Actually Eating Frog Leg Porridge

Hey everyone! Ee Kin and I went to Sin Ma Claypot Live Bull Frog Porridge in the Beauty World area. We sadly couldn’t talk to the owners of the shop to learn about where they source their frogs from, but we managed to speak to a few other patrons of the shop.

The shop from outside

 

Although it looks quite empty, there were 5 other parties dining in, and they had many deliveries.

Q: How often do you eat frog?

Answer: “I love frog leg porridge, but I rarely eat it because it’s expensive.” (Although it’s pricey, the interviewee said he was eating it today since he just got back from Japan, and was craving frog leg since they don’t sell it overseas).

I also did not realise until I checked the menus of other frog leg porridge shops myself, but frog legs are quite expensive. Was it due to the perception of frog legs as a delicacy, like it is in France? In Singapore, I don’t think this is so. Frog leg porridge is sold at hawker centres, and in Chinese cuisine it is a relatively common dish rather than a luxury one. Instead, it could be due to the unexpectedly high cost needed to feed farmed frogs. A large proportion of the operation costs of frog farms comes from feeding, due to the fact that a lot of the feed does not get eaten by the frogs! Frogs only eat moving prey, so a lot of pellets or dead insects are simply ignored by the frogs.

This led me to think about how much food remains in the water, and how this could lead to eutrophication. In fact, this paper does bring up how effluent from frog farms must be treated before being discharged, as it is high in nutrients. It is inevitable in all forms of farming that bad practices can lead to unsustainable consequences, but given the lack of research done about frog farming, it seems even more likely that frog farming can go unregulated and cause environmental problems.

Q: Are frog legs popular in Singapore?

Answer: “Honestly, I don’t think so. You rarely hear someone say ‘hey, let’s go eat frog’. A lot of my other friends find it quite gross.”

I also believe eating frog legs is not exactly normalised in Singapore. From a quick Google Maps search, I could only find about 50 places which sold frog dishes. The market for it in Singapore seems to be quite small, so I am inclined to believe that our local Jurong Frog Farm is able to supply a substantial proportion of outlets.

Q: Does it matter where your frog came from?

Answer: “Not really. I trust the SFA’s (Singapore Food Agency) certifications, so long as it’s a legal establishment I don’t really think about it.”

I definitely do not expect everybody to deeply mull over every ingredient they eat, especially as excessively worrying about making an “objectively best” decision can lead to stress and anxiety. However, the answer I received is a sign of the general indifference towards being environmentally conscious of our food. Since our food consumption plays such a large part in the global carbon footprint, it would be great if more people could learn more about where their food comes from and how they have a role towards reducing emissions.

6 thoughts on “Actually Eating Frog Leg Porridge

  1. Hi Anna,

    Thanks for the jio! I think it’s interesting that the interviewee (and his friends) chose to eat frog legs after a long stint in overseas. I guess it means that eating frog legs still holds a special place in his heart. I don’t think eating frog legs will die out anytime soon in Singapore.

    I’ll be looking into how food production in Singapore may look like post 2030 – and if more traditional methods such as this will have their place. The post should be able to be found here (https://blog.nus.edu.sg/30x30ourhungerforfoodsecurity/2020/10/30/beyond-30by30-a-glimpse-into-the-future-of-food-production-in-singapore) on Friday. It’s still in draft mode and I hope the link works haha. I’ll update if the link changes!

    Thanks!

    1. Hey Ee Kin!

      Thanks for coming along with me! Glad our trip could get mentioned in your post in the end haha

      Anna (:

  2. What a BRILLIANT post, Anna !

    Everything about this is great. I’m curious though whether your decision to go to this place in Beauty World area was just a convenience thing because, if I’d wanted to find out about frog leg consumption from patrons, I’d probably have gone to Eminent in Geylang. But maybe that’s too much of a trek for you.

    btw, I went there and ate frog porridge and though I gave it a good, honest try, couldn’t eat more than a couple of bites. The combo of porridge (I despise anything with that texture) and the bony frog (too troublesome) wasn’t my cup of, well, frog porridge.

    1. Hi Dr Coleman!

      Convenience was a factor honestly >< , but I still decided to go to this shop because a few of my friends mentioned it to me before! I have eaten frog legs in the past, but never at this joint.

      I'm glad you gave the porridge a try though! It definitely isn't for everyone; even for me, seeing the spine of the frog mixed into the porridge was a little unnerving (I thought it was only going to include legs, but it contained a lot of other parts! A good thing honestly, less wasted frog).

      – Anna

  3. Hey Anna,

    It’s cool that you actually went to a shop that sold frogs to find out more about its consumption! My mother tried feeding my family mini frog legs once and all I can say is that it tasted like odd chicken and wasn’t for me.

    I think you brought up a great point about indifference of our food consumption, as I definitely didn’t start questioning where the frog came from – in fact I rarely do that for most of my meals. I think there is a real difficulty in trying to ascertain the environmental impacts of our food. We can struggle to even decide what cuisine we want and what price we are willing to pay, imagine having to consider where the ingredients are sourced from too. There’s just too much decision-making and majority will just suffer from decision fatigue.

    In order to solve our indifference to food consumption, there will need to be easier ways to identify what is actually sustainably produced. Much like how the “Healthier Choice Symbol” has been implemented to help people make easier decisions regarding healthier food choice, I believe a universal “Environmentally Friendly Symbol” will have great benefits! What do you think?

    1. Hey Jia Wei!

      HAHA yes frog is a bit strange, it reminds me of chicken… and fish? Simultaneously? Anyways.

      We make so many decisions in a day, there’s just so much inertia to start weighing even MORE factors. I definitely think we shouldn’t need to feel bad for forgetting to consider things sometimes.

      Wow, the idea of having symbols is great!!! I didn’t even think of it as I wrote this post. It would surely make decision making easier. There’s one for identifying locally-produced food and I think the idea can be expanded to inform us of other factors, such as carbon or water footprint!

      Anna (:

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