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PART THREE · Prong Two · Preservation & Pipeline

The Culinary Seed Bank

IIIPart three

What we have in mind is a knowledge institution – never a landlord, a licensor of stalls or an inspector – that documents endangered technique well enough to cook from, trains the next generation, and sets every graduate up in a stall, with a top-up to their income.

  1. 3.1Mandate & hard limits
  2. 3.2The Technique Genome
  3. 3.3Apprenticeship
  4. 3.4The Graduate Landing Package
  5. 3.5Success metrics we can't fake
  6. 3.6The Regulars' List and the Endangered Dish Registry
  7. 3.7Innovation Sandbox
  8. 3.8Governance, representation & sunset
Contents

§3.1Mandate & Hard Limits

  • PHILANTHROPY-FUNDED
  • NO REGULATORY POWERS

We would give the Seed Bank a fourfold mandate – document, preserve, train, innovate – and write its limits into its constitution: it does not manage centres, set or collect rents, issue hawker licences, inspect stalls, or operate surveillance of any kind. It is a knowledge institution structured as a non-profit company limited by guarantee, hawker-led and independently governed (§3.8). And it holds no exclusive rights over any hawker's knowledge (Part IV) – it cannot become a gatekeeper of the culture it serves even by accident. For Government, we hope it is that rare partner that asks for no powers: everything it does, it does by consent, cheque-book and craft.

This is a working paper for public discussion. Every number in it is an invitation to improve it. Corrections and better data are welcome.