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Eyewitness News
29 minutes ago
- Eyewitness News
Trump gives Russia 50 days to resolve Ukraine war
WASHINGTON, UNITED STATES - US President Donald Trump on Monday told Russia to resolve its Ukraine war within 50 days or face massive new economic sanctions as he laid out plans for new infusions of weaponry for Kyiv. "We're very, very unhappy" with Russia, Trump told reporters as he met with NATO chief Mark Rutte in the White House. "We're going to be doing very severe tariffs if we don't have a deal in 50 days, tariffs at about 100 percent," said Trump, adding that they would be "secondary tariffs" that target Russia's remaining trade partners -- thereby seeking to cripple Moscow's ability to survive already sweeping Western sanctions. Trump and Rutte also unveiled a deal under which the NATO military alliance would buy arms from the United States -- including Patriot anti-missile batteries -- and then distribute them to Ukraine to help it battle Russia's invasion. "This is billions of dollars worth of military equipment is going to be purchased from the United States, going to NATO... and that's going to be quickly distributed to the battlefield," Trump said. Rutte, a former Dutch prime minister, said Ukraine would get "massive numbers" of weapons under the deal. Trump launched a bid at rapprochement with Putin shortly after starting his second term in January, as he sought to honor his election campaign promise to end the Ukraine war within 24 hours. His pivot towards Putin sparked fears in Kyiv that he was about to sell out Ukraine, especially after Trump and his team berated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office in February. 'ASSASSIN' But Trump has shown growing anger and frustration with Putin in recent weeks as the Russian leader, instead of halting his three-year invasion, instead stepped up attacks. Trump added of Putin on Monday: "I don't want to say he's an assassin, but he's a tough guy." Last week, Trump teased an announcement on Monday on Russia. He then announced on Sunday that he would send vital Patriot air defence systems to Ukraine to help it fend off escalating barrages of Russian attacks. Washington has also U-turned from an announcement earlier this month that it would pause some arms deliveries to Kyiv. Rutte's visit to the White House is the first since the former Dutch prime minister described Trump as "daddy" at a NATO summit in The Hague in June. Moscow has unleashed record waves of drone and missile strikes over the past few weeks, with the number of Ukrainian civilians killed or wounded in June hitting a three-year high, according to UN figures. Trump's announcement on Monday came as his special envoy, Keith Kellogg, arrived in Kyiv to meet Zelensky. Zelensky hailed the "productive meeting", saying they had discussed "strengthening Ukraine's air defence, joint production, and procurement of defence weapons in collaboration with Europe." The Ukrainian leader also said he was "grateful to President Trump for the important signals of support and the positive decisions for both our countries." 'BETTER LATE THAN NEVER' One Ukrainian soldier deployed in the war-scarred east of the country, who identified himself by his call sign Grizzly, welcomed Trump's promise of fresh air defence systems. "Better late than never," he told AFP. "Because while we are here defending the front line, our families are unprotected. Thanks to the Patriots they are giving us, our families will be safer," the 29-year-old added. Russian forces, meanwhile, said on Monday they had captured new territory in eastern Ukraine with the seizure of two villages, one in the Donetsk region and another in the Zaporizhzhia region. Its forces also killed at least three civilians in the eastern Kharkiv and Sumy regions on Monday, regional Ukrainian officials announced. In Kyiv, Zelensky also proposed a major political shake-up, recommending economy minister Yulia Svyrydenko take over as the country's new prime minister. Svyrydenko said on social media that Ukraine was facing a "crucial time."
