It’s 10.30am on a Monday, and a quiet buzz surrounds People’s Park Food Centre as stalls are thick in their preparation for the lunch time rush. But we’re not here to get our hands on scrumptious plates of hawker fare. Instead, we’re looking for something else, something that goes into almost every Singaporean dish that we know and love: spices.
Anthony the Spice Maker
Round the corner on the third floor of the complex, we find what – or rather who – we’re searching for. Meet Anthony, or as his loyal customers unanimously call him, ‘Anthony the Spice Maker’. That’s also the name of his spice shop which has been around since 1986, also known as Liao Jia Xiang Trading prior to 2009. The practice of spice making may be as old as history itself, but shops that still sell freshly ground spices are pretty much a rarity these days.
A second-generation spice maker, Anthony learned the ropes from his parents who owned a spice business in the 70s. But they weren’t his only teachers. Frequent patrons of the store – mostly grandmothers who cooked at home – would request for him to customise rempah (spice paste) based on their ‘secret’ family recipes. From there, he quickly amassed a treasure trove of hand-me-down recipes from all around the country.
One thing to know about Anthony is that he is a stickler for tradition and an advocate for modernity all at once. Unlike an ordinary spice shop in a market, he owns a cushy air-conditioned unit with shelves of neatly lined products. Gone are the days of roasting spices and grinding them by hand using a mortar and pestle – Anthony is all for the latest blenders and gadgets that make life tons easier than it was before. But one thing remains the same: the pretty packages in the shop all contain blends that haven’t been altered since day one. ‘Old wine in new skins’, you could say. And he has all the proportions memorised down to a tee, no granule more or less.
Still, to keep up with the times, Anthony engages the help of his daughter Min Ling to market the brand to younger folks and spread the word to those who want to learn cooking. He’s been running an online business for a decade now, selling individual spice packets and thematic gift sets, and even publishing video tutorials of recipes using his spices. Embracing the recent wellness wave, he now also offers spice blends like masala chai and golden turmeric.
And it’s not enough to say that Anthony’s in his wellness era – it’s more of a way of life and part of who he is. To him, spices are more than just flavouring agents for our favourite dishes: “They are good for your body, for [addressing] health concerns. Nowadays, some famous spices are turmeric, ginger, and black pepper.” In fact, these are ancient Ayurvedic home remedies which have been around for thousands of years. “There are spices that can even maintain your cholesterol and blood pressure levels,” he quips. “If you have a deeper understanding of spices, you’ll know that they can keep you healthy”.
Even his recently launched bak kut teh spice blend – which has been unreleased for 30 years – comes in a powder form instead of the typical sachets that have to be thrown away after cooking. It’s because he believes that the spices should all be ingested for their health benefits. His most popular spice blend – Curry Powder Singapura – also contains cumin, coriander, fennel, black pepper, and cardamom, which all have anti-bloating properties.
Anthony’s been at this for almost 40 years now, not counting the time he spent at his parents’ store. He even left his stable career as a design draftsman in the shipbuilding industry to dedicate his life to building his spice empire. Surely, there must be something to the trade that warrants the drastic shift from drawing propellers, anchor pockets, and engine girdles everyday, to assembling packets of curry powder, five spice, and garam masala. And what keeps him going is when customers come back brimming with joy after they’ve succeeded at cooking a particular dish using his spice blends: “I feel very happy [when they tell me that]. And they’re also happy, because they get to cook for their loved ones and children.”
Jeya Spices
22 kilometres away in the heart of Yishun, another fiery young man is turning up the heat in the world of spices. Jeya Spices is your humble and trusty neighbourhood store that supplies spices to the local community. It’s cluttered, it’s crammed, but even at 2pm on a Wednesday, there’s a neverending stream of customers coming in and out of the shop.
The story dates back to 1947, when Jeya’s grandfather, a spice trader, settled down in Singapore after the World War and started a spice store. Jeya’s father would later inherit the business and pass it down to him. And while a career as a spice maker isn’t usually top of mind for a fresh graduate with a Mass Communications degree, Jeya welcomed the opportunity with open arms. “Youngsters don’t really find a lot of pride in doing things like this,” he says. “They find the market dirty, they find the trade to be ‘low-SES’ (Social Economic Status)... but actually, it’s very, very promising.”
He wastes no time in giving us a crash course on spices. “If people had three or five minutes with me, normally I’d bore them to death with my spice knowledge, regardless of whether they asked for it. I’ll tell them more about cinnamon, the benefits of cinnamon, how sumac can be used in our cooking… It’s endless. It’s a bottomless pit!” But don’t worry Jeya, we have more than three minutes. And in our time with him, we learn that the quintessential dishes that represent Singapore all require spices – turmeric and chilli powder for ayam penyet, five spice for chicken rice, and the list goes on. It also turns out there is an abundance of spices under the chilli family, from kashmiri and teja (for making spicier powders), to sangam (for milder chilli powders).
Despite his evident passion for the subject, he doesn’t deny the grind that comes with it. Spice making might be a dying trade, but for something regarded as a ‘sunset industry’, the sunrise sure has a big part to play in it. And that’s because every morning, Jeya wakes up bright and early to set up his spice station by 7am. The work is tough and involves peeling a ton of onions, ginger, and garlic, cutting them, and grinding them daily. What does it take to make such painstaking labour rewarding? For Jeya, the smell of the spices alone is enough: “The smell that greets me in the morning when I top up the spice powders is really amazing.”
When it comes to incorporating spices into cooking – particularly for younger folks who are just getting started – his advice is “Don’t be afraid to experiment”. “A lot of [young people] are very into TikTok. It’s okay to follow recipes and videos, but when you follow templates, it impedes your creative energy. It becomes a crutch.” What he suggests is to be adventurous and open. If a recipe asks for two teaspoons of garam malasa, opting for half the amount or switching up a teaspoon for coriander powder instead might just do wonders for whatever it is you’re cooking.
Jeya brings this experimental spirit to the business as well. Ten years on, and he’s still keeping things fresh – running an online shop with islandwide delivery, opening a factory to scale up production, and conducting workshops and tours for students and corporate clients. Still, he’s concerned that it’s not enough to keep the tradition alive – “I worry that [spice making] is going to become extinct. Right now, it’s already an ‘endangered species’.”
And unfortunately, if people continue to be apathetic toward spices, Jeya’s worst fears might come true. “In 30 or 40 years, nobody might know about fresh spices anymore.” We can only hope that more folks like him continue to pick up the mantle and pass on the trade. Or, that perhaps the current dreary economy and tighter wallets might bring about one silver lining – the revival of home cooking and a renewed interest in spices.
We wrap things up by asking Jeya what spice he sees himself as. And without batting an eyelid, he answers “nutmeg”. “When I was growing up, I always looked a bit awkward. I wanted to stand out from the crowd, but I was always the average ‘middle man’. But once you grate [nutmeg], the smell that it gives is amazing.” For him, the spice tells the story of his journey thus far. “Right now, I have the chance to shine, mainly because of my dad and whatever he laid the foundation for. I built on it, and now I’m trying to herald and helm this legacy on my own. Just like the nutmeg – give it a bit of pressure, and the powder it provides is second to none.”
