Mem y cookie: La cocina colonial en Malasia y Singapur
This paper examines the emergence of a distinctive colonial cuisine in the British colonies of Malaysia and Singapore beginning in the late nineteenth century. This colonial cuisine evolved over time and was a combination of culinary practices derived from European and Asian foodways, much of which...
| Autor principal: | |
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| Formato: | Online |
| Idioma: | español |
| Editor: |
El Colegio de México
2015
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| Materias: | |
| Acceso en línea: | https://estudiosdeasiayafrica.colmex.mx/index.php/eaa/article/view/2042 |
| Revista: |
Estudios de Asia y África |
| authentication_code | dc |
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| _version_ | 1843723226193068032 |
| author | Leong-Salobir, Cecilia |
| author_facet | Leong-Salobir, Cecilia |
| author_sort | Leong-Salobir, Cecilia |
| category_str_mv |
"Bolivia", "hyperinflation", "economic crisis", "Bolivia", "hiperinflación", "crisis económica"
|
| collection | OJS |
| description | This paper examines the emergence of a distinctive colonial cuisine in the British colonies of Malaysia and Singapore beginning in the late nineteenth century. This colonial cuisine evolved over time and was a combination of culinary practices derived from European and Asian foodways, much of which came from colonial India. As in India, this acculturation developed through the reliance of colonizers on their domestic servants for food preparation. While domestic servants (as cooks, or known locally as “cookie”) were generally represented as dirty, dishonest and lacking in intelligence according to colonial narratives, they were responsible for the preparation of food for the family. Asian cooks in the colonial home played a much more crucial role than the negative image painted of them by British colonizers and other historians. While the mem (short for memsahib, meaning mistress) held the supervisory role of the household, it was the physical contribution of the domestic servants that enabled her to fulfill this function. The large number of servants employed enabled the mem to make the colonial home move seamlessly between the private domain of the home and the official venue for the empire’s tasks. The mem as the head of the household decided on the rituals and tasks that defined the colonial space as home, and as a bastion of white imperialism. In contrast, it was the cooks’ local knowledge that procured food. Most kitchens were fashioned according to the requirements of the servants and the cooks did all the cooking, usually preparing local dishes. The argument is that, had it not been for the servants’ input, the mems would have had to work harder. As it was, the work of the servants not only saved white labour, it helped shape colonial culture, despite the Britons’ best efforts to keep themselves socially distant. Colonial cuisine would not have developed with such distinctive features without the skills and local knowledge of the Asian cooks.
This paper employs a variety of primary sources to investigate the roles and representation of mem and local cooks. Cookbooks and household manuals of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries from both Britain and the colonies are used to investigate the representation of the memsahib-servant relationship. These publications not only typecast native servants as unworthy but attempted to teach colonizers how to avoid behaving in ways that could be seen as inappropriate. The pejorative image of servants in the colonial home and the dependence of Europeans on their services were characteristic of the contradictions of colonial life. Evidence from cookbooks and household guides indicate that colonial cuisine included the hybrid dishes of curry, mulligatawny, kedgeree, chicken chop, pish pash as well as the inimitable meal of tiffin. Colonial newspapers published in the colonies have also been used to analyze the social life of colonizers, particularly on formal dinners where local cooks prepared feasts at colonial clubs. Diaries and travelogues on reminiscences also became tools in articulating the identity of the good colonial wife and perpetuated racial prejudices against servants. Responses from questionnaires sent to Britons who resided in the colonies were also analyzed for this paper. |
| format | Online |
| id | oai:oai.estudiosdeasiayafrica.colmex.mx:article-2042 |
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| journal | Estudios de Asia y África |
| language | spa |
| publishDate | 2015 |
| publisher | El Colegio de México |
| record_format | ojs |
| Terms_governing_use_and_reproduction_note | Derechos de autor 2015 Estudios de Asia y África |