Bangkok Post
31 minutes ago
- Bangkok Post
Trump expected to outline Ukraine weapons plan
KYIV (UKRAINE) - Donald Trump was reportedly expected to lay out Monday a fresh strategy for arming Ukraine as his special envoy arrived in Kyiv after weeks of the US president's growing frustration with Russian leader Vladimir Putin. In a U-turn that has highlighted concerns in Kyiv over the consistency of American support, Trump said this weekend that he would send vital Patriot air defence systems to Ukraine to help it fend off escalating barrages of Russian attacks. Major US outlets like the New York Times and Axios reported Trump will announce a plan that also includes offensive weapons for Ukraine. Putin has refused to halt his more than three-year invasion despite being corralled into peace talks with Ukraine by Trump, drawing increasing scorn and anger from the US president. Moscow has also unleashed record waves of drone and missile strikes over the past few weeks, with the number of Ukrainian civilians killed or wounded in June hitting a three-year high, according to UN figures. The Republican has teased a "major statement" on Russia to be made later on Monday, with NATO chief Mark Rutte visiting the White House. In Kyiv, Ukrainian President Zelensky hailed a "productive meeting" with Trump's special envoy Keith Kellogg. "We discussed the path to peace and what we can practically do together to bring it closer," Zelensky wrote on social media after the meeting. "This includes strengthening Ukraine's air defense, joint production, and procurement of defence weapons in collaboration with Europe," he added. Zelensky also said he was "grateful to President Trump for the important signals of support and the positive decisions for both our countries," in an apparent reference to the pledge of new Patriots. Washington had said earlier this month it would pause some arms deliveries to Kyiv but Trump has changed tack, criticising Putin for intensifying attacks as US-led peace talks stalled. - 'Better late than never' - Trump has also hinted he might be ready to slap sanctions on Moscow as momentum grows for a deterrent package in Congress. When asked about whether he would announce any levies against Russia, Trump responded on Sunday: "We're going to see what we will see tomorrow, OK?" Zelensky has called for fresh sanctions on Russia and countries that aid its war efforts. "It is clear that Moscow will not stop unless its unreasonable ambitions are curbed through strength," Zelensky said. Asked what Europe expects from Trump's announcement later Monday, a German government source said: "In concrete terms I think it means that from the US side, there will be approvals for the delivery of certain weapons." "There is an expectation from the American side that there will be considerable financial contributions to this end from the European side," the source added. One Ukrainian soldier deployed in the war-scarred east of the country, who identified himself by his call sign Grizzly, welcomed Trump's promise of fresh air defence systems. "Better late than never," he told AFP. "Because while we are here defending the front line, our families are unprotected. Thanks to the Patriots they are giving us, our families will be safer," the 29-year-old added. Russian forces meanwhile said on Monday they had captured new territory in eastern Ukraine with the seizure of two villages, one in the Donetsk region and another in the Zaporizhzhia region. Moscow claimed to have annexed both almost three years ago despite not having full military control over them. Its forces also killed at least three civilians in the eastern Kharkiv and Sumy regions on Monday, regional Ukrainian officials announced. In Kyiv, Zelensky also proposed a major political shake-up, recommending economy minister Yulia Svyrydenko take over as the country's new prime minister to "significantly renew" the government's work. Svyrydenko led negotiations on the US-Ukraine minerals deal that had triggered tensions between Zelensky and Trump after the Republican returned to the White House.
Straits Times
35 minutes ago
- Straits Times
On the food trail in the Little Red Dot
Fast-food chain McDonald's opened at Liat Towers in 1979, and the headline in the Oct 22 edition of The Straits Times was 'Hi there, Mac!'. SINGAPORE - Singapore's gleaming skyscrapers, handful of world-class tourist attractions, and relentless efficiency make it an easy place for doing business and to visit on holiday. What gives the city soul, however, is its hopping food and bar scene. The Straits Times has played an outsized role in shaping the Singapore food landscape. After all, it has had to answer to, and exceed the expectations of, a nation of opinionated foodies. Russian Dressing and Sunshine Cocktail What did people in Singapore eat in 1845, when the paper made its debut? The Straits Times provides some clues, not in features or reviews, but in advertisements. On the front page of the first edition, July 15, 1845, is a tiny ad that reads: 'FOR SALE. Two Guzerat milch goats with three kids: all in excellent condition. Apply to the printer of this paper.' Goat milk, it would seem, featured in the diet at the time. On Nov 4 that year, & Co, 'wholesale and retail provisioners', located at No. 23 Kling Street, announces it has received shipments of a long list of food and drink. The goodies for sale include Wyatt & Co's English pickles, Finest Durham Mustard , Tart Fruits in Fine condition and Prime Wiltshire Bacon. Milk goats for sale on the front page of the first edition of The Straits Times and Singapore Journal of Commerce on July 15, 1845. PHOTO: ST FILE Food, if it is mentioned at all, is in a news or business context, with purveyors taking ads listing what they have to sell, and the paper tracking the prices of fish, vegetables and other food products. It is only in the 1930s that the first recipes appear. By this time, the paper has women's pages, focusing mostly on fashion and make-up. