Phuket Culture: In Search of Baba-Yaya...

I love the local Phuket food.

But I never really thought about where it came from until the other day.

You see, I read an article by Dr Kosol Tang-Uthai.

He's President of the Thai Peranakan Association, also known as Baba-Nyonya.

The Baba-Nyonya feel so strongly about their cultural foods, they are busy collating recipes and historical information to send to UNESCO.

They hope to make Phuket City the fourth UNESCO City of Gastronomy in the world.

In case you're interested, the others are Popayan City in Colombia, Ostersund in Sweden and Chengdu in China.

So, it would be quite a coup if Phuket was added to the list.

But who are the Baba-Nyonya?

The Baba-Nyonya are descendants of Chinese, Malaysian and Indonesian men who came to Phuket in the 16th century.

Many worked in the tin mines.

Others were employed on the ships of the British India Company and British Burma Company, transporting tin from Phuket’s mines to Penang for smelting.

They weren't allowed to bring girls from home, so many married local Thai women.

Their mixed race children were called Peranakans, which in Malay means 'descendants'.

Men are known as Baba and Women as Nyonya.

But because Nyonya is unpronounceable in Thai, here they are called Yaya.

So in Phuket you have Baba-Yaya.

Have I confused you yet?

Apparently about 75% of Phuket's population are Baba-Yaya.

And quite rightly they are keen to preserve their culture and history.

If you've been to Phuket Town recently you may have seen the restored houses on Romanee, Krabi, and Thalang Roads.

These are traditional Baba-Yaya houses - often referred to as Sino-Portuguese.

Soi Romanee, in the picture above, used to be the 'red light district' in tin mining days - now it‘s full of trendy cafés and handicraft shops.

Article Author: Rebecca Smith

Rebecca Smith is a real estate journalist and author with over 15 years experience. She has published 3 books to date:

'The Definitive Guide to buying property in Phuket'

'10 simple ways to slash your marketing costs and sell more property'
…

Visit Rebecca Smith's author page — Rebecca Smith's Blog