As recently as 1970, nearly one in 10 Singaporeans was engaged in farming or fishing. Now most of the island is urbanized. The vast majority of apartment complexes in Singapore are public housing, which allows the government to designate their rooftops as agricultural spaces in the public interest. (Photo courtesy of Comcrop)
From what was once Singapore’s largest prison complex the Queenstown Remand Prison, housing about 1,000 inmates at its peak an 8,000 square meter urban farm, Edible Garden City (EGC), now bursts with colorful vegetables and fragrant herbs. Co-founded by local resident Bjorn Low in 2012, EGC is one of Singapore’s first urban farming initiatives and is located inside the former prison compound. It is one of several efforts in the city-state to strengthen the island’s food security at a grassroots level. “Our goal was and is to encourage more locals to grow their own food and thus help strengthen the city’s food resilience,” says Sarah Rodriguez, E
Nippon Koi Farm - is collectively supplying some 70% of his ingredients.
Proudly citing examples of local produce with outstanding quality, Han raves about
Ah Hua Kelong’s “sweet and juicy” green-lipped mussels featured in his new laksa dish, together with clams and green papaya in a broth made from mussel jus. The fish farmer’s “delicately sweet” wild-caught flower crabs that “taste of the sea” also anchor his signature chilli crab course alongside a scoop of chilli crab ice-cream. From
Edible Gardens City, he sources all the herbs and plants served at his restaurant, including the “beautiful” ulam rajah herb ( “it tastes just like green mango”) that appear in his yu sheng dish alongside local barramundi.
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