The traditional ice shaver used by mobile hawkers used to be the planing type made of wood and an embedded blade. I remember when I was a kid, the grab handle for the ice was a wooden ice pick with rows of nails to dig into the ice.
The hawket than slide the ice back and forth on the shaver as seen here.
Nowadays, almost all cendol and ABC sellers use a motorised electric shaver which is modified from the hand cranked circular version.
People used to the soft and finely shaven ice from machines nay not like the course and unevenly textured shaved ice from the manual hand powered process. I like it though. It has more character.
The chief cendol barista at Cendol Ibtahim Banting was still using the old fashoned method, from some 50 years ago, when the stall started, but curiously there is no nail embedded ice pick. He held the block of ice with his bare hand when I was there.
Don’t be shy about going close. This is a famous hawker and he is used to cameras in his face. He is also chatty and friendly.
Panasonc Lumix GM-1, ISO 200, f10, 1/200 sec.
#banting #cendol #dessert #shavedice #dronk #ice #localfood #foodphotography #documentaryphotography #smalltown
