It did not dampen our spirit by abit. All participants were divided into 6 teams. A series of get-to-know sessions was then held. This was when we got to know people in the team. After some brain racking moments, we finally came up with the name “PrataMania” for our team, a fusion of local and Italian favour. “Roti Prata” was declared - almost unanimously as the favourite food among us. To enhance the uniqueness of the name, “PrataMania” was suggested and all of us agreed upon it instantaneously. Coincidentally, the word “Mania” which originated from Greece
means “madness”. Thus our team name “PrataMania” will mean “Prata Madness”. This is definitely meaningful to our group of prata lovers!
Following, a number guessing game which originates from Taiwan was played. It was aimed at fostering greater team spirit through inter-group competition. Each group had to send one representative to participate in the game. The participants were required to give a number from 1 to 99 in sequential order. If the number given was the actual number given by the game administrators, the team would lose the game. The range of numbers got narrower and narrower as the game progressed. Inevitably, one participant finally called out the “lucky” number. Initially, only the participant had to eat up the wasabi bread prepared as forefeet. However, at the last stage it involved the entire team. Two thumps up for that team!
After a short briefing session on Food Junction 2006, the event of the day finally began! Food Junction 2006 encourages creativity within the teams. Besides that, it aims at fostering greater team spirit among members of the team. The key to conquering the game was, Speed. It was basically a test of both the teams’ stamina and quick-wittedness. The game originates from a very popular TV variety show in
Taiwan known as “Shi Zi Lu Kou”. Participants would be roaming around the streets to find the dishes they need to proceed on with the game. During the game, participants would be required to complete certain tasks in order to obtain clues from the game administrators to continue with the game. At this food junction, instead of using Mandarin words to form the food chain – likened that on the show, English as well as dialects was used.For the record, our team completed the competition with 15 dishes. It took us about two hours’ time. We had roamed through a big portion of Chinatown
in search of the appropriate dishes. It was indeed a test of our stamina for all of us. Our teams’ goal wasn’t to win the competition initially, we simply did not wanted to be the last team. We wanted to avoid the dreadful forefeet prepared for the losing team. However, as the game progressed, we realised that we were one of the fastest teams. This had spurred us on to focus on winning the competition. In the end we did manage to win the competition - we came in second. Despite that we were contented and happy with it.
The first dish of the game was a hot favourite among most Singaporeans – Durian. To save time, our team decided on “Durian Ice-kacang” as our first dish, with a hawker centre in sight.
We met another competing team at the dessert stall. Perhaps like minds really do thinks alike. Following a quick snapshot of the dish by our photographer – Wang Li, our team began to gobble up the dish. In a blink of the eyes, “Durian Ice-kacang” was gone. Guava Juice was next on the list. One of our group members Jian Ting managed to finish the drink on own accord in a minute’s time. Again, snapshots were taken before and after the drink were finished.
For the next dish, we had egg tart in mind. However, we realised that it was not available at the hawker centre. So we decided to leave the centre and began the search for egg tart nearby. A cafe was spotted and egg toast was on its menu. Since egg toast starts with an “e” and ends with a”t”, which was what we needed, we decided to have egg toast instead.
The friendly lady boss agreed to help us the dish within the shortest possible time. Our photographer Wang Li began to video the process of preparing the toast as well as the friendly lady boss. As soon as the toast was ready, the team began to gorge it up. We left the café right after photos were taken. The fourth dish was a brand of sweets “Tic-tac” that was bought in a Guardian outlet opposite the café.
The fifth dish was Century Egg century as specified by the game administrators at the beginning. This marks the end of the first phrase of the competition.
We were then required to play a game with the game administrators that involve using the hands. Upon winning the game, the clue was finally revealed – it was “Haem Ji Beng”. This was to be the last dish for the second phrase.
We went to the hawker centre in sight to purchase egg tart, our sixth dish.
For the seventh dish, quite some time was spent in searching for it – tuna puff. Finally, we found it at the allocated hawker centre that has our last dish!
Then the search for our eighth dish fruit punch began. It was available in one of the drinks stall in the centre.
Following, we had “Haem Ji Beng”, the last dish of phrase 2. By the time we were done with the dish, the game administrators were nowhere in sight. We seized the opportunity to relax and bought caned drinks to quench their thirst.
Only after five minutes later did the game administrators arrive. Again, we had to accomplish a task to get the clue for Phrase three. This time, all team members were given a stick. The task is to pass the eight polo sweets given from one person to another and at the same time eat up one of the sweets. In the whole process, no one could use their hands.
After completing the task, we got to know the last dish of Phrase three – tang yuan (glutinous ball).
The dishes for the Phrase three were green tea, apple tea and tang yuan, in sequential order. Green tea and apple tea were both bought at the 7-eleven stall nearby.
Tang yuan was bought from a roadside stall along the street. The name of the stall was “Ah Bai” so the exact name of the dish was “Ah Bai Tang Yuan”.
After that, we had to complete another task to get the much needed clue. It was then that we realised that we were the leading team. The task involves the passing of a ping pong ball among the members using plastic spoons. The person that has the ball on the spoon had to walk a short distance before passing it on to the next person. Finally, we got the clue for Phrase four, the last phrase of the competition. It was herbal tea.
For the last phrase, we had nugget, teh followed by herbal tea. Substantial amount of time was spent in search for nuggets to no avail. It could not be found along the roadside stall. Perhaps this was the reason why we had lost to the first team. To avoid further wastage of time, MacDonald’s nuggets were bought despite our budget constraint.
Teh and herbal were then bought along the same stretch of shops. Upon finishing the herbal tea, all in team began to run towards the ending point.
After a very close fight between the first two leading team, the other team managed to clinched to first position. We came in second.
When all the other participating teams had arrived, the last round of testing was conducted. Each group had to send a representative to recite all the dishes that had been eaten. I was the appointed one.
Thankful, we passed the test and were spared of the ordeal. The slowest team had to drink an utterly awful combination that consists of soy sauce, curry sauce, a can of soft drink and more. Each member of that team then took a sip of the “unique” drink. Four thumbs up for that!
Lastly it was prize presentation time. The winning team or rather the fastest team won the tickets to the FINALS of Singapore Idol. However, they were not able to make it due to other commitments. Hence, the SI tickets were given to our group! We won the tickets to FINALS of SI. Hurray!
Prizes were also given to the most creative and the team that had spent the least. Following a brief photo taking session and cheers, it marks the end of Food Junction 2006.
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