White nuts?
I have been in Singapore for nine months. Why did it take so long for my folks to introduce me to kacang putih?
I am told kacang putih literally means “nut/bean/pea white”, but actually refers to green peas. In reality it includes a variety of peas, nuts, and beans.
The kacang putih mama bought me consisted of sugar-coated peanuts in a paper cone. Mmm-mmm-mmm… on three counts! Nuts! Sweet! Crunchy! And when I was done, there was a nice, blank piece of paper to draw on.
Papa told me that when my parents were younger, they would buy kacang putih from Indian men who rode around on bicycles or who stationed themselves outside cinemas.
The kacang putih men would make tall, skinny cones with recycled paper, e.g., magazines, Yellow Pages, discarded office documents. They would display their nuts in public (that doesn’t sound right) and customers would say which nuts they liked (that doesn’t sound right either).
I did get my kacang putih from an Indian man, but he had a small stall at a mall. And each cone cost $1, about ten times what my folks used to pay.
I don’t care. Mine was ten times yummier and probably ten times cleaner!
Toddler Isaac
