HOE Juan Jok 何远煜
Economic Development of Singapore,
Accession Number 003727
- Oral History Centre
Source
- 5
Total Reels
- Lee Geok Boi
Interviewer
- 04:21:38
Total Running Time
- English
Language
Copyright Notice
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Reel/Disc 1 of 5
Metadata
- 12 Mar 2012
Recording Date
- 00:56:48
Running Time
- MP3
Format
- Open Access
Conditions Governing Access
Synopsis
Born 1947 in Singapore in Jalan Raja Kampung where the Toa Payoh bus terminal is now. Have seven siblings. Father born in Hainan in 1911, came to Singapore at age of 14, in 1924, an only child. Description of how father found job as a kitchen boy in Peranakan house. At 19 found job in a British army officers’ mess where Charlton Hotel in Bras Basah Road is now. Father learnt to cook nonya food as well as English food. He learnt to cook from his father and his elder brother who worked with his father. Went to an attap house Chinese school in his kampung for primary education. At 14 started work at Shell canteen as a kitchen helper. In 1964 enrolled for night class Chinese secondary school at St Joseph’s Institution in 1964 doing a science course. Description of night classes and his classmates who were all working during the day. Studied up to Secondary 4 or O levels but did not pass his final exams.
Description of Balestier Wet Market known to Chinese as “Iron Market” because of the metal fence around it. Hawkers outside the market selling cooked food. Moved out of Jalan Rajah Kampung in 1965 to flat in Farrer Park. Kampung taken for Toa Payoh New Town development. Description of electricity supply in kampung house, utilities supplies in Durham Estate. Got first television set in 1969.
No formal training as a cook. When started in American School, the teachers there taught him how to do American food. Description of how young men learnt to cook professionally before start of hotel training school. Another source of training were food suppliers who demonstrated the use of their food products. Description of his various part-time jobs including one at the canteen of Cable and Wireless office in Robinson Road. Cable and Wireless a 24-hour operation. Only he and elder brother in the food business now.
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Reel/Disc 2 of 5
Metadata
- 12 Mar 2012
Recording Date
- 00:58:29
Running Time
- MP3
Format
- Open Access
Conditions Governing Access
Synopsis
Mother came from Hainan, born 1919. Mother worked with father for a British family, then in a British mess for bachelors. Joined father to run American School canteen first in King’s Road, then Ulu Pandan, and subsequently Woodlands. Father, himself never cooked for the family. Prefer simple cooking for dinner because tasting good food every day, every hour.
Description of how to get food supplies for the canteen before 1970s and after. After 1973 could ring up food suppliers to get supplies delivered. Appearance of convenience foods frozen French fries, frozen vegetables. American School canteen kitchens after 1973 equipped with modern facilities like dishwashing machines. Canteen also prepared food for school functions like games. Food emphasis has changed. A nutritionist to advise the school healthy food. Emphasis on burgers with lean meat, less hot dogs, less sugar, less salt, more fibre food. School has three cafeterias for different age groups. High school students allowed to choose whatever they want to eat. Students in middle and junior schools get served healthier menus.
How Singapore chicken rice came about. Originated in Hainan Island when during Qing Ming the chicken and rice balls would be cooked to be brought to the graveside as offerings and then consumed by the family on the spot afterwards. Hainanese in Singapore did the same thing during Qing Ming. Kong Chan, a Hainanese, cooked and peddled boiled chicken and rice balls before the war. The man who started Swee Kee worked for this Kong Chan. Original Hainanese chicken rice pepped up with a dip of chilli, calamansi lime juice and chopped saw-tooth coriander. (He brought a sample to show me.) Mother used to serve chicken rice this way. In Hainan, a particular type of oil mixed with ground ginger as a dip. Father did not say when Swee Kee started his chicken rice shop.
