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 == Food Courts == 

 Hey SilkTork! 

 Next time you do a clean-up, do not remove all non-US information. That would be really nice. I am reverting the food court article to the state before you started ""cleaning it up"". Please be nice to others and accept that some information is info on daily life, and cannot always be sourced. In Singapore, food courts are part of daily life, everybody eats there every day (or sth close, you get my meaning). It's similar in the rest of SE Asia.  	  

 I've put it back to how it was before your revert. Not that I totally disagree with you - just that we need to work through to an agreed situation, and you moved it way back to a situation which was acknowledged to be in need of work and had been tagged as such. Let us take it back stage by stage in a manner that is acceptable to all. So - what exactly is your main concern with the current situation? That it is US biased? Based on what content? Currently it is neutral. The examples given of food chains who use food courts are both US and UK. We could add an Asian one as well if you like. Which one would you suggest?   

 Hey again! 

 Sure, let's talk here - not a problem. I admit that the article required a clean-up, but you reduced it to three (!) sentences. I understand that in the US (and UK), food courts are found exclusively within a shopping mall and consist of fast food outlets, such as McDo, BurgerKing, etc. Please understand that in Singapore, the situation is somewhat different: food courts are still mostly found in shopping centers. Outside shopping centres they are mostly called Hawker centres, although that distinction is not so sharp, consider for instance Lau Pa Sat. The main difference would be the air-conditioning, or otherwise said, the food court/hawker centre being inside or outside. 

 As mentioned in the uncrippled article, food courts and hawker centres consist of various food stalls, none of which belong to a Western fast food outlet. Each offers different food, going through all the varieties of South-East Asian cuisine (Chinese, Indian, Malay, Peranakan, Indonesian, Thai, etc.). I don't know how it is in the US, but here in Singapore the food courts are always crowded at lunch/dinner time, and I personally know enough people (including myself) that hardly cook, since getting food in a food court is almost as cheap and more convenient (maybe the difference is not so big? ;) ). There are only a few companies that operate the food courts (hawker centres are different), but the stalls are operated by individual owners, and each food court is different. 

 Again, the main points of difference US-Asia, in my opinion, here: fast food outlets <-> large variety of food stalls; (don't know) <-> part of daily life, replacing cooking; shopping malls <-> everywhere. 

 Yeah, btw I am European, not from around here originally. 

    

 Hi, thanks for responding. Sorry for delay in my response - I've been away walking in North Wales. As there appears to be some desire for an article on Food courts I'm quite happy to continue working on it as a stand alone article. I have again tidied it up. There does need to be some research done to support the assertions made. I have removed repetitions and ""on the spot"" observations. I have left in, but tagged, the two basic claims. I have provided some references for the Lau Pa Sat - though there is no evidence that it is actually a stand alone food court. I only did a quick search, but what I found all pointed to Lau Pa Sat containing food vendors and restaurants and souvenir kiosks. So it is more likely to be a ""food centre"" or a market containing a large number of food courts. Take a look and see what you think. Regards   

 Hm - I have to say I have personally been at Lau Pa Sat, and believe it or not - it is a standalone food court. I remarked no souvenir kiosks in Lau Pa Sat itself, and there are no ""restaurants"", as in the European or American sense, only mini-restaurants. However, there is only little difference here between food stalls and mini-restaurants. The latter operate in a food court, the seating is not physically separated (or even largely different) from the general food court seating, but it is reserved for customers of this particular mini-restaurant only. They are sometimes also be a bit more ""sophisticated"" than food stalls, but as I said, I find the difference rather small. 
 As I will be leaving Singapore soon (professional re-orientation), I will try to see if I can find some good sources for more validated info about SG foodcourts until then.   0