This Singaporean is bringing back the kampung spirit with community void deck dinners

Mr Ngoh Shian Bang started by turning his Tampines void deck into a communal dining space, bringing neighbours and strangers together over free food.

Mr Ngoh Shian Bang started Kampung Soup Kitchen, organising free community meals with a different menu each time. (Photo: Ngoh Shian Bang)

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SINGAPORE: One month, photojournalist Ngoh Shian Bang was churning ice cream for strangers. The next, he was grilling steaks for them.

Every month, the 32-year-old organises a community meal, bringing together neighbours, friends and strangers over food. His first was held at the void deck below his Tampines home.

Mr Ngoh started Kampung Soup Kitchen in May, organising free community meals with a different menu each time. He has held six gatherings so far.

MORE THAN JUST COOKING

Preparations for each gathering typically begin about a month in advance.

CNA Games Guess Word Crack the word, one row at a time Buzzword Create words using the given letters Mini Sudoku Tiny puzzle, mighty brain teaser Mini Crossword Small grid, big challenge Word Search Spot as many words as you can Show More Show Less For a locally inspired National Day barbecue in Tampines on Aug 30, Mr Ngoh planned six stations serving dishes such as chicken, fish, beef and desserts, incorporating local flavours including kaya, laksa and sambal. On the day itself, work began as early as 9am, with about 10 to 12 volunteers helping with preparations. Mr Ngoh’s passion for food led him to hospitality school SHATEC, where he graduated in 2015. He began hosting dinner parties for friends and, over time, discovered that much of the joy he got from cooking came from sharing food with others. “What I really enjoy is feeding people, and the experience and joy from feeding people is something that is so memorable and that you can't take away from,” he said. After the COVID-19 pandemic, that desire to bring people together over food took on another purpose. Mr Ngoh began thinking more deeply about social isolation and the need for people to connect in person. “Ironically, we have more potential to connect digitally, but there's less reason for us to be present in person,” he said. That led him to think about how to open up his dinner table to a wider community.

For a locally inspired National Day barbecue in Tampines on Aug 30, Mr Ngoh planned six stations serving dishes such as chicken, fish, beef and desserts, incorporating local flavours including kaya, laksa and sambal.

On the day itself, work began as early as 9am, with about 10 to 12 volunteers helping with preparations.

Mr Ngoh’s passion for food led him to hospitality school SHATEC, where he graduated in 2015.

He began hosting dinner parties for friends and, over time, discovered that much of the joy he got from cooking came from sharing food with others.

“What I really enjoy is feeding people, and the experience and joy from feeding people is something that is so memorable and that you can't take away from,” he said.

After the COVID-19 pandemic, that desire to bring people together over food took on another purpose.

Mr Ngoh began thinking more deeply about social isolation and the need for people to connect in person.

“Ironically, we have more potential to connect digitally, but there's less reason for us to be present in person,” he said.

That led him to think about how to open up his dinner table to a wider community.

Mr Ngoh discovered that much of the joy he got from cooking came from sharing food with others. (Image: CNA)

Mr Ngoh had joined a social Telegram group chat and wanted to organise food activities with people he had never met. But private venues were expensive, so he asked the group for potential venue spaces.

One member, coincidentally named Soup, suggested a void deck, saying he had previously organised an 80-person potluck at his.

“That sparked the idea that void decks are also a potential space that I can use to host activities, we have events like weddings, funerals, birthday parties sometimes. So why not like other community activities too?”

About 50 people attended Mr Ngoh’s first gathering in May – a mix of friends, strangers and curious neighbours.

Some neighbours who had not seen each other for a long time crossed paths at the event and started chatting.

Afterwards, Mr Ngoh said his phone was “buzzing all the time for two weeks” with messages from people.

“I had no expectations that it would blow up to this level,” he said.

For the National Day barbecue, 100 people registered, with another 163 on the waiting list. (Image: CNA)

Since then, interest has continued to grow.

For the National Day barbecue, 100 people registered, with another 163 on the waiting list.

Those on the wait list were welcome to drop by, although Mr Ngoh could not guarantee there would be enough food for everyone.

He has also built a community of 48 volunteers, though not everyone helps at every event.

