Food as love

Music, Food and Love by Guo Ye is out at bookshops now and it chronicles his relationships with his parents through food. Food plays a major part in my own life as well.

My Peranakan culture advocates food as an opportunity for potential wives to shine and which I've so successfully failed to. I grew up on Peranakan food and am proud to tell people that I may be a Chinese but can eat spicy food rather well. My mum and grandma used to feed me with their delicacies and to this day, I recall them with fond nostalgia. My former maid also used to cook some of her specialities for me.

I remember my grandma, now that she has passed away, in association with the food she used to cook for my family. She made Kaya and always asked me to be her taster. It was the brown type with gula melaka added into it. It took me a long time to be able to eat Kaya after she had passed away, as it was initially too painful.

She also used to make Jelly with Fruit Cocktail in those glass jelly cups with circular stands. The brand of jelly is still sold in supermarkets. I think it's called Lady Rose? It is packaged in small rectangular white boxes. I still can't bring myself to make or eat this brand of jelly till now.

I remember helping to make Pineapple Tarts with her and my mum. I would eat the unbaked dough which smelt so fragrant due to the butter used in it. I helped to roll it, make the bases of the tarts with it, put the pineapple jam on the bases and put the little patterns on top of the jam. We used to put the letter 'Y' since it is our family surname. When they came out freshly-baked from the oven, I used to clamour to taste them immediately but would be told to let them cool down first.

My mum learnt how to cook Peranakan dishes from her. I remember fondly Tumis Telor, which is 'tang hoon' with hard-boiled eggs in sambal gravy, Satay Babi, which is pork slices in satay gravy and Chup Chai, which is mixed vegetables consisting of lily flowers, cabbage, 'tang hoon', black fungus and mushrooms. Nowadays, only Chup Chai is cooked, together with Itek Sio, which is duck in tamarind gravy, at Chinese New Year. Due to my mum's excellent cooking, we always feel that the same dishes cooked by restaurants are not as good as those cooked by her.

She can even make dishes like Kueh Pie Tee, though she buys ready-made shells, Poh Pia and Penang Laksa. The fillings for the first two dishes are fantastic and the gravy, which is full of ikan selar chunks, for the Laksa is super-'pakat' or thick. Her sambal and assam mixtures are divinely hand-made with love.

My maid cooked Macaroni Salad, which is macaroni and fruit cocktail mixed with salad cream and then chilled, as well as Chicken Adobo, which is a Filipino dish of chicken in vinegar. I loved the salad but couldn't get used to the latter, because it was too sour for my liking.

My dad may not be able to cook but he does the buying of food, both raw and cooked, for the family. He replenishes the fruits and drinks for us too. Sometimes it can be mentally stressful for him to think of what to buy for each meal. We do tend to complain about what he buys and he does tend to buy the same dish or a dish that we don't really like to eat.

In essence, people may say that cooking just requires a recipe, ingredients and utensils, that there's nothing to it. However, it's really an art. The x-factor is that heart overflowing with love for the recipient of the food. That's probably why my mum and grandma cook such succulent dishes. They are loving me by cooking my favourite dishes.