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore HSA intensifies crackdown on vapes; young suspected Kpod peddlers nabbed in Bishan, Yishun Singapore Man charged over distributing nearly 3 tonnes of vapes in one day in Bishan, Ubi Avenue 3 Singapore Public healthcare institutions to record all Kpod cases, confiscate vapes: MOH, HSA Singapore Man allegedly attacks woman with knife at Kallang Wave Mall, to be charged with attempted murder Singapore Singapore boosts support for Timor-Leste as it prepares to join Asean Singapore UN aviation and maritime agencies pledge to collaborate to boost safety, tackle challenges Singapore High Court dismisses appeal of drink driver who killed one after treating Tampines road like racetrack Singapore 18 years' jail for woman who hacked adoptive father to death after tussle over Sengkang flat The Sept 26, 1931, edition carries, at the bottom of a page dominated by a story about 'Bustles without the whalebones', recipes for Ice Fruit Drinks – Raspberry Soda; Grape Nectar, which calls for 'two breakfast cups of warm grape juice'; and Sunshine Cocktail, made with 'organes' (presumably oranges), lemon and apricot juices, and mint. The Sept 26, 1931, edition carries recipes for Ice Fruit Drinks – Raspberry Soda, Grape Nectar and Sunshine Cocktail. PHOTO: ST FILE This pretty much characterises food writing from the 1930s to the 1960s. Recipes are spotty, usually British or French. On Nov 10, 1940, below a story listing cosmetics king Max Factor's beauty tips, are recipes for Russian Dressing, Olive Sauce and Tomato Salad. In the first half of the 1970s, with the women's liberation movement that began in the late 1960s prompting more women to join the workforce, tensions in the kitchen reverberate in the food writing of that time. Some of this is captured in her Sunday column, Adventure in Food, by one Mary Kogan. On April 27, 1975, she tells the story of her outraged friend, a working woman, who has put a sign in her kitchen saying: 'The opinions expressed by the husband in this house are not necessarily those of the management.' She will only take it down when her husband agrees to help out in the kitchen. '...it does reflect the fact that woman's (sic) grievances are at least beginning to be taken seriously, and with new-found understanding', is Ms Kogan's rather optimistic view of the tension that still exists today. Shaping Singapore's foodie culture Foodies perusing the Sunday food pages from the late 1970s through to the early 2000s will see how much the paper has shaped their approach to and appreciation for food. It is a time of discovery and learning, for both writers and readers. After decades of treating food as a good-to-have at best and an afterthought at worst, The Straits Times starts getting serious about food in the late 1970s. Those European-centric recipes make way for Asian ones. Food journalism and restaurant reviewing become viable careers. The British journalists and editors who had run the paper make way for local staff, who edit the paper differently. Food writing takes on a distinctly Singaporean flavour. Instead of being preoccupied with what is happening in Europe, the focus moves to Singapore and Asia. When Japanese department store Yaohan opens its first store at Plaza Singapura on Sept 14, 1974, and its second in Katong on Aug 28, 1977, there are stories about its innovations. These include produce weighing machines that dispense stickers with the prices on them, and the soft Japanese-style bread – including the popular an pan that customers queue hours for – that has become ubiquitous in Singapore. A Japanese food fair at Yaohan at Plaza Singapura in 1980. Yaohan opened its first outlet in Singapore at the mall on Sept 14, 1974. ST PHOTO: CHUA PENG TEE When fast-food chain McDonald's opens at Liat Towers in October 1979, the headline in the Oct 22 edition of The Straits Times Section 2 is 'Hi there, Mac!'. The story, by one Anita Evans, has a picture of customers in bell-bottoms queueing up to order the burgers and fries that are part of the 'experience'. 