About
I am Sharon Wee and I grew up in Singapore. I am also a fifth generation Peranakan Nonya. Right after graduating from the National University of Singapore, I worked in Hong Kong, Shanghai and then Beijing for Mars Confectionery. I survived despite not being great in Mandarin. I moved to New York in 1996 and eventually earned an MBA from New York University.
Living far from family and home, I began to miss the dishes I grew up with, particularly the Peranakan food that my mother prepared. I decided to compile her recipes into a family scrapbook in 2001. To sharpen my cooking skills before embarking on my cookbook project, I attended the French Culinary Institute in 2005. The rest as they say, is history…..the book was published in 2012 and was revitalised in 2023 with a beautiful updated edition including guest essays, more photos and detailed cooking instructions, suggested prep tables and menus.
These days, I travel, cook and dine out with friends and chronicle my adventures on Instagram @nonya.global.
I return regularly to Singapore to spend time with my extended family and old school friends; and call Singapore my homeland.
Come join me on my journey to explore, learn and enjoy food.
Book
Growing Up in a Nonya Kitchen: A Peranakan Family’s Food Memories of Singapore
This is a cookbook, and an intimate memoir, giving readers a sense of what it felt like to grow up in a Peranakan Chinese family ― descendants of local womenfolk and the earliest Chinese settlers to Southeast Asia.
As a fifth-generation Nonya (honorific for female Peranakans) from both sides of her family, Sharon Wee recollects her life in Singapore. She interviewed older relatives and recreated her mother’s personalised recipes, many orally passed down for generations.
Growing Up in a Nonya Kitchen was originally published in 2012. This updated edition includes revised recipes and cooking methods, with more detailed explanations and guidance for the young or unfamiliar cook to Peranakan food, spiced with a dose of humour. It also includes new contributions by subject experts on the heritage and beautiful cultural legacy of the Peranakans.
What Others Say
Statement regarding the withdrawal of
Makan by Elizabeth Haigh
My book Growing Up in a Nonya Kitchen, first published in 2012, is both a cookbook and a memoir in which I recreated my mother’s personalized recipes, interviewed older relatives, researched my Nonya heritage and recounted my family history.
I was therefore distressed to discover that certain recipes and other content from my book had been copied or paraphrased without my consent in Makan by Elizabeth Haigh, and I immediately brought this matter to the attention of the book’s publisher, Bloomsbury Absolute. I am grateful that Bloomsbury has responded to my concerns by withdrawing Makan from circulation.
Sharon Wee
October 2021
Recent Blog Posts
Le Taillevent
Taillevent is listed in the book “1,000 Places to See Before You Die”. Pour moi, the ultimate Ms. Check-Off, I had to dine there some day. Life is short. Taillevent means “cut the wind” and the nickname “Le Taillevent” referred to Guillaume Tirel. He was born in 1310...
Zanzibar
Enough of procrastinating. It is time to blog once again and the topic of “Curry” fits right in to beat the wintry cold in the northern hemisphere. I have been meaning to write about spices since my visit to Zanzibar back in July. “You really want to visit the...
In Search of Portugal, in Macau
I have yet to make it to Portugal. And when I do, I will probably say that there are so many things there that remind me of Macau. It will be just the same way I felt when I saw Paris for the first time and innocently quipped, in awe and astonishment, that those...
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Interviews
My Mini-Interview with Bryan Koh
Bryan Koh (@bryankoh__ ) is the author of the award-winning “Milkier Pigs & Violet Gold” (Philippine food stories) as well as “Bekwoh” (about Peninsula Malaysia’s East Coast), “Tamu” (Borneo) and a homage to his childhood in Singapore, “Among Ixoras”. He also...
My Mini-Interview with Christopher Tan
This is a kickoff of my Substack and blog short interviews and I am so honoured to feature Christopher Tan, author of the instant classic “The Way of Kueh”. He was so busy launching his fantastic book “Tales from the Yeast Indies” (a sequel to the bestseller...
Discussions with Melanie Oliveiro on CNA
Melanie Oliveiro of Channel News Asia kindly moderated at my book launch in March 2023. We first met when she interviewed me for her podcast, Page Turners. After the launch, she did a quick recap about the updates to my new edition on Daily Cuts, her new podcast...
Contact
Please do not hesitate to reach out to me if you have any queries. I entertain questions about my cookbook, Peranakan heritage, and future collaborations.