Rojak

A woman here in Singapore has died and 100 others have been sickened by an outbreak of food poisoning at a Geylang Serai rojak stall.  My first thought was that it must have been Malay rojak given the location, but reading the articles I see it was, in fact, Indian rojak.

Many customers turned up to find the stall shuttered, unaware that other than Mdm Aminah, at least 30 others - including children - have been warded at CGH, Tan Tock Hospital and KK Hospital.

This is the first time they have heard of a major food poisoning incident in the market, said hawkers and regular customers.

Some like material controller Omar Ahmad expressed surprise as the stall has been around for 20 years. Some said they would still buy from it when it re-opens.

Mr Omar, 56, said he ordered from it every weekend. “At first when I saw that it was closed, I thought they were taking a holiday.”

Mdm Rabeah Samson thinks the food poisoning might have less to do with the stall than with the surroundings. “I’ll not lose trust in the stall as nothing happened to me the previous times I ate from it,” said the 54-year-old housewife.

“But the environment in the centre is not very clean. Sometimes there is rubbish around and it is very near to the wet market.”

But banking officer Yeni Sani, 32, said: “I don’t think it’s the hygiene level of the stall or the centre. It’s a one-off incident, hopefully it won’t happen again.”

Hawkers at the market told TODAY that an Indian father and son team operate the stall with three workers.

A chicken rice seller who only wanted to be known as Mr Man said the stall owner was probably unaware of the mass food poisoning as he turned up on Saturday morning to set up the stall.

Inspectors from the National Environment Agency (NEA) came to close it down at about 8am, said Mr Man.

“He (the stall owner) looked ‘blur’ when the officers talked to him.”

A satay seller who didn’t want to be identified, said “The stall owner is usually very friendly. I’m shocked because he has been in the business for so long.”

 

Looking or being 'blur' is a distinctively Singaporean state of mind, and it's pretty much just what you think: confused or spaced out.

Malay (or Indonesian) rojak is a kind of mixed-up salad of fruits and/or vegetables and/or ginger buds, with a delicious sweet/spicy sauce of gula melaka (palm sugar) and chilis and tamarind and stuff, and is really delicious. Indian rojak is, in my opinion, not so great. You make your own selection  from an assortment of little fried items, savory doughnuts, battered prawn fritters, etc. I know, you're thinking, what could be wrong with little fried things? Well...something. They're room temperature and greasy, not chaat-like and yummy. I don't know, obviously Singaporeans don't agree with me as there are probably 5 times as many Indian rojak stalls as Malay ones. Maybe I haven't been to the right rojak stalls. Singaporeans also use 'rojak' where Americans would say 'melting pot', to refer to the harmonious mix of people here (and in Malaysia too).