'Hawker stalls were never like this. In McDonald's, a uniformed phalanx of teenage serving 'crews' produce uniform food of a uniform taste, colour and size by means of highly sophisticated computerised cooking machinery,' Evans reports. It is on July 29, 1979, that food writer Violet Oon makes her debut in The Sunday Times' Timescope, with a two-parter about eating in Thailand. In her weekly Pot Luck columns, she writes about eating in the Philippines, London and France, and also covers substantial ground in Singapore. Hawker food, posh food, ultra-luxe food, she offers a smorgasbord for readers to learn from. For years, former journalist Violet Oon was the most famous food writer in Singapore. After she stopped writing for ST, she went on to be a food consultant, and is now a restaurateur, with her Violet Oon Singapore brand. PHOTO: COURTESY OF VIOLET OON At around the same time, another food writer rises to prominence at the paper – Ms Margaret Chan, whose food reviews also run the gamut of high, low and in between. Alongside them are journalists such as fashion writer Lim Phay-Ling, who through the 1980s and 1990s would also write about food. These include a multi-page feature about Singapore kopi culture. Lifestyle writer Lee Geok Boi's recipes reflect the way Singaporeans eat – multiculturally, unencumbered by borders, and back then, with no concern about cholesterol levels. On July 16, 1989, she gives recipes for offal dishes – Dou Miao With Intestines, and Braised Tongue With Potatoes and Chicken Liver With Spinach Fettuccine, a trio that spans East and West. On Oct 28, 1990, she writes about using the right cuts of meat for classic dishes, with recipes for Pork Chops With Tomatoes, Pot Roast Beef and Sloppy Joes. Her intricate recipes come with few photographs, unheard of today. Readers want to see the finished product, at least, before committing time, money and effort into cooking and baking. In 1994, Ms Sylvia Tan , then an editor in the news section of the paper , starts writing her cooking column, Mad About Food. Her recipes, drawn from her travels and Peranakan heritage, resonate with readers despite having no photographs, only illustrations. For a new generation of budding cooks, her simplified Peranakan recipes are approachable, and written without the weight of a Nonya matriarch's expectations. From the 1980s, to reflect the population's aspirations, the paper has weekly columns about wine and other alcoholic drinks, helmed at various times by the likes of well-known wine experts such as Mr Ch'ng Poh Tiong, Dr N.K. Yong and Mr Edwin Soon. Buffets to omakase If the late 1970s mark the first peak of the paper's food coverage, then the paper hits peak food again on Sept 28, 2003, when the new look Sunday Times, with a new masthead and Lifestyle section, renamed from Life!, debuts. The Taste pages offer a buffet of stories – on disappearing foods like ah balling, sugee cake and lei cha fan and where to eat them; the increasing appetite for what is at the time exotic vegetables, including romaine lettuce, Truss tomatoes, portobello mushrooms and red radishes; and eateries selling bull, turtle and crocodile penis soups. Food features are also making it onto the Lifestyle cover. In the mid-2000s, with another revamp of The Sunday Times, there is even more food content. Feature stories cover the full taste spectrum. There are stories about healthier hawker food; old-school hawker food; grumpy hawkers; the multiple waves of bubble tea, Korean restaurants and hotpot restaurants; the rise of the home barista; primers on luxe food such as white truffles; inexpensive food in the Central Business District; the rise, and subsequent fall, of supermarket sushi; the rise and rise of high-end sushi; the growing appetite for tasting menus and omakase meals in restaurants; the obsession with Japanese beef; food fads – salted egg yolk croissants, rainbow cakes, and sourdough bread; among other things. Knowing what makes a Singaporean's heart beat faster, the paper comes out with Love Mee on April 15, 2007, a feature about instant noodles. It features 50 recipes from chefs and its food writers for how to cook this Singapore favourite creatively. It is later published as an e-book. On April 15, 2007, the paper published a feature on instant noodles. Chefs and the paper's food writers offered creative recipes on cooking the noodles. Straits Times Press later published this as a book, Cook Mee. PHOTO: STRAITS TIMES PRESS New columns come thick and fast. There is Singapore Cooks, featuring recipes by readers. Foodie Confidential, continuing on from the 2003 revamp, branches out to also feature chefs and bartenders. Other columns continue the mission of decoding food for readers. There is Cheat Sheet, offering primers on topics such as different varieties of bananas, durians, peppercorns and olives. Eater's Digest has writers taking turns to review cookbooks, cooking from them so readers know what books to buy or avoid. Reviews continue, with Mr Wong Ah Yoke anchoring the main restaurant review; several writers taking turns to unearth budget eats for Cheap & Good; and for a spell, Zi Char Review for belt-tightening times and Posh Nosh, a snack recommendation column, both helmed by this writer. The OG food influencers In American gang and later rap parlance, OG or Original Gangster describes a 'highly respected originator'. Before the flood of people self-identifying as food influencers, there are Violet Oon, Margaret Chan and Wong Ah Yoke. At the height of their power, they could make or break a restaurant or hawker stall, whether they want to admit it or not. Readers would turn up at the places they review, toting newspaper cuttings and ordering exactly the dishes they praise. Ironically, they hone their craft elsewhere before joining The Straits Times. Ms Oon gets her start at New Nation and The Singapore Monitor; Ms Chan at New Nation; and Mr Wong at The Singapore Monitor and in magazines. Ms Oon, 76, now a restaurateur, falls into food reviewing in the 1970s for New