A tireless steward of Malay culture, Hajah Asfiah worked all her life to preserve and pass on Malay crafts. When she was just 10, she began teaching embroidery and flower arrangement in school. Later in life, she was a mak andam (wedding attendant) for more than 20 years and worked with more than 1,000 brides. At age 65, she got her cookbook Hidangan Warisan Kita (Our Heritage Dishes; 1986) published by Times Books International; it was the publisher’s first cookbook, written in Malay by a Malay person. The book had recipes for dishes that have since become extinct. Sadly, she died a year later, but thanks to the book she wrote and the many courses she taught, her memory lives on.

Toffa Abdul Wahed is an associate librarian with the National Library, Singapore, and works with the Singapore and Southeast Asia Collection. She has written about cookbook author Siti Radhiah and belacan in BiblioAsia.

What Toffa Talked About

• 00:26 – About bunga kobis (flower of the cabbage), the dish Toffa made in Season Two of From Book to Cook
• 03:57 – Why bunga kobis is a special dish
• 04:30 – The complicated process of making the six-layer dish
• 05:39 – Why Toffa chose to make this dish for the video
• 06:39 – Toffa's special family connection to the dish
• 07:36 – How Toffa practised making the dish for the video
• 09:43 – When bunga kobis was a trendy dish at Malay weddings
• 10:16 – The secret to making bunga kobis
• 12:00 – Garnish and presentation for the dish
• 13:42 – Why Cikgu Asfiah is considered a guardian for Malay arts
• 15:35 – Cikgu Asfiah's background
• 18:07 – Why Cikgu Asfiah was invited to teach at age 10
• 18:40 – The significance of her first cookbook Hidangan Warisan Kita
• 20:01 – Why she decided to write a cookbook
• 23:00 – Why her cookbook had limited reach
• 24:08 – Her work as a mak andam (wedding attendant)
• 26:15 – How her children helped her
• 28:43 – What a mak andam does
• 33:21 – The resources Toffa used to research on Cikgu Asfiah
• 35:42 – Why food history is important
• 37:35 – Food is…

Transcript and Resources

• Read the transcript: https://biblioasia.nlb.gov.sg/podcast/hajah-asfiah-guardian-traditional-malay-culture/transcript
• Watch Toffa make bunga kobis: https://biblioasia.nlb.gov.sg/videos/bunga-kobis/

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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 Toffa for coming on the show.

BiblioAsia+ is a podcast about Singapore history by the National Library of Singapore.