Meet The Artisans
WINE&DINE|March/April 2019

Craftsmen who make noodles, bread, mead and tableware share their stories

Michelle Yee
Meet The Artisans

KAREN NAH

Founder of My Singapore Food and Handpicked

A passionate foodie, Karen Nah first launched My Singapore Food—a website featuring 50 traditional recipes by home cooks—in 2012 to bring heritage home-cooked food back on everyone’s dining table. Nah later launched handpicked.sg to provide the everyday home cook with an artisanal selection of pantry basics and specifically, fresh noodles hand made by a local manufacturer, Hiap Giap.

How would you define an artisanal product?

I believe artisanal products are made using traditional methods, which are often passed down by masters of the craft. They are also perfected with time through experience and aptitude.

Should artisanal products naturally be more expensive?

My personal take is that costs and artisanal products are non-related. Some artisanal products are reasonably priced while others are not. How much an artisanal product is priced is very much dependent on how much work goes into producing the products, and the resources/ingredients used.

What’s your take on adding machines to the equation?

Having produced noodles since the 60s, we are termed as a master of the craft. That said, when we first started out, we would use bamboo poles to make our noodle dough, but we have since evolved to using machinery to produce our dough. We are able to maintain the quality and texture of our dough despite incorporating machinery into our processes because of our in-depth knowledge on how noodles were done traditionally. We are familiar with the intricacies and the little details, which helped us to design machines that are able to replicate a similar texture and quality as the ones made using bamboo poles. With these machines in place, they helped us to stay relevant in the industry and be able to fulfill demands. Over the

This story is from the March/April 2019 edition of WINE&DINE.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.

This story is from the March/April 2019 edition of WINE&DINE.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.

MORE STORIES FROM WINE&DINEView All
New Blood
WINE&DINE

New Blood

The next-generation is breathing new life into the forgotten art of spice-mixing, peppering the traditional trade with renewed ideas and fresh perspectives.

time-read
7 mins  |
April - June 2021
Sharing Is Caring
WINE&DINE

Sharing Is Caring

Compared to its flagship at Serene Centre, Fat Belly Social at Boon Tat Street is a classier and bolder affair, in more than one sense.

time-read
1 min  |
April - June 2021
Nutmeg's Role In Singapore's History
WINE&DINE

Nutmeg's Role In Singapore's History

From tales of it being used to ward off the plague in mid-1300s Europe to one of the ingredients in dessert, we have all known, tasted, or at least heard of nutmeg. But not many know of the spice’s role in Singapore’s history.

time-read
6 mins  |
April - June 2021
New And Improved
WINE&DINE

New And Improved

The ever-profound chef-owner Kenjiro ‘Hatch’ Hashida finds more room, three to be exact, to express a Ha Ri philosophy at Hashida Singapore’s new location at Amoy Street.

time-read
1 min  |
April - June 2021
Pairing Spice-Driven Cuisines With Wine
WINE&DINE

Pairing Spice-Driven Cuisines With Wine

Pairing spice-driven cuisines with wine has long been a challenge but with a little imagination, it doesn’t have to be.

time-read
7 mins  |
April - June 2021
Let Land Grow Wild
WINE&DINE

Let Land Grow Wild

Niew Tai-Ran has worn many hats: aeronautical engineering major, investment banker, avid surfer, and, for the last 14 years, winemaker. Discover how this Malaysia-born, Singapore-native is championing the “do-nothing farming” philosophy at his vineyard in Oregon.

time-read
7 mins  |
April - June 2021
The South Asian Misnomer
WINE&DINE

The South Asian Misnomer

Incredibly diverse and varied than most know, Indian food is far more intriguing than butter chicken or thosai. Here is a crash course on the extensive cuisine from region to region, recognisable for the seemingly infinite ways of using spices.

time-read
8 mins  |
April - June 2021
Keepers Of The Spice Trade
WINE&DINE

Keepers Of The Spice Trade

From its glory days along trade routes to pantry staples all over the world, spices have become so commonplace that we’ve taken them for granted. For these three trailblazers, however, spice is their livelihood and motivation: Langit Collective working with indigenous rural farming communities in Malaysia; IDH’s Sustainable Spice Initiative; and chef Nak’s one-woman mission to share forgotten Khmer cuisine.

time-read
7 mins  |
April - June 2021
Sugar, Spice And Everything Nice
WINE&DINE

Sugar, Spice And Everything Nice

Like food, spices bring vibrancy and variety to alcoholic beverages. Surfacing in unexpected ways on the palate, find everything from cumin to tamarind, cloves to cardamom enriching these drinks.

time-read
4 mins  |
April - June 2021
WINE&DINE

Building Blocks From The Archipelago

For the smorgasbord of dishes found in Indonesian cuisine, it is a little known secret that the modest bumbu, in all its variants, is the bedrock of such flavourful fare.

time-read
7 mins  |
April - June 2021