I will not be shy about admitting that I have found the love of my life here in Singapore. He has arrived to me in the form of thick multigrain toast slathered with chunky peanut butter. It sounds like an incredibly familiar snack, not very foreign to the average North American resident as a breakfast food or school lunch. But this toast at Toast Box, a local Singaporean chain, is a delicacy of the most magical sort.
The traditional Singaporean breakfast consists of Kopi, dark roast coffee mixed with condensed milk and boiling water, two soft boiled eggs, and the option of kaya or peanut butter toast. Kaya toast is a .3 inch slab of butter and traditional kaya jam (coconutty, buttery, magical) wedged between toasted white bread sliced thin. Peanut butter toast is a slice of multigrain toast (1 inch tall) toasted with butter, and a generous amount of peanut butter oozing off the top like lava.
This lovely snack can be found at every street corner and every cafeteria, and has been cause to my excessive happiness and weight gain.
Beyond its caloric content, however, it speaks to much more depth about the culture and the customs that Singapore has collected as its own over centuries. Colonial influences are prevalent in the historical molds that Singapore has bolstered itself upon, and the sheer racial conglomeration that peacefully coexists in the city-country shows us the epitome of civilized living. And the melting of Malaysian, British, and Singaporean culture manifests in these cups of coffee and slices of toast.
The cultural melting pot also includes Chinese and Indian citizens of Singapore. Then toss in some expats from around the world, Australia, Europe, USA and nearby Asian countries.