For most Singaporeans, cai png is a go-to meal whenever you’re feeling “sui bian” (but not when your girlfriend is feeling “sui bian“, SMH), and not without good reason.
Cai png, or economy rice, as its name suggests, is economical—you can pick whatever ingredients you want, based on your budget that day, or whatever you’re craving.
However, it appears that even cai png can’t salvage the holes in our wallets now. A cai png stall in NEX recently found itself in Singaporeans’ crosshairs after it was revealed that broccoli was priced as a meat item at the stall.
Cai Png Stall Prices Broccoli as Meat As “It is More Expensive” Than Other Vegetables
According to 8world, a cai png stall in NEX was revealed to be charging broccoli as a meat item.
For those unfamiliar with cai png pricing, first, we’d like to say that you aren’t a true blue Singaporean. After all, there’s a whole song made about it by local artists Benjamin Kheng and Annette Lee.
Anyway, back to our main point: For the sua ku ones out there, meat is usually priced higher than vegetable items at cai png stalls because meat is simply more expensive than vegetables.
So, when a cai png stall charges the price of a meat item for a vegetable item, of course, Singaporeans won’t be very pleased with that.
However, according to 8world, the NEX cai png stall appears to have a valid reason for this. Their rationale is that broccoli is more expensive than other vegetables—this cost carries over to the prices charged to diners.
And they’re right—broccoli is more expensive than other vegetables (please don’t cancel Goody Feed for this).
According to CEIC Data, as of July 2023, broccoli costs $5.84/kg in Singapore. In contrast, other vegetables, such as cabbage, cost merely $2.93/kg.
It’s defensible that the cai png stall charges more for broccoli than other vegetables since broccoli is more expensive. But the question is: is it okay for broccoli to be priced as a meat item?
Several diners interviewed by 8world criticised the NEX cai png stall for charging broccoli as a meat item.
Most believed that it was unreasonable because broccoli is, after all, still a vegetable.
Even a staff member at another cai png stall agreed that it was unreasonable to price broccoli as a meat item. She shared that their stall charges $1.20 for vegetables and $3 for meat items; if there’s minced meat in the vegetable dishes, the stall takes a price in the middle, $2.
Perhaps cai png stalls should learn from mala stalls and start charging diners by the weight of their chosen ingredients instead.
So, what’s your take? Should broccoli be priced as a meat item?
Other Vegetable-Based Dishes Also Priced As Meat Items
However, that’s not the end of Singaporeans’ woes with the NEX cai png stall. Pricing broccoli as a meat item is far from the NEX cai png stall’s only “crime”.
According to 8world, the stall also prices bean curd knots, a vegetable-based dish, as a meat item.
And to all the stinky tofu lovers out there—the NEX cai png stall also prices that as a meat item, given that minced meat is included in the stinky tofu dish.
Maybe in terms of cai png pricing, the east side isn’t the best side.
Regardless, staff at the cai png stall interviewed by 8world shared that they don’t really have a choice. The stall’s cash register only has that many buttons—staff will key in however much your chosen dishes cost, even if the labelled dish on the register isn’t your chosen dish.
For instance, if you order stinky tofu with minced meat, it’s priced at $3, which is also the standard price of braised pork at the stall.
As such, staff can only key in your stinky tofu order as a braised pork order on the cash register, essentially making the stinky tofu a meat item, although it isn’t precisely meat-based.
So, cut the cai png stall staff some slack. They’re just working there and not responsible for setting prices anyway.
We all know that Singapore is an expensive place to live in, but it does say something if even our economy rice is moving further away from being economical.
Diners interviewed by 8world shared that their cai png orders can cost up to $10 these days. Others shared that their fish orders at a cai png stall cost up to $4.
And this is far from the first time we’ve heard Singaporeans complaining about cai png prices.
Last December, we saw a cai png stall pricing a relative of broccoli, cauliflower, as a meat item. Of course, he was slammed by the customer online.
Another AMK cai png stall was slammed last June for charging a customer $11 for his cai png order, which included rice, fried mackerel fish, and a yong tau foo ingredient.
At the same time, we’ve also seen some other stores selling their cai png at unexpectedly affordable prices. For instance, if you stay in Hougang or Serangoon, you could find 3-dish cai pngs for a mere $2.
Shiok.
In any case, it’s no secret that food costs are rising alongside the prices of everything else—it’s only normal that your cai png prices are rising.
But, of course, if you can get yourself a fuller meal from other stalls with the amount you’re paying for your cai png, you might want to reconsider how economical your cai png really is.