Nation, quite by accident. She says that at the time, with expatriate staff at the papers leaving their jobs, Singaporeans take over as editors. The paper's Eating Out column had been helmed by New Zealand-born Wendy Hutton, and she takes over it in 1974. There is some fanfare when Ms Oon debuts in The Sunday Times, with the paper announcing her arrival this way: 'Starting today, Singapore's favourite food writer in The Sunday Times...' Mr Wong joins The Straits Times as a sub-editor in 1992, and becomes part of a group formed in the early 1990s to review restaurants. They use the nom de plume, Mah Kan Keng, an approximation of Makan King. The reporters take turns to write the reviews, incorporating views from the others at the meal. Anonymity and tasting in a group would ensure fairness. Hilarity ensues when readers write in to Mr Mah, Madam Mah, Ms Mah and 'Dear Kan Keng'. The column hums along until, as Mr Wong, 64, puts it: 'The other writers had to do this on top of their other work and they dropped out one by one until I was the only one left.' Even then, he continues writing under Mah Kan Keng. It is not until March 29, 1998, that he has his first review printed with his byline, for a weekly column called Eats. His tenure as the food critic of The Straits Times continues until he retires in 2023. Straits Times restaurant critic and food writer Wong Ah Yoke with a framed copy of a customised Life cover when he retired in 2023 after 31 years with the paper. ST PHOTO: WANG HUI FEN Anonymity is not an issue with Cheap & Good, the other review column helmed by writer Teo Pau Lin for about a decade from 1995, and then by a series of writers from around the newsroom. She scours Singapore for egg tarts, laksa, rojak, vadai and Thai-style beef noodles, among other things. Ms Teo, 54, who leaves the paper in 2010 to start a cake business, says of her reviews: 'It always resulted in dramatic increases in business for the hawkers. The queues would be super long for at least a week or two. The hawkers would be overwhelmed and overworked, and I always made sure to warn them beforehand to get more manpower on the day the story comes out.' What accounts for the raging interest in food? 'It is an instant buy-in to sophistication,' Ms Oon says. 'To become sophisticated about art or dance would take years of study. But with food, anybody could be sophisticated. Every cabby can tell you where the best places are for steamed fish. A Prada bag costs $4,000. A prata is $2.' Ms Oon and Mr Wong say their training as reporters helps them in the early days. They widen and deepen their own knowledge about food in tandem with readers. Those early reviews, they say, are more reportage than critique. 'In those days, chefs would take you into the kitchen and show you things,' Mr Wong says. 'That's how I learnt. You never pretend you know something when you don't. The voice came later.' Both demur when asked if they can 'break' a restaurant. Mr Wong says: 'I wouldn't say that. I can affect their business a little, but not enough to shut them down.' But a bad review can have consequences, as the Katong laksa war of 1999 shows. The Sunday Plus cover story on Nov 7 by reporter Lea Wee is about four stalls in Katong claiming to serve the original version of the dish. Ms Oon, a food consultant at the time, tries all four versions and gives Original Katong Laksa, at the corner of Ceylon and East Coast roads, the best score. The Sunday Times' feature on Nov 7, 1999, about the laksa war in Katong. PHOTO: ST FILE Fast forward to the next Sunday, Nov 14. In a follow-up, reporter Karl Ho reports that business at two of the stalls Ms Oon pans is badly affected. One of the stallholders regrets talking to the paper . 'I beg you, tolong, tolong,' she pleads. 'Please don't write anything about me and my stall any more.' Today, it is commonplace for chefs and restaurant owners to talk about their craft in the media. Back then, it is not. The work of these, and other food writers in the paper , help to raise the profile of hawkers, chefs and restaurateurs in Singapore, making stars out of some of them. On May 8, 2005, Mr Wong's review is on Pu Tien, a restaurant in Kitchener Road serving Hing Hwa cuisine, from a small dialect group in Fujian. Cue stampedes to the restaurant for its homespun food. Mr Fong Chi Chung, 56, is the owner and he now presides over the Putien empire, with more than 100 restaurants, in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. There are 17 in Singapore alone. He says: 'I didn't know who Ah Yoke was back then. I wasn't English-educated so I didn't read English newspapers. The article about Putien was published around Mother's Day that year. Wow, the moment the article was out, the restaurant was suddenly packed! There was a huge crowd lining up outside the restaurant, and I was a bit shocked when I saw it.' Another discovery is Artichoke, a five-month-old Middle Eastern restaurant at Sculpture Square when Mr Wong reviews on Jan 23, 2011. It is now at New Bahru in Kim Yam Road. 'Business wasn't great. I could see my bank account dwindling, and we had maybe a runway of four, five months to tahan or close in under a year,' says owner Bjorn Shen, 42, using the Malay word for endure. He says the restaurant starts getting calls from people wanting reservations when the review comes out. 