Nyonya food, as the name suggested, is the food of Baba-Nyonya. Known also as Peranakan or Straits Chinese, these groups of people are descendants of the very early Chinese immigrants to the Nanyang region. The origins of Baba and Nyonya could be traced all the way back to the Chinese Admiral explorer Cheng Ho who sailed across the Indian Ocean more than 400 years ago. Nanyang refers to the the Malay peninsula and the islands of Java.

Nyonya cuisine is the result of inter-marriages between Chinese immigrants and local Malays, which produced a unique culture. To assimilate to the local culture, these early days Chinese immigrants started to adopt Malay traditions--the men were called Babas and the women were called Nyonyas.

Making Nyonya food is no simple affair as this unique and highly flavorful cuisine requires abundant amount of time, patience, and skills. A true Nyonya would spend hours and hours pounding her rempah (spices) with Batu Giling to cook up authenthic Nyonya dishes such as Perut Ikan and Salted Fish Pineapple Curry (Gulai Kiam Hu Kut in Hokkien).

In recent years, there has been an increased interest and urgency to preserve the unique Nyonya culture and Nyonya cuisine. Hence, I intend to use this blog to educate the world about this slowly but surely disappearing cuisine. I would also like to dedicate this blog to my late grandmother who was a Nyonya, with whom I spent my childhood and early adulthood with until I left for college.

Enjoy your stay here at Nyonya Food.

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