Mr Ngoh has funded the gatherings from his own pocket, spending about $2,800 of his savings so far.

“At the moment, I'm doing it through my own funds because I believe that if you want to start something, I think you should put in the effort to mean it,” he said.

“And if that takes a bit of money from my end, I'm more than happy to do so.”

Mr Ngoh sees the gatherings as a way of bringing back the kampung spirit.

“From childhood, what I really remember was the neighbours inviting me for like Malay weddings, or sometimes we pay respect to neighbours at Chinese funerals,” he said.

“I just wanted to make it feel that it's less lonely within the neighbourhood spaces you live in and perhaps this is one of my interpretations of what the kampung spirit can be.”

Some volunteers have even travelled across the island to help, including one who came from Bukit Panjang to Tampines.

Six flavours of ice cream were served at a Kampung Soup Kitchen event in Tampines. (Image: CNA)

LOOKING TO THE FUTURE

Mr Ngoh has already begun taking Kampung Soup Kitchen beyond Tampines.

On Sep 19, he teamed up with youth-led Chop Community at Chong Pang Zone 7 Residents’ Network for a pizza party in Yishun where they fed about 90 people.

“My hope is that I can do this at every single resident network … just because I'm not from that place doesn't mean I can't serve them.”

He also wants to inspire other Singaporeans to start community gatherings of their own.

A group of young people from Jurong West has already approached him about organising something similar. Mr Ngoh said he has shared steps they could follow to start an initiative in their own neighbourhood.

For him, food is a natural way to bring people together – whether they are celebrating a wedding or a promotion or grieving a breakup or loss of a loved one.

“Regardless of our differences, we can all come to a dinner table and come and have a good meal together,” he said. “I think that really brings back the human spirit of how we connect with one another.”

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吴显邦先生最初将他在淡滨尼的组屋底层改造成一个公共用餐空间，让邻居和陌生人聚在一起享用免费食物。

吴显邦先生创办了甘榜施粥厨房，每次都组织不同的免费社区餐食。（照片：吴显邦）

这段音频由人工智能工具生成。

新加坡：一个月前，摄影记者吴显邦还在为陌生人制作冰淇淋；下个月，他就为他们烤牛排了。

这位32岁的男子每月都会组织一次社区聚餐，将邻居、朋友和陌生人聚集在一起享用美食。他的第一次聚餐是在他位于淡滨尼的家楼下的组屋底层举行的。

吴先生于五月创办了甘榜施粥厨房，每次都组织不同的免费社区餐食。迄今为止，他已举办了六次聚餐活动。

不仅仅是烹饪

每次聚会的筹备工作通常提前一个月左右开始。

CNA游戏 猜词游戏 逐行破解单词 流行词游戏 用给定的字母组成单词 迷你数独 小小的谜题，却蕴藏着巨大的脑力挑战 迷你填字游戏 小方格，大挑战 单词搜索 尽可能多地找出单词 显示更多 显示更少 为了在8月30日于淡滨尼举办一场充满本地特色的国庆烧烤活动，吴先生策划了六个摊位，供应鸡肉、鱼肉、牛肉和甜点等菜肴，并融入了咖椰、叻沙和叁巴酱等本地风味。活动当天，大约10到12名志愿者从早上9点就开始帮忙准备。吴先生对美食的热情促使他进入酒店管理学院（SHATEC）学习，并于2015年毕业。他开始为朋友们举办晚宴，并逐渐发现，烹饪带给他的乐趣很大程度上来自于与他人分享美食。“我真正享受的是为人们提供食物，这种体验和快乐是如此难忘，无法被夺走，”他说。新冠疫情之后，人们通过美食相聚的愿望有了新的意义。吴先生开始更深入地思考社交隔离以及人们面对面交流的必要性。“讽刺的是，我们拥有更多通过网络联系的可能，但我们却更缺乏面对面交流的理由，”他说道。这促使他思考如何将自家餐桌向更广泛的群体开放。

