The simple thesis is that however hygienic and well controlled food production might be, wherever the venue is located, there is significant additional risk created in laying out food where it is exposed to a largely uncontrolled environment, where it can be handled, coughed over and touched by the public. The venue, the meal and the geographic location are immaterial. It's the buffet-style presentation of food that is in question.

I no longer have appetite for that type of risk. Others might recognise it but accept it, and some simply ignore it. Fair enough.

But to discount it on the basis that food production in Singapore and Jakarta () is tightly controlled, that kitchens in those places are as antiseptically clean as operating theatres, seems to miss the point. Which is, again: buffet presentation creates multiple pathways to adulterate food between its exit from the kitchen and delivery to your mouth.





So my response is specific to buffet dining. Not to location. I am not bashing Singapore, or for that matter, Jakarta. Nor am I singling out Malaysia or Thailand for criticism: it just happens i was caught out in the former and find my self today in buffet-land in the latter. I have little interest in Singapore, but spend a lot of time between Jakarta and Bandung, and probably eat unwisely in both places .... even though I do keep away from buffets