Coffee, tea or me? : the café culture in Singapore

Abstract

In recent years, cafés have been sprouting up across the local food scene in Singapore. This research focuses on how café-goers visit cafés in Singapore to (re)construct their social identities. Drawing on participant observations, surveys and in-depth interviews as well as Bourdieu’s notion of taste and cultural capital, I posit that café-goers in Singapore take part in identity work when they visit cafés. This paper shows the ways in which people prove their membership in a particular social group (café community) to themselves and to the rest of society, one of which is through uploading of food photographs taken at cafés on social media sites. By examining the value of and meanings attached to visiting cafés, this paper will attempt to explain the café culture in Singapore.