Many Singaporeans enjoy their meals at hawker centres and coffee shops, where the food is affordable and diverse. I'm no exception. If I'm not having home-cooked food, I always like to eat at the hawker centre or kopitiam. It's an integral part of my day, a routine I don't usually think much about.

For a period during the pandemic, dining in at hawker centres and coffee shops was disallowed. I realised then that the wonton mee, char siew rice, youtiao and other local foods l had taken for granted had always been my dependable and comforting allies.

I have used local food as the subject of these works as a natural response to those days. It's also my way of remembering how these foods have accompanied me during the different stages of my life.

The flavours of these foods – sweet, sour, salty, bitter, spicy – are interwoven with the joys and sorrows in my life.

Food needs to be chewed on and savoured slowly, as do happiness and sadness in life.