Where We Stand
Diner En Blanc vs. Makan Day
Thursday, 30 Aug 2012
Today’s a pretty big day in Singapore’s food history.
You don’t have to be a foodie to know about the recent controversy around Diner En Blanc – and if you’ve heard about that then you probably know about the protest movement, Makan Day.
No clue what we’re talking about? Here’s a brief rundown:
Diner En Blanc is a super exclusive pop-up picnic that first originated in Paris. Singapore is the first country in Asia to host the event, and this thing is a grand party – sparklers, bubbly, white china, white evening wear, the works.
But Diner En Blanc ran into a bit of trouble when food blogger, Daniel, suggested a list of 12 different local dishes to bring to the event.
To put it bluntly, it was a PR fiasco: he was asked to remove his blog post because local food was not permitted at the picnic; Singaporeans were outraged because they felt that the local culture was being disrespected; a community of food bloggers was then surreptitiously uninvited; the PR company in charge of Diner En Blanc split from the organizers; Diner En Blanc’s facebook page was closed, and ultimately, the organizers issued an official apology permitting local food on the premises.
Another popular blogger, Mr Brown, has suggested holding Makan Day, a counter movement celebrating local food.
What we will be doing:
We take our food seriously. So while we were – and remain – immensely psyched about Diner En Blanc, we have decided to pull out of the event as a show of support for the local culture.
Yes, we managed to secure two seats to the coveted event in the second round of bidding! And everyone knows we’re always up for a fun party, but we are also in no way down with any kind of discrimination, especially when it concerns local heritage.
So tonight we’ve decided to hold our own picnic where we and some of our closest friends will feast on local hawker treats. Honeycombers is all about bringing the best of Singapore to you guys, and tonight we will be celebrating just that.
