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The Chinese Vegetarian Foodscape of the 1950s–60s
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Set up by five Buddhist women in 1946, Loke Woh Yuen was the first Chinese vegetarian restaurant in Singapore. It employed an all-female staff, was known for its popular shark’s fin made from maize, and was sometimes so packed that it had to set up dining tents that stretched to the main road. Its efforts to spread vegetarianism were complemented by other Buddhist women and nuns who wrote cookbooks and fundraised for charity.
Kelvin Tan graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in history from the National University of Singapore. He was a research assistant for the project “Mapping Female Religious Heritage in Singapore: Chinese Temples as Sites of Regional Socio-cultural Linkage” funded by the National Heritage Board.
What Kelvin Talked About
01:48 – The founders of Chinese vegetarian restaurants in 1940s–50s
05:28 – The most popular dishes at the vegetarian restaurant Loke Woh Yuen
06:26 – How Fut Sai Kai Vegetarian Restaurant differs from Loke Woh Yuen
07:26 – Ko Tian-gu, the founder of Fut Sai Kai
08:37 – Cookbooks that helped to spread vegetarianism
10:57 – The famous vegetarian soon kueh recipe by Abbess Yang Qincai of the temple Hai Inn See
12:24 – Legacy of early Chinese vegetarian restaurants in philanthropy and Buddhist education
13:55 – Resources Kelvin used in his research.
16:40 – Why early Chinese vegetarian restaurants have Cantonese heritage
18:58 – The vegetarian dish that Kelvin wants to master next
Read the transcript: https://biblioasia.nlb.gov.sg/podcast/chinese-vegetarian-foodscape/transcript
Watch Kelvin make soon kueh: https://biblioasia.nlb.gov.sg/videos/soon-kueh/
Subscribe to BiblioAsia for more stories about Singapore: https://form.gov.sg/616799db4d9b61001398f79b
This episode of BiblioAsia+ was hosted by Jimmy Yap and produced by Soh Gek Han. Sound engineering was done by Gibson Analytics. The background music "Di Tanjong Katong" was composed by Osman Ahmad and performed by Chords Haven. Special thanks to Kelvin for coming on the show.
BiblioAsia+ is a podcast about Singapore history by the National Library of Singapore.
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