为了在 8 月 30 日于淡滨尼举办一场充满当地特色的国庆烧烤活动，吴先生计划设立六个摊位，供应鸡肉、鱼肉、牛肉和甜点等菜肴，并融入咖椰、叻沙和叁巴等当地风味。

活动当天，早上9点就开始了准备工作，大约有10到12名志愿者帮忙。

吴先生对美食的热情促使他进入酒店管理学院（SHATEC）学习，并于 2015 年毕业。

他开始为朋友们举办晚宴，随着时间的推移，他发现烹饪带给他的快乐很大程度上来自于与他人分享食物。

“我真正喜欢的是给人们做饭，给人们做饭的体验和快乐是如此令人难忘，而且是无法夺走的，”他说。

新冠疫情之后，人们通过美食相聚的愿望有了新的意义。

吴先生开始更深入地思考社会隔离以及人们面对面交流的必要性。

“具有讽刺意味的是，我们通过数字方式联系的潜力更大，但我们亲自到场的理由却更少了，”他说。

这让他开始思考如何向更广泛的群体开放他的餐桌。

吴先生发现，烹饪带给他的乐趣很大一部分来自于与他人分享美食。（图片：CNA）

吴先生加入了一个Telegram社交群聊，想和一些素未谋面的人组织美食活动。但私人场地费用昂贵，于是他向群里询问是否有合适的场地。

其中一位名叫“汤”（Soup）的成员（巧合的是）建议在组屋底层举行聚餐，他说他之前曾在自己的组屋底层组织过一次 80 人的聚餐。

“这让我想到，组屋底层也是一个可以用来举办活动的潜在空间，我们有时会在这里举办婚礼、葬礼、生日派对之类的活动。那么，为什么不也举办其他社区活动呢？”

五月份，吴先生举办的第一次聚会约有 50 人参加，其中包括朋友、陌生人和好奇的邻居。

一些许久未见的邻居在活动中相遇，并开始攀谈起来。

事后，吴先生表示，他的手机在接下来的两周里“一直响个不停”，都是人们发来的信息。

他说：“我没想到事情会发展到这种程度。”

国庆烧烤活动共有100人报名，另有163人在候补名单上。（图片：中央社）

从那时起，人们的兴趣持续增长。

国庆烧烤活动，100人报名，另有163人在候补名单上。

欢迎等候名单上的人随时过来，但吴先生不能保证会有足够的食物招待所有人。

他还建立了一个由 48 名志愿者组成的团队，尽管并非每个人都会参与每一项活动。

吴先生自掏腰包资助了这些聚会，迄今为止已经花费了他大约 2800 美元的积蓄。

“目前，我正在用自己的资金进行这项事业，因为我相信，如果你想开始做某件事，就应该努力去做到底，”他说。

“如果这需要我花点钱，我非常乐意这样做。”

吴先生认为这些聚会是重拾甘榜精神的一种方式。

他说：“从小到大，我最记得的是邻居们邀请我去参加马来人的婚礼，或者有时我们会去华人葬礼上向邻居们表示敬意。”

“我只是想让人们在居住的社区空间里感到不那么孤独，这或许是我对甘榜精神的一种诠释。”

有些志愿者甚至跨越全岛前来帮忙，其中一位志愿者从武吉班让来到淡滨尼。

在淡滨尼甘榜施粥厨房举办的活动中，供应了六种口味的冰淇淋。（图片：CNA）

展望未来

吴先生已经开始将甘榜施粥厨房带到淡滨尼以外的地方。

9 月 19 日，他与由青年领导的 Chop Community 在义顺的 Chong Pang Zone 7 居民网络合作，举办了一场披萨派对，招待了约 90 人。

“我希望我能在每个居民网络中做到这一点……仅仅因为我不是来自那里，并不意味着我不能为他们服务。”

他还希望激励其他新加坡人发起自己的社区聚会。

裕廊西的一群年轻人已经联系他，希望组织类似的活动。吴先生表示，他已经分享了一些步骤，可以帮助他们在自己的社区发起类似的活动。

对他来说，食物是把人们聚集在一起的天然方式——无论是庆祝婚礼、升职，还是哀悼分手或失去亲人。

他说：“无论我们之间有何差异，我们都可以围坐在餐桌旁，一起享用美食。我认为这真正体现了人与人之间相互联系的本质。”

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