ABOUT

​

這幅海報所記載的街頭小販小食，大部分都有超過半世紀的歷史，它們見證過太平的殖民地時代，貢獻過二戰後貧窮的社會。這些食物提醒了我們，有些可能沒有機會受到很多教育的人曾經以較低的成本創業自力更新，在一個簡陋的工場或自己的蝸居中製作特色小食，然後自行到街頭流動擺賣。同時間有些貧窮的人從這些便宜的食物中得到溫飽和滋味。很多我們今天稱頌的傳統小食，其實都是在這個情況下發明出來。

現在的香港是一個租金昂貴的城市，但大部分市民，尤其是年輕人，在經濟上都是勉強渡日的。而在這個困難的時勢，在街頭販賣小食是違法的。我們相信，決策及負責執行這個法例的人，小時候都一定因為貪吃、或因為貧窮，光顧過這些流動熟食小販。但當他們長大後，擁有了絕對的權力，就把這些貢獻過社會的人逐一趕盡殺絕，並斷絕了這個城市傳統的的生活習慣。

每個國家的街頭小食都必定是獨特的文化遺產，但不幸地，這幅海報所描繪的快樂的熱鬧的散落各區的景像，隨著新政府的統治，已經不再復見，祗能夠重現在我們的心𥚃面。

​

Most of the street food and hawkers illustrated in this poster have been around for more than half a century. The people and things witnessed the peace and prosperity of the colonial era and endured hardship in the immediate postwar years. These snacks remind us that not so long ago, those who didn’t have a chance to receive quality education could choose to make a living by setting up their own businesses at a relatively low cost. Hawkers would prepare their specialties in makeshift workshops or in their tiny flats and sell their homemade food from pushcarts. The down and out sought warmth and sustenance from these cheap foodstuffs. Traditional snacks much venerated nowadays came into being in these unseemly circumstances. 

Hong Kong today is a place of astronomical rent prices. Most of the city dwellers, especially the youth, could barely make it financially. In these brutal times, selling food items in the streets is illegal. We believe legislators and law enforcers of this act must have once bought food from hawkers when they were children, either out of poverty or hunger. But when they grew up and came to hold absolute power, they decided to banish these individuals who have contributed to their communities for decades. Generational habits and ties are severed. 

In every country and city, street food is a unique cultural heritage. Sadly, with the stringent measures of the current government, the sights and sounds of such bustling joy once found in many street corners are extinguished, except in our memories. 

​

......................

MIKI HO

世界太大，想法太多，仍努力摸索中的九十後學生。活於又愛又恨的擠擁城市裡，告訴自己不要做童年時討厭的那種大人。

A lamb with a messy mind living in a messy world, on the run, searching for meanings.

​

......................

​

English translation by Carolyn Lau.

​