Abstracts Economics

From the traditional wet market to the modern supermarket

by Tan Ping Chiang

The successful economic growth and the rapid changing of urban development had changed Singapore from a developing to a developed country. The living environment of Singapore has been changed with in the last 25 years. My thesis mainly describes foods and food markets in Singapore. Due to better educational background, higher consumption power and small family planning, the eating habit of Singaporeans has changed. A lot of young Singaporeans today, don't buy their daily marketing needs from the traditional wet market for they prefer to do their weekly marketing in the comfortable, clean, convenient and air conditioned modern supermarket. With the advance electronic cooking equipment in kitchen, they save time in cooking to buy prepared or instant cooked food from supermarkets, instead of raw foodstuff from the traditional wet markets. These rapid changes of the Singaporeans' life style and eating habit created an opportunity. For me to look into the area that directly or indirectly involved with my professional work as a practicing graphic designer and a design educator. The area I am looking into is 'the value of food packaging'. I realized that the contrast of the traditional foodstuffs selling in traditional wet market and the imported foodstuffs displayed within the modern supermarket, the difference has signaled a strong message. If the traditional foodstuffs still does not improve their dull and unhygienic image to catch up with the rapid changing urban living environment. They will disappear from our dining table sooner or later. My thesis has to reach 2 aims. Firstly, to awake the design students (tomorrow's designer). To be more sensitive towards the local traditional food markets. Discover the values of the local ethnic foodstuffs and going to find out why these delicious and remarkable local foodstuffs been rejected outside of the modern supermarket. To create a new image through packaging design to replace with the original dull and unhygienic image. Secondly, the contents and the criterias of the modern packaging design I proposed within this thesis, could be applicable in the practicing design field, food manufactory and most importantly, in the design institutions