The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) and International Enterprise (IE) Singapore are banking on these dishes to draw international diners here as well as lead the foray into changing tastebuds abroad.

Both organisations refused to give figures, but the STB said it has spent about $200,000 to publish its Singapore food brochure, Makan Delights, in five languages.

Entering its second print run, the slim volume contains such information as satay history and details of popiah parties. It is available at tourism offices here.

It is just one part of the board's Let's Makan campaign to promote local fare.

The six-month campaign will culminate when local fare headlines the 11th annual Singapore Food Festival in July. The STB hopes tourists will direct more of their food expenditure, which is third after shopping and accommodation, towards it.

The business is vital enough for the year-old STB food and beverage division to dedicate four of its 10-man team to making the likes of rojak as synonymous with Singapore as tom yam is with Thailand.

Working with 29 STB offices around the world, popiah has reached people in Australia and India. The board plans to conduct one such promotion a month, including one in China.

Meanwhile, IE Singapore intends to rouse interest in local fare abroad during missions under its Tasty Singapore drive.

Four missions are planned for the Singapore food manufacturing sector, to Australia, the United States, China and Europe.

Another eight are scheduled for the food services sector, in the Asia Pacific region.

IE Singapore estimates overseas sales of local food products to range from $2 million to $17 million, and overseas sales of food services to be $53.2 million. Over the next three years, foreign investment in these sectors is projected to reach $8.5 million.

Mrs Tan Li Lin, deputy director of the IE Singapore lifestyle department, pointed out that supermarkets now need stock for 'ethnic aisles', and businesses should exploit the opportunity to put Singapore food products on these shelves.

Beyond these two organisations, individual efforts have fared well too.

Among cookbooks, Shiok!, launched last year, has had a 10,000 print run. It is also sold at Internet bookstore Amazon.com.

Its author, Mr Christopher Tan, 31, reckons the book has captured readers for 'putting a modern spin on local food, as opposed to those done in the 1960s' and its emphasis on the heritage of local fare.

One culinary instructor has even coaxed some to visit Singapore for cooking lessons. Ms Ruqxana Vasanwala, 43, has had at least 300 tourists in her kitchen in the 18 months she has catered to them.

Most contact her after visiting her website. They come from far and near: Japan, Australia, the Netherlands and the US. They typically fork out between $50 and $300 for a session in her Haig Road walk-up apartment.

It's not just a free meal they want, she added, but a chance to get inside a Singaporean home.

'They take pictures of the dhoby man who drops off my laundry, or even the rag-and-bone man. Tourists love it because it's part of an experience they would never otherwise get,' she said.

Another cook playing tour guide is culinary consultant Devagi Sanmugam, 50, who even ushers tourists around wet markets to shop for ingredients.

She charges $60 per person in a group of fewer than 20. The food is ultimately a gateway into Singapore culture, she said.

A session may also involve teaching students how to wear a sari or even, as was the case with a group of Australians, 'having a traditional Indian meal, sitting cross-legged on the floor, with a banana leaf in front of them, eating with their hands'.