From Third World to First World: Tourism, Food Safety and the Making of Modern Singapore

This chapter looks at food safety in tourism, rather than food tourism. Often taken for granted in food tourism research, food safety is an issue that matters in tourism practices, to both visitors and residents. How food safety and tourism evolved in Singapore encapsulate the story of the meteoric development of Singapore from a Third World to a First World nation. This chapter looks at the history of food safety in Singapore, and how the Singapore Tourism Board responded to maintain­ing Singapore as an exotic city that has become too clean, safe and hygienic for many western tourists. This chapter also situates tourism as part of the modem development of Singapore. As a cultural resource to weave a narrative for nation building, reconstructed food stories reclaim the Asian and colonial history of the city that is now manifestly modern, cosmopolitan and safe.