About the Project

Jemput Masak! (Come and Cook!) (2015) was a celebration of heritage recipes and modern-day reinventions, through the act of bringing people together to cook, dine and laugh in a communal culinary experience. Held as part of CultureHackSG 1.0, a programme launched at the NUS Baba House during Singapore Art Week 2015, Jemput Masak! involved participants in exploring the notion of hybridity through the everyday practice of cooking. Each participant received a mystery toolkit that contained a recipe selected from a 1930's cookbook written for Europeans in Malaya; instructions and story cards to document their cooking journey; and stories depicting the history of the dish. Through adapting and re-inventing these recipes, and preparing these dishes in the midst of the early 20th century setting of the Baba House, these dishes and their accompanying stories were finally presented on the dining table and shared with the public, evoking the experience of dining in a typical Peranakan household.

Many thanks to the lovely and talented home cooks, CultureHackSG participants, Post-Museum, and the team at NUS Baba House, all of whom made this experimental cookout such a success.

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