Hawker culture in Singapore comprises hawker centers, hawkers, and hawker food. It is a living heritage shared by those who prepare hawker food and those who dine and mingle over hawker food in “community dining rooms” called hawker centers. It encompasses people from all walks of life, a wide range of affordable multicultural food, and common shared spaces. While similar food practices can be found in neighboring countries and internationally, they each have their respective historical contexts, cultural influences, and sociocultural functions.\nHawker centers in Singapore are naturally ventilated premises that are accessible and integral to the everyday lives of people in Singapore. Hawker stalls, selling food from different cultures, usually line both sides of the center, with an open communal dining space in the middle. At a typical hawker center, one can often experience sights and sounds, such as the sizzling of wok fire and rising steam from boiling pots, as hawkers whip up freshly cooked, made-to-order dishes at their hawker stalls. It is common to hear friendly exchanges between hawkers and patrons in the various languages spoken in Singapore, over a bustling atmosphere as families, colleagues and friends chat and bond over hawker meals.

In the 1960s, Late Komal Kothari ,a renowed folklorist and ethnomusicologist and his very close friend, Vijaydan Detha an eminent Rajasthani writer realized that the problem of language covered the whole way of life of people and soon set out on a goal which became larger than collecting tales and songs. They further expanded their archival and research work in the field of folklore encompassing folk songs, folk tales, folk beliefs, proverbs, folk ballads, folk epics of long plays, folk gods and goddesses, social practices, rituals, fairs and festivals, rural food, nomads and pastoral ways of life. Until 1990’s they travelled more than 29000 villages to collect the large repository of cultural heritage both intangible (oral) in the form of audio video and tangible object’s of daily life made from natural resources. During 30years of intense study by them on folklore (in ethno-geographic regions) they finally looked into the traditional ways of knowledge transmission where the practice is to “learn but not to teach” in a structured way. In the year 1995 Komal Kothari got the recognition of his work by the Government of India and has been awarded Padma-Shree in 1983 and Padma Bhusan in 2004.

Institute for Sustainable Development Strategy (ISDS) has been established in 2012. ISDS programs reach out to youth, especially those who live in remote rural areas, and empower young people to become biocultural diversity leaders to create positive change in their communities based on continuous intergenerational exchange.\n\nSince 2012, over 200 initiatives have been supported, of which more than 50% are covered by the revival and preservation of historical and cultural heritage. ISDS’ priority topics are the following: \n(1) Cultural identity, values, and traditional wisdom; \n(2) Well-being and sustainability of local communities; \n(3) Lands, territories, and access to natural resources; \n(4) Agrobiodiversity and food sovereignty.\n\nIn 2020-2021, ISDS participated in the “Visionary Local Communities” study jointly “Taalim Forum” Public Fund supported by the Japanese Center for ICH. The study was based on ICH safeguarding in the remote mountainous regions (Chon-Alai district of Osh province – southern part of Kyrgyzstan where ISDS focused on safeguarding patterned handweaving and establishing a community ethnographic museum). ISDS is an active member of regional and global indigenous movements for the conservation of cultural and natural heritage.

The Nagorik Uddyog (NU), a leading human rights NGO, has been working for the protection of rights, dignity, and heritage of the Dalit and other excluded communities of Bangladesh since 1995. NUs activities includes the protection and safeguarding of languages, folk music, drama and dances, heritage dress and food, traditional knowledge, beliefs and rituals, traditional means of livelihoods, folktales and literature, arts, and festivals.