| data_source_entry/ISSN | Estudios de Asia y África; Vol. 50, No. 3 (158), September-December, 2015; 621 - 650 Estudios de Asia y África; Vol. 50, núm. 3 (158), septiembre-diciembre, 2015; 621 - 650 2448-654X 0185-0164 |
| spelling | oai:oai.estudiosdeasiayafrica.colmex.mx:article-20422025-09-01T18:19:12Z Mem and Cookie: The Colonial Kitchen in Malaysia and Singapore Mem y cookie: La cocina colonial en Malasia y Singapur Leong-Salobir, Cecilia cook colonial cuisine cookbooks Asia servants cocinero cocina colonial libros de cocina Asia sirvientes This paper examines the emergence of a distinctive colonial cuisine in the British colonies of Malaysia and Singapore beginning in the late nineteenth century. This colonial cuisine evolved over time and was a combination of culinary practices derived from European and Asian foodways, much of which came from colonial India. As in India, this acculturation developed through the reliance of colonizers on their domestic servants for food preparation. While domestic servants (as cooks, or known locally as “cookie”) were generally represented as dirty, dishonest and lacking in intelligence according to colonial narratives, they were responsible for the preparation of food for the family. Asian cooks in the colonial home played a much more crucial role than the negative image painted of them by British colonizers and other historians. While the mem (short for memsahib, meaning mistress) held the supervisory role of the household, it was the physical contribution of the domestic servants that enabled her to fulfill this function. The large number of servants employed enabled the mem to make the colonial home move seamlessly between the private domain of the home and the official venue for the empire’s tasks. The mem as the head of the household decided on the rituals and tasks that defined the colonial space as home, and as a bastion of white imperialism. In contrast, it was the cooks’ local knowledge that procured food. Most kitchens were fashioned according to the requirements of the servants and the cooks did all the cooking, usually preparing local dishes. The argument is that, had it not been for the servants’ input, the mems would have had to work harder. As it was, the work of the servants not only saved white labour, it helped shape colonial culture, despite the Britons’ best efforts to keep themselves socially distant. Colonial cuisine would not have developed with such distinctive features without the skills and local knowledge of the Asian cooks. This paper employs a variety of primary sources to investigate the roles and representation of mem and local cooks. Cookbooks and household manuals of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries from both Britain and the colonies are used to investigate the representation of the memsahib-servant relationship. These publications not only typecast native servants as unworthy but attempted to teach colonizers how to avoid behaving in ways that could be seen as inappropriate. The pejorative image of servants in the colonial home and the dependence of Europeans on their services were characteristic of the contradictions of colonial life. Evidence from cookbooks and household guides indicate that colonial cuisine included the hybrid dishes of curry, mulligatawny, kedgeree, chicken chop, pish pash as well as the inimitable meal of tiffin. Colonial newspapers published in the colonies have also been used to analyze the social life of colonizers, particularly on formal dinners where local cooks prepared feasts at colonial clubs. Diaries and travelogues on reminiscences also became tools in articulating the identity of the good colonial wife and perpetuated racial prejudices against servants. Responses from questionnaires sent to Britons who resided in the colonies were also analyzed for this paper. Este trabajo examina el surgimiento de una cocina colonial distintiva en las colonias británicas de Malasia y Singapur desde finales del siglo XIX. La cocina colonial evolucionó con el tiempo y fue una combinación de prácticas culinarias derivadas de costumbres alimentarias europeas y asiáticas, muchas de las cuales llegaron de la India colonial. Al igual que en India, esta aculturación se desarrolló debido a la dependencia de los colonizadores de sus sirvientes domésticos para la preparación de la comida. Aunque los sirvientes domésticos (como los cocineros, localmente conocidos como cookie) eran generalmente representados en las narrativas coloniales como sucios, deshonestos y faltos de inteligencia, fueron ellos los responsables de la preparación de los alimentos para la familia. El papel de los cocineros asiáticos en el hogar colonial fue más crucial de lo que deja ver la imagen negativa transmitida por