- Readership: Street food enthusiasts and general public with an interest in Singapore-related literature, especially readers of Singaporean sociology, history, and culture.
- Book Material: Softcover
- Book Pages: 192
 
Singapore is renowned for the delightful cuisines that can be found in its hawker centres. Travellers herald from across the globe simply to taste dishes like chicken rice, laksa, and chilli crab. In 2020, "Hawker Culture in Singapore" was selected to be on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, a firm acknowledgement towards the impact and influence of hawking in Singapore's history. Less widely known is this—though now synonymous with Singaporean culture, the fate of hawking once hung in the balance.
 
From Streets to Stalls traces the longue-durée history of hawking in Singapore and how it has evolved. This book highlights the challenges hawkers had to overcome before achieving their celebrated status in Singapore and around the world. It also delves into the policies implemented to enact hawker reform and regulation, and explores how hawker centres have been transformed into essential third spaces that promote social mingling and support Singapore's founding principles of multiculturalism.
 
Taking readers through time, From Streets to Stalls investigates the origins of hawking in ninth-century Singapore and ends with a commentary on the present-day sociocultural importance that it retains.
 
Book Contents:
- About the Author
- Foreword by Professor Tan Tai Yong
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- Some First Principles of Hawking
- Origins of Hawking in Singapore (Ninth to 14th Century)
- Phase 1: Colonial Singapore (1819 to 1942)
- Phase 2: Hawking during World War II and Post-War Singapore (1942 to 1965)
- Phase 3: Independent Singapore and Hawker Reform, Part One (1965 to 1969)
- Phase 3: Independent Singapore and Hawker Reform, Part Two (1969 to 1973)
- Hawker Centres as Aspired Multiculturalism
- Evolving Forms and Functions of Hawking
- Conclusion
- Endnotes
- References
- Index
 
Featured on The Straits Times: https://www.straitstimes.com/life/food/new-book-traces-hawkers-back-to-14th-century-singapore