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Reel/Disc 3 of 5
Metadata
- 12 Mar 2012
Recording Date
- 00:59:03
Running Time
- MP3
Format
- Open Access
Conditions Governing Access
Synopsis
How Hainanese ended up doing catering and in the food industries. Hainanese who came worked for British families, army camps, and learnt how to cook Western food. Clannish nature of the chefs’ profession. Named some famous cafes in the 1950s and what they specialised in. Blooming of coffee houses offering simple Western food like steak, chicken chop, fish and chips. Description of famous Troika Restaurant first called White Bear offering Russian food in the 1960s and 1970s. Top chef there was a Shanghainese and Hainanese cooks learnt from him. Western food uncommon for local population. Hawker centre in Prince Edward Road had a rare stall selling Western food in 1960s. Description of Clifford Pier hawkers and what they sold. Hawkers only in town not in the rural outlying areas in the 1950s and 1960s. How Bukit Timah 7th mile hawkers became famous in the 1970s because of NSmen.
Supplies of frozen meat such as turkey and jack hare always available. Weights were in pounds, not kilos. Not much difference in the wholesale prices then and now. Sources of food supplies have changed. More suppliers and more variety in fresh and frozen foods from more countries compared to 1970s and 1980s. Some established brands and products in the 1950s and 1960s no longer found here. The tastes of certain foods and ingredients have also changed. More imports of fresh ingredients like lobsters, oysters.
What Hainanese home cooking is like. Describes some traditional Hainanese home dishes and how they are prepared. How the Hainanese came to eat mutton soup. Use of pineapple, dried seafood traditional. Festivals same as other Chinese dialect groups.
People who patronised the Hainanese cafes and coffee houses. The divisions between Chinese-educated and English-educated local population. Why many Hainanese were English-educated. Named some high-ranking civil servants like Ngiam Tong Dow who were Hainanese. How Hainanese cooks came to specialise in Straits Chinese tok panjang.
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Reel/Disc 4 of 5
Metadata
- 15 Mar 2012
Recording Date
- 00:57:46
Running Time
- MP3
Format
- Open Access
Conditions Governing Access
Synopsis
How Hainanese came to specialise in Straits Chinese tok panjang. Hainanese working for Straits Chinese families would invite their relatives and fellow villagers to join them in the same line of work. Similar to the way today’s migrants from different countries tend to dominate certain areas of industry. Mooi Chin a well-known Hainanese restaurant that served Straits Chinese food in the 1960s. They did catering for tok panjang.
The master chef only willing to take in apprentices related to him, his village or his clan. The master chef had a system and basics like washing dishes and vegetables had to be mastered first. Finding a job was not easy in those days and great respect given to the master chef. Might take a couple of years before you graduated to cutting and preparing basic stuff.
How basic Hainanese chicken rice condiments come about. In Hainan chilli combined with garlic, ginger, calamansi juice and saw-tooth coriander. Usually chopped, not ground. Addition of oil from a special fruit (a kind of pomelo) to the ginger as the dip.
Eating out not common in the 1950s and 1960s especially in restaurants. Mainly for special occasions like birthdays, engagements. Eating out usually in coffee shops. No special Sunday meals for many Hainanese families. More usual to meet between 3 and 6pm on weekdays rather than weekends where the cooks and housemaids had to work.
How Hainanese food in Singapore differs from food in Hainan. Chicken rice in Singapore commercialised, not in Hainan; more tasty. Curry rice in Singapore associated with Hainanese.
Description of cooking equipment in the 1950s and later. Used scrapwood, firewood, kerosene for cooking when he was young. Some hawker foods no longer seen today. How food like nasi lemak, wanton mee was sold until 1970s, 1980s.
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Reel/Disc 5 of 5
Metadata
- 15 Mar 2012
Recording Date
- 00:29:32
Running Time
- MP3
Format
- Open Access
Conditions Governing Access
Synopsis
Before hawkers were put into hawker or food centres in 1970s, hawkers were itinerant. Few hawker centres around. Not common for Chinese to eat typical Malay or Indian food or for Indians or Malays to eat Chinese food. His mother, for example, did not eat Indian food.
Description of Hainanese cakes, large rice dumplings wrapped with coconut leaves made for the extra one month in the Chinese calendar. Every Hainanese festival meal must have chives fried with dried cuttlefish and mushrooms. Chinese New Year Chap Goh Meh would be an opportunity for the Straits Chinese to display their wealth with a parade of their cars, almost like a Chingay procession. In the 1930s to 1950s cars would be decorated and driven around town according to his father.
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