Kampong Gelam: Kitchen of the Malay World
You hear Malay, Javanese, Tamil and Punjabi as you wander the streets with shops selling colourful textiles and carpets, spices and flowers. Here you find different curries and bread, nasi padang, sup tulang, mee siam, a Javanese kitchen, Hainanese coffeeshops and more. Bookstores sell literature and newspapers as far away as Cairo. In this episode, Khir talks about the Kampong Gelam (present-day Bugis) that he grew up in.
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What Khir Talked About
02:32 – The origins of mee maidin, the dish that Khir cooked in From Book to Cook
07:18 – Kampong Gelam as the incubator for the Nusantara (Malay World)
kitchen
09:19 – Four main streets in Kampong Gelam selling food, including the
only place in Singapore that sells mee odong
14:35 – The origins of mee siam
17:46 – Three types of mee siam that came out of Kampong Gelam
18:36 – Khir’s childhood in Kampong Gelam
20:23 – Publishing houses in Kampong Gelam
22:51 – Why Khir spent 10 years writing the book The Food of Singapore Malays
27:12 – What Khir is working on now
28:38 – Khir’s dream job if he lived in Kampong Gelam in the 19th century
29:37 – The most maligned ingredient in Malay cooking
31:15 – The one recipe in his book Khir wants people to try
33:07 – Food is…
About the Guest
Khir Johari was born and raised in historic Kampong Gelam, Singapore. He studied mathematics at Santa Clara University in California, and completed a masters in education at Stanford University. Since returning to Singapore, Khir has focused on research into the food cultures of maritime Southeast Asia. He is the author of The Food of Singapore Malays: Gastronomic Travels through the Archipelago (Marshall Cavendish Editions, 2021).
Related Video
We are familiar with local Malay favourites such as mee rebus and mee siam. But mention mee maidin and you might get puzzled looks. Join author Khir Johari as he recreates this rare dish from Kampong Glam and takes a deep dive into its history and its star ingredient – krill. Watch Khir make mee maidin.
Resources
Khir Johari, The Food of Singapore Malays: Gastronomic Travels through the Archipelago (Marshall Cavendish Editions, 2021). (National Library call no. 394.120899928 KHI -[CUS])
Mazelan Anuar, "Early Malay Printing in Singapore," BiblioAsia 13, no. 3 (October–December 2017).
H. A.. Canton, John Lewis Rosedale and Joseph Padua Morris, The Chemical Analysis of Foods of Singapore (Singapore: Govt. Printer, 1940). (National Library call no. 664.07 CAN)
Hajjah Asfiah Haji Abdullah, Hidangan Warisan Kita (Singapore: Times Books International, 1986).
Toffa Abdul Wahed, "Belacan: Caviar or Vile?" BiblioAsia+ podcast, 38:21.
Credits
This episode of BiblioAsia+ was hosted by Jimmy Yap and produced by Soh Gek Han. Sound engineering was done by One Dash. The background music "Di Tanjong Katong" was composed by Osman Ahmad and performed by Chords Haven. Special thanks to Khir for coming on the show.
BiblioAsia+ is a podcast about Singapore history by the National Library of Singapore.