59: In memory of a Nonya mother and a fading generation of professional housewives | Sharon Wee, author of Growing Up in a Nonya Kitchen

Sharon Wee: “I always thought my mom deserves a book of her own, and I thought, why not a full-fledged cookbook… Peranakans are very guarded about their cooking secrets and recipes. I was going up against older sisters and relatives who weren’t sure if I should be doing this, sharing this publicly. You can ask a lot of families – they would feel that way. You can ask them, ‘How do you make that achar’, and they’ll say, ‘Cannot tell you – it’s a family secret!’ But I took a leap of faith – I actually wrote them down because I felt like if I didn’t do that, over time, we would forget how the achar was crunchy in the first place, or the different things that they did.”

 

Sharon Wee, author of ‘Growing Up in a Nonya Kitchen’ shares about her journey of learning to cook and connecting with her heritage, plus: *The way that vegetables were viewed in the past* *Motivations behind writing her cookbook* *Challenges encountered while writing her cookbook* *Saffron and evaporated milk in nasi briyani* *Reconciling health concerns with the Peranakan diet* *The fading generation of professional housewives and its impact on Singaporean food culture* *Her mantra of ‘practice makes perfect’* *The argument for cooking at home* *Keeping traditions alive in her new home* *How can heritage cuisine be preserved*

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