los colonizadores británicos y otros historiadores. Aunque la mem (abreviación de memsahib, que significa señora de la casa) se reservó el rol de supervisar el manejo de la casa, fue la contribución física de los sirvientes domésticos lo que la posibilitó para cumplir esa función. El gran número de sirvientes empleados le permitió a la mem administrar sin problemas el hogar colonial como el dominio privado y, a la vez, como el lugar oficial para las tareas del imperio. La mem, como señora de la casa, decidió sobre los rituales y las tareas que definieron el espacio colonial como el hogar y como el bastión del imperialismo blanco. En contraste, fue el conocimiento local de los cocineros lo que procuró los alimentos. La mayoría de las cocinas estuvieron diseñadas de acuerdo con los requerimientos de los sirvientes, y los cocineros se encargaron de toda la preparación y cocinaron usualmente platillos locales. El argumento es que si no fuera por la contribución de los sirvientes, las mems habrían tenido que trabajar más arduamente. En efecto, el quehacer de los sirvientes no sólo eximió a los blancos del trabajo, sino que además ayudó a modelar la cultura colonial, a pesar de los esfuerzos de los británicos por mantenerse socialmente distintos. La cocina colonial no se habría desarrollado con dichas características distintivas sin las habilidades y el conocimiento local de los cocineros asiáticos. En este artículo se emplea una variedad de fuentes primarias para investigar las funciones y la representación de la mem y de los cocineros locales. Se utilizan libros de cocina y manuales domésticos de los siglos XIX y XX, tanto de Gran Bretaña como de las colonias, para investigar la representación de la relación memsahib-sirviente. Estas publicaciones no sólo catalogaron a los sirvientes nativos como indignos, sino que además intentaron enseñar a los colonizadores cómo no comportarse de maneras que podrían ser vistas como inapropiadas. La imagen peyorativa de los sirvientes en el hogar colonial y el grado en el que los europeos dependían de su servicio fueron características de las contradicciones de la vida colonial. La evidencia de los libros de cocina y de las guías domésticas indica que la cocina colonial incluía platillos híbridos de curry, mulligatawny, kedgeree, trozos de pollo, pish pash y el inimitable almuerzo de tiffin. Los periódicos coloniales publicados en las colonias también han sido utilizados para analizar la vida social de los colonizadores, especialmente en las cenas formales, donde los cocineros locales preparaban banquetes en clubes coloniales. Los diarios y los documentales sobre reminiscencias fueron herramientas para articular la identidad de la buena esposa colonial y perpetuaron prejuicios raciales contra los sirvientes. Finalmente, también fueron analizadas para este trabajo las respuestas a cuestionarios enviados a los británicos que residían en las colonias. El Colegio de México 2015-09-01 info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion application/pdf application/xml https://estudiosdeasiayafrica.colmex.mx/index.php/eaa/article/view/2042 10.24201/eaa.v50i3.2042 Estudios de Asia y África; Vol. 50, No. 3 (158), September-December, 2015; 621 - 650 Estudios de Asia y África; Vol. 50, núm. 3 (158), septiembre-diciembre, 2015; 621 - 650 2448-654X 0185-0164 spa https://estudiosdeasiayafrica.colmex.mx/index.php/eaa/article/view/2042/2042 https://estudiosdeasiayafrica.colmex.mx/index.php/eaa/article/view/2042/2276 Derechos de autor 2015 Estudios de Asia y África |
| spellingShingle | cook colonial cuisine cookbooks Asia servants cocinero cocina colonial libros de cocina Asia sirvientes Leong-Salobir, Cecilia Mem y cookie: La cocina colonial en Malasia y Singapur |
| title | Mem y cookie: La cocina colonial en Malasia y Singapur |
| title_alt | Mem and Cookie: The Colonial Kitchen in Malaysia and Singapore |
| title_full | Mem y cookie: La cocina colonial en Malasia y Singapur |
| title_fullStr | Mem y cookie: La cocina colonial en Malasia y Singapur |
| title_full_unstemmed | Mem y cookie: La cocina colonial en Malasia y Singapur |
| title_short | Mem y cookie: La cocina colonial en Malasia y Singapur |
| title_sort | mem y cookie la cocina colonial en malasia y singapur |
| topic | cook colonial cuisine cookbooks Asia servants cocinero cocina colonial libros de cocina Asia sirvientes |
| topic_facet | cook colonial cuisine cookbooks Asia servants cocinero cocina colonial libros de cocina Asia sirvientes |
| url | https://estudiosdeasiayafrica.colmex.mx/index.php/eaa/article/view/2042 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT leongsalobircecilia memandcookiethecolonialkitcheninmalaysiaandsingapore AT leongsalobircecilia memycookielacocinacolonialenmalasiaysingapur |