Cornellians will be able to destress and learn about Singaporean culture at an event hosted by the Singapore Students Association on Oct. 21, when the organizations will serve authentic Singaporean dishes to nearly 300 people.
The Singapore Students Association “serves as a home away from home for Singaporeans” and “promote[s] Singaporean culture and heritage to the Cornell community,” according to the group’s website.
Sixty Cornell students, mostly from Singapore, began planning for the annual food festival several months ago. They will cook and serve in total 250 to 300 Cornellians in Willard Straight Hall, Kevin Goh ’19, vice president of the SSA, told The Sun.
“The point [of the event] is to really just give people at Cornell a sense of what authentic Singaporean food is. We find that there are many flavors that are not available in Ithaca,” he said.
According to Goh, SSA’s flagship event has been going on for at least 10 years.
Goh said the authentic Singaporean food combined with the affordable $5 ticket price have attracted many people in the Cornell community to register for the dinner. As of Monday evening, all tickets have been sold out, he said.
“We tend to put [the event] right before prelims so that people can take the time to unwind before the next prelim season begins,” he said.
Like last year, the dinner will take place in WSH’s Memorial Room. Goh said last year’s “queue was so long that it stretched out of the main hall.” To make this year’s event a lot more “conducive for large amounts of people at the same time,” he said the SSA would improve the room set-up and line flow.
To ensure dishes are fresh, the organizers will only start cooking on the day of the event, according to Goh. They will begin at 7 a.m. and will work for 12 hours. Because the organizers also have prelims, collaboration is key. Goh said as some prepare food, others would take the time off to study.
The full event title is “Crazy Rich Flavors: Singapore Makanmania 2018.” Goh explained the word “Makan” from Makanmania means “to eat” in the Malay language. The SSA had also used “Crazy Rich Flavors” as a publicity tagline due to the popularity of the film Crazy Rich Asians, he added.
“This [event] is going to be our biggest ever,” Goh said. “Other than the unforgettably good food, there’s gonna be a great atmosphere. We hope everyone gets a great taste of Singaporean culture.”