If, after a major catastrophe left me and my immediate family needing to take refuge in a country with vastly different culture, I would choose to bring with me a recipe book filled with local Singaporean cuisine, photo album that has a record of my time spent in Singapore, and a cheongsam.
Singaporeans take their food very seriously and will seek out the best for one particular dish. Food is an important part of Singaporean culture and connects people from different backgrounds living in Singapore. I would be able to recreate dishes, such as Laksa, Chicken Rice, and Popiah that would give a sensory understanding of a combination of flavours that stem from Chinese, Malay, and Indian influences, to name a few. The photo album would depict different building structures, the nature, and varying people of Singapore that would be able to capture moments of importance, such as Chinese New Year or Vesak Day that are major festival celebrations in Singapore. The traditional Chinese outfit, cheongsam, is something that I wear every Chinese New Year when visiting my Chinese relatives living in Singapore. Bringing this, I would be able to describe the customs that come with it and the celebratory days.
Being able to only bring one item upon arrival in the new country, I would choose to keep the recipe book because the Singaporean cuisine is something that I greatly appreciate, is a large part of friend and family gatherings, and can be recreated for other people. I have discovered that I consider Singapore a very large part of my identity and that my Swedish culture is ingrained in me through traditions and experiences that do not require items in order to symbolize my Swedish culture.
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