A Matter Of Taste

The dinners are held at "secret" locations in Singapore

Feedback from a reader claims there is still this clamoring for "foreign talent" over "Singaporean talent."

"One self-proclaimed world class higher education institution has go further to fire many existing local professors at 55 by not giving tenure to them. Many of these early retired professors are actually not bad but just not in the correct political circle. Instead, many under-performing PRC or Indian professors are given tenure to work till 65. Government talks so much of getting people to work till 65 and its related institution is doing the reverse. Many people are just silent about these injustice."

The university is not named. We do know Dr Denisa Kera, 36, is a professor of interactive media design at the National University of Singapore. We do not know why we need someone from the Czech Republic to teach interactive media design in Singapore. Maybe the internet speeds there are superior to what local ISPs can provide. Dr Kera can't have too busy a teaching curriculum, since she has sufficient time on her hands to run a 200 member Secret Cooks Club, which organises "dinners (based) on novel technology, philosophy and food science concepts." Such as serving sushi on a naked woman's body. Her partner in the dubious scientific undertaking is a 26 year old French entrepreneur she met at Hackerspace, an underground clubhouse for hackers, another wholesome pursuit for those so inclined. Neither has a drop of Japanese blood in their gastronomic veins.


irashaimase いらしゃいます

Nyotaimori (Japanese: 女体盛り, "female body presentation") is the practice of serving sashimi or sushi from the body of a woman, typically naked. Nantaimori (Japanese: 男体盛り) refers to the equivalent using a nude male bod. Nyotaimori was once practiced in the secret underworld of the Yakuza. Cleanliness is the most important factor in preparing for this event. All body hair must be removed and the person’s skin must be cleaned by soaking in a hot bath and then thoroughly scrubbed down with a akasuri (rough cloth). The woman’s body must be cooled by rinsing with chilled water to bring the body temperature down, before the sushi is positioned on strategic parts of the body. Sushi allowed to stand at wrong temperatures can be a killer dish, in the literal sense of the word. We are not sure Dr Kera adheres meticulously to the Japanese fetish for detail, since she is supposed to be hired by NUS for her scholarship in interactive media design, not exotic cuisine. Notice her serving tableau pictured above features Victoria's Secret lingerie - a departure from nihon-go authenticity
 
Too bad those many local professors who were retired early at 55 actually believed that, as academics, they were only supposed to publish or perish. No one told them about the new economics of sleaze in Singapore.