe of Singapore.
Interestingly, I remembered that the textbook wrote that sweet potato porridge caused bloats and diarrhoea during the war.
Lately, the Okinawan diet has touted the sweet potato as a miracle food, leading to many centenarians in Okinawa. This challenged our perception of the sweet potato which represented hardship and suffering. In fact, it could mean that it was very nutritious, and therefore:
1. Wartime citizens incidentally found the miracle plant which sustained them
2. Wartime food historical representation might experience a shift, from "food during hardship" to "enterprising survivors"
When I was younger, I came across an article titled "Grandma and the Sweet Potato Porridge" in my primary school textbook, in year 2000. It featured the grandma cooking the sweet potato porridge, and the grandchild asking about it. The Sweet Potato Porridge was a wartime recipe of Singapore.
Interestingly, I remembered that the textbook wrote that sweet potato porridge caused bloats and diarrhoea during the war.
Lately, the Okinawan diet has touted the sweet potato as a miracle food, leading to many centenarians in Okinawa. This challenged our perception of the sweet potato which represented hardship and suffering. In fact, it could mean that it was very nutritious, and therefore:
1. Wartime citizens incidentally found the miracle plant which sustained them
2. Wartime food historical representation might experience a shift, from "food during hardship" to "enterprising survivors"
No comments:
Post a Comment