There are far more culinary similarities than differences between the street-food heritage of Singapore and Malaysia (Hawker culture move starts food fight; Aug 23).

The hawker culture between the two countries was also comparable before the seventies - then, everyone, from the northern tip of the Malaysian peninsula to southern-most Singapore, tucked into the most delectable of street fare, oblivious to the muddy ground, choked drains and uncollected garbage.

But Singapore evolved.

We moved our hawkers into sanitised concrete buildings safe from the elements, with cross-cultural gourmet representation. Food poisoning outbreaks in Singapore are rare.

Our hawker culture is anything but intangible.

It is what makes Singaporeans miss the motherland even when we have been away for a short holiday, what tourists coming from countries with standalone and expensive restaurants wax lyrical about and what visitors from countries that practise segregation envy for the easy way we have allowed this heritage to level our socio-economic and racial differences.

Neither is our hawker culture static. Innovative graduates of local culinary institutes are now introducing fusion hawker fare too.

Yik Keng Yeong (Dr)