Proposals · Part III · The Culinary Seed Bank
The Technique Genome (and the locum test)
A cookable record of each endangered dish (video, sensor logs, tested recipe, provenance, oral history, sensory benchmark) held as an open commons.
Each entry combines a multi-angle slow-motion video library, sensor logs (wok temperature curves, timing sequences, fermentation pH), a standardised tested recipe protocol, ingredient provenance and substitutions, the master's oral history and a benchmark sensory profile. The repository is open-access for research and education; any commercial licensing is non-exclusive, agreed case by case with each master, who chooses what is recorded and what becomes public. An entry is complete only when it passes the locum test: a Relief-Hawker Corps cook working from the file alone serves the dish to the Taste Council's satisfaction.
Who pays
The library gives this mechanism no who-pays tag of its own.
| Year | Line | Amount | Section |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yr 0 | Pilot documentation – 3 hawkers a centre at Fellowship day-rates | $70,000 | the Budget Book, B.2 |
| Yr 1 | Documentation – 10 dishes written up well enough for a relief cook to cook from (the locum test) | $180,000 | the Budget Book, B.3 |
| Yr 1 | Digital repository – open-source build | $90,000 | the Budget Book, B.3 |
| Yr 1 | Field equipment – a capture kit at each Lighthouse | $60,000 | the Budget Book, B.3 |
| Yr 2 | Documentation programme – 16 dishes × $18,000 | $288,000 | the Budget Book, B.4 |
| Yr 3 | Documentation programme – 18 dishes × $18,000 | $324,000 | the Budget Book, B.5 |
Who gains
- Hawkers
- Masters choose what is recorded, who may learn from it, and what becomes public (§3.2).
- Families
- Families receive a private copy of the full documentation, the digital legacy package (§4.4).
Where the library discusses it
§3.2 · §2.7 · §4.1 · the Budget Book, B.2 · the Budget Book, B.3 · the Budget Book, B.4 · the Budget Book, B.5 · §7.8
Note: Repository operations in Yr 2–3 sit inside combined lines listed under taste-council. The Yr 2 and Yr 3 documentation lines include the field-equipment refresh.
Related proposals
Sources
- Singapore (prepared by NHB; approved by the Singapore National Commission for UNESCO). Periodic report on the implementation of the 2003 Convention, cycle 2020–2024 (signed 11 Dec 2024) (2024-12-11)
- Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment. Written reply to parliamentary question on hawker stall subletting and Hawker Succession Scheme (2025-09-22)
- Parliament of Singapore (ministry not named). Parliamentary reply on personal-operation and registered-assistant rules (2025-03)
- Teo, P., Guan, E. and Dashow, J.. Not for Sale: Singapore's Remaining Heritage Street Food Vendors (2013)