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SINGAPORE : Never mind wagyu beef, try a cut of bison. And who needs Thai rice, when you could have blue corn or wild rice.
More than 500 years after Christopher Columbus' discovery of the New World introduced Europe to the diet of Native Americans, Singaporeans could soon see such products on the shelves of Mustafa Centre, or at a local restaurant.
A group of Native Americans were in town last week, eager to get Singaporeans acquainted with such food, which is largely grown on family-run farms and ranches in American states like Oklahoma (bison), Minnesota (wild rice) and New Mexico (beans and blue corn).
At the Food and Hotel Asia 2008 (FHA 2008) convention, local importers such as retailer Mohamed Mustafa and Samsuddin and major food distributor Indoguna expressed interest in placing orders, citing the novelty factor and potential consumer interest.
"I've never come across blue corn in Singapore, and wild rice is said to be healthier than the kind we normally eat," said Mr K R Subbiah, category manager of Mohamed Mustafa and Samsuddin, who plans to start out ordering small batches of the rice and corn. He added: "We get 25,000 customers at Mustafa Centre a day, and there are bound to be at least three or four who will ask for it."
Mr Thomas Ng, Indoguna's meat and portion control manager, said the company first imported bison meat in 2000 and distributed it to top restaurants, such as Les Amis. A year later, supply was disrupted due the mad cow disease scare.
When he saw bison offered at the American Indian Foods booth at FHA 2008, he immediately thought to resume imports. Mr Ng plans to seek the Agri-food and Veterinary Authority's permission.
Although bison meat may cost about twice as much as beef, Mr Ng thinks the Singapore market is ready for it. "Bison meat is leaner," he said. "The price of wagyu beef is so high, but the average person is now taking it."
The appeal of American Indian food lies beyond dollars and cents — every product tells a long and sometimes mystical story.
For example, the Anasazi bean — in a patchwork of cream and maroon colours — is said to have been unearthed in a 1,500-year-old pot by an anthropologist in New Mexico in 1980. Some of them germinated, and the beans got re-cultivated.
One virtue of the beans, which can be used for meat and chilli stew, is that they don't cause as much flatulence as other beans, said retired college lecturer-turned-farmer Joseph Jaramillo, 64, who is an Isleta Pueblo Indian.
His New Mexico farm grows 2,500 pounds of beans a year and if demand increases, Mr Jaramillo hopes to rope in neighbouring landowners to help grow beans for export.
Response from many of the convention's 37,000 trade visitors was encouraging, said Mr Nathan Notah, programme director of American Indian Foods, a partnership between the US Department of Agriculture and the Intertribal Agriculture Council to promote Native American food businesses.
Local food blogger Leslie Tay said that Singaporeans are likely to try new foods at least once, but the products must not be "too foreign to stomach".
Realising this, Mr Jim McCool, sales and marketing director of Red Lake Nation Foods, said that he hopes to interest Asian chefs in concocting new recipes with the company's wild rice. "We're very confident that once people become familiar with it, sales will go well," he said.
More than 2,600 companies from 70 countries took part in FHA 2008. - TODAY/sh
*Aho is the universal Native American greeting.
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