THE school canteen was not for lengthy sit-down meals with chit-chat. The older boys, especially, would rush in, get their food, wolf it down and run off to play – to make the most of the half-hour recess. Its structure was designed for a mad invasion of hungry boys and a mass exodus. There were openings everywhere for us to move in and out. To suit the circumstances, the fare served was local “fast food” (see a more detailed description of each below).
Our schoolmates recall that many of us did not eat canteen food. We brought our own or had it specially prepared and sent over. There were strong reasons for this.
Hygiene was a still a major problem in the 1960s judging from the various filmlets we were shown in the hall or at the cinema on how to cleanly prepare and consume food and drinks. I remember one whose essential message was: “Dig a well on high ground and the latrine on low ground, and not the other way around”. It was very graphic, showing how germs travelled via the moving groundwater from the latrine into the well if we did not construct them properly. Moreover, “Hygiene” was a part of the school curriculum.
Another reason for avoiding hawker fare stemmed from our parents’ early lives. Those times gave them a lesson in public health they must have carried into the 1950s (when we were born) and beyond.
During their childhood, in the 1920s, Malayans were already concerned about a wide range of prevalent diseases. At that time, the Institute of Medical Research (IMR) in Kuala Lumpur was conducting in-depth studies “into the causes, transmission, treatment and prevention of such diseases as cholera, small pox, leprosy, melioidosis, influenza, dysentery, rabies, tuberculosis, typhoid, filariasis, leptospirosis, dengue and scrub typhus.” Their findings were fed into the public health system.
Much of the progress in uplifting health standards was reversed in the early 1940s. “The period of Japanese Occupation in Malaya from 1942-1945 witnessed the breakdown of the high standards of disease control...” Read more about these conditions here.
It was against this background that our parents decided to be very careful about what we ate.
Back to the WPS canteen, the range of Penang “fast food” was rather wide and, I must say, it is enjoyable to recount the various ways we experienced them. Our friends, especially Ong Seng Huat, Ooi Chek Jin and Sukumaran, gave a fair bit of input:
- Indian Muslim mee goreng (fried) and rebus (boiled and subsequently drenched with a thick tomato-based spicy sauce): What I recall the most about this stall is that it allowed the older boys to queue up to fry their own. All we had to do was heat up some cooking oil and add a plate of ready-apportioned ingredients – noodles, ngeow choo chnee (a type of fritters) and fried tau kua (soya bean cake). There were two woks on two charcoal stoves for us and, therefore, there were two queues. As we fried, we could add all the sauces provided -- chilli sauce, tomato gravy, light soya sauce... The vendor would throw in a bit of taugeh at some point. At the end, as is customary with this dish, I assume the vendor would garnish it with a bit of sliced lettuce and a slice of lemon. I cannot remember.
- Hokkien mee (prawn mee soup): Our Hokkien mee came in petite little bowls suited for little stomachs; those that are used now for bah kut teh in Klang or sold as antiques. The vendors would display clearly about 10 to 20 bowls of uncooked mee, taugeh and kangkong. Each time we ordered, he would throw the lot into a bamboo strainer, shake everything in boiling water and fill a bowl with the boiled items. After that, he would garnish with some small fried prawns and sliced pork and pour the soup over. Each bowl was 10 cents.
- Sar hor fun: The Penang version of this dish comes with some pre-fried koay teow and bee hoon. A thick sauce, with chai sim (choy sum), sometimes char siew and prawns, is poured over them. This dish is additionally flavoured by pre-frying both noodles in a very hot wok to slightly char them. It gives the dish its distinctive flavour.
- Koay teow thng: This dish of flat rice noodles with clear soup is prepared pretty much like Hokkien mee, with the main ingredients being koay teow, sliced fish cake and sliced meat. The secret in this dish is the garlic fried in lard. Combined, they give a distinct flavour and aroma to what seems rather plain.
- Indian-style popiah (spring rolls): Indian or Indian Muslim popiah is different from the Chinese version in many ways: (a) Its main filler, the bangkuang or sengkuang (also known as hong kuak) is prepared with spices including turmeric, giving it a yellowish tinge (b) Its second filler is minced tau kua fried with little unshelled prawns (c) The popiah is usually served basah or wet/drenched with soup (d) The chilli sauce is spread over the wrapped rolls. Our vendor, we are told by Sukumaran, plied his trade elsewhere too – at the coffeeshop next to Rex cinema.
- Drinks: I cannot remember much except that there was iced drinks with rose syrup. I was told by Seng Sun that the drinks stall lady also prepared toast bread with butter and sugar which he pretty much consumed almost daily.
- Tidbits: My friends recall that this stall sold, apart from tidbits, preserved fruit (e.g. sliced unripe papaya or green mangoes that have been pickled) and toys. It also had tikam, wherein students drew lots to get a prize.
- Kachang puteh: The Indian lady at this stall, in her fifties and a bit on the plump side, always wore a saree. I can only remember her kachang puteh (two or more versions) and groundnuts. They came in long conical containers made of paper (not from newspapers but used magazines or old text books; today we call them “wood free” or art paper).
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