'The snowball started rolling from that day onwards,' he adds. 'It gave more people the chance to try our food. Most people liked the food, and that gave us the confidence to continue doing what we were doing.' Everybody's a food critic Anyone with a smartphone and an Instagram account can be a food critic now. Restaurant publicists invite them to media events and tastings, alongside legacy media. The publicists hand out 'tasting notes' of the meals, to make it easy for influencers to put together content. The Straits Times food writer today has a lot more competition. But she has all the tools that influencers have – smartphones, social media accounts, name recognition; and some that they do not – hard-driving bosses who question facts and story angles, and demand sharper reporting; newsmakers who flag errors or retaliate against unflattering copy; readers who hold them to a higher standard than they do influencers, and who have no qualms about calling out lax reporting or bad judgment. Food writer Cherie Lok, 27, a January 2024 hire, says: 'I've come to realise that our responsibilities are manifold. We need to track industry news, illuminate issues, highlight key personalities, entertain with punchy, vivid writing, and tell people what's worth eating. 'That last bit is particularly hard to do in an era where everyone has an opinion on food and a platform through which to broadcast it. The kind of trust that readers place in veteran writers like Ah Yoke isn't easily earned and can only be built up with time.' Ms Eunice Quek, 38, social media editor at Life, is tasked with growing ST Food's social media accounts. The one on Facebook has 61,000 followers, and the one on Instagram has 24,000. She has been a food writer since joining in 2009, and remembers the food writer pep talk. 'Responsibility to readers, to always try to approach a story from the consumer's point of view,' she says. 'To cover all ground. Legwork is of the utmost importance. Where possible, taste the food that we write about, visit the locations to have a sense of place.' She starts reviewing for Cheap & Good in 2011. 'It was very exciting for me but I also knew that with great power comes great responsibility,' she says. 'I became a lot more mindful and careful with what I wrote, as it was a reflection of myself, and could make an impact on the businesses.' This is something she hews to when it comes to her social media strategy. 'Featuring food first, nothing too clickbaity,' she says. 'The posts must be a fair representation of the stories everyone writes. Everything is 'very ST'. But I do try to have some fun with captions and photos while remaining 'very ST'.' That sense of responsibility food writers never shrug off stands them in good stead. Putien's Mr Fong says: 'I believe that credible media figures are trustworthy, so I don't think their influence has diminished. Their credibility is built from years of accumulated expertise and unique writing skills that enable them to write engaging stories and gain loyal readers.' The next course The launch of the Singapore Michelin Guide in 2016; the multiple waves of celebrity chefs from overseas opening restaurants here; the rise of the Singaporean chef, food fads, food feuds; the rise of private dining businesses; the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on restaurants – the work of pointing readers in the direction of good food, of showing them the length and breadth of the food scene here, continues. Through the years, a clear pattern emerges. Food trends, peaks and troughs, they happen in cycles. The food scene has had one of its worst years in 2024, with diners deserting restaurants, preferring to save their strong Singapore dollars on post-Covid wanderlust. Of course, it has happened before. In the Feb 1, 1998, edition, in the thick of the Asian financial crisis that began in 1997, Sunday Plus runs a story about how fine-dining restaurants have been hit. It lists a number of such restaurants that have shuttered, and how the ones still open are lowering their prices. That story sounds eerily like the ones in the paper in 2024. The story quotes chef Justin Quek, then managing director of Les Amis, saying: 'Our New Year's Eve menu last year was priced at $265. In 1994, we charged $1,000. We can't do that any more. We want to be friendly to the market.' That strategy still works today. Chef Joel Ong, 37, co-owner of Enjoy Eating House, a casual restaurant in Stevens Road, says: 'If we provide good value to our customers, there is a higher chance of them returning or recommending us to their social circle.' What he says applies to food coverage in The Straits Times. Value is a loaded word. For some, a fast-food meal represents good value – burger, fries and a milkshake – served fast and efficiently. Food coverage can be that way. In its history though, The Straits Times has chosen another route. Call it the hawker route. It is not uniform and consistent in taste, colour and size. Instead, it is many-splendoured in its variety, and in its ability to adapt and change to suit the circumstances of the day, to meet the expectations of its readers. That is how it has been able to appeal to the soul of a nation obsessed about food. In good times and bad, through lean years and fat, people gotta eat. In good times and bad, through lean years and fat, The Straits Times shows them how, where and why.
