Toothsome Fat: N.Z. Produce and Food Safety in Colonial Singapore

A small equatorial island in Southeast Asia, Singapore is located at the tip of Malaysia in the strategic Malacca Straits. The island was connected to regional trade and cultural networks for centuries before permanent settlement -- Chinese traders, Malay fishermen, Dutch and Spanish merchants, and pilgrims to the Haj all left their marks, with the earliest known archaeological evidence dating from the 13th century. Its location along existing trade routes initially drew the British East India company to Singapore, and in 1819 they established a port. Extensive trade routes meant that Singapore was multiracial, with Chinese, Malay, Indian, Eurasian, and European populations, and it rapidly became a significant node in global commodity chains for goods and people. As a free port Singapore was a transit zone, with millions of dollars’ worth of goods from every corner of the world passing through its waters, and port. Its founder, Stamford Raffles, percipiently called it the emporium of the East.