Sculpture: Another Giant Fruit, the Mega-Chili
If you go to the National Museum of Singapore, a very nice building, you have the option of exiting into Fort Canning Park from the third floor. When you do that, this is what you’ll see:
It was a bright day when I took this picture, so please forgive the exposure. Here’s the side view:
The odd thing about this is that it’s a habanero chili, not the long skinny one everyone uses in Southeast Asia. Habaneros are famously among the hottest of chili cultivars. Is it an appreciation of heat rather than local cuisine?
And how many more giant fruit sculptures are there in Singapore? I haven’t run across any besides this and the nutmeg outside of Ion. I don’t think you could have a durian; the inside is sort of shapeless and blobby, while the outside is very spiky, and would present a public stabbing hazard. Ditto jackfruit. Ditto rambutan. Maybe a papaya? I’d like to see a mangosteen, actually; not only are they delicious and indigenous, but they’re round with nicely shaped sepals.