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Baba Food
compiled by Kosol Taengutai
Baba food is a traditional food of Baba-Peranakans, descendants of the early overseas
Chinese who were mostly Hokkien Chinese people who migrated to provinces in the southern
Andaman coast of Thailand. They worked on tin mining and married Thai local people living there.
Baba food is flavoursome. It is not as tangy as the other southern Thai dishes. Baba
food comprises of more than 300 meat dishes and desserts with nutritional values from local
ingredients. There are ร la carte dishes such as Phad Mee Hokkien or Hokkien Mee or Hokkien
stir-fried noodles (with seafood ingredients in the traditional native fishermen style cooked with
egg noodles produced in local areas and pork (Chinese culture style)), Mee Thai or Thai stir-fried
noodles (traditional Siam Mee Kati or Siam stir-fried noodles with coconut milk becomes stir-fried soy
sauce noodles ), O-tao (Melayu-Chinese style pan-fried oyster omelet with taro), Nam Choop Yum
(Nam Prik) or chilli paste (made of fresh shimps, krills, birdโ€s eye chillies, lemons), Khao Yum Bai
Pa Home or spicy rice salad with fever vine, etc. There are also set menus e.g. Moo Hong or sweet
pork braised with soy sauce, Achart or pickles, cucumber slices and onions in vinegar, Bua Tod or
crispy fried vegetables with shrimps, Khua Bengkuang or fried yum bean (jicama), etc. As for desserts,
there are Khao Niew Heeb or Baba-style custard on sticky rice, Pak Tong Koh or Chinese steamed
rice cake, Khanom Hor or steamed flour pudding with coconut filling, etc, and traditional desserts
and beverages like, Too Bo or assorted potatoes, red beans, taros, pumpkins in aromatic sweet
coconut milk, O-eo or the southern Thai shaved ice dessert with sweet toppings, Kopi Phuket or
Phuket local style coffee, etc.
In addition, specialties have been created for feasts in specific festivals or events according
to Baba-Peranakansโ€ traditional beliefs, for instance, in Por Tor festival or Hungry Ghost Festival,
a big red turtle cake called Tua Ku is made; in vegetarian festivals, food made of vegetables and
plants is cooked and the believers refrain from eating meat and strong smelling food during the
festivals; prior to a wedding ceremony, there is a day for the relevant persons to make fresh desserts
(Khanom Sod) such as sweet sticky candy (Kalamae) blending and grinding, Khao Niew Heeb, etc.;
to inform neighbours of the one-month anniversary of a childโ€s birth, as a celebration, a Hokkien
festive glutinous fried rice with shrimps called You Ping is distributed to the neighbours; while a
154 เธญเธฒเธซเธฒเธฃเนเธ—เธข เธกเธฃเธ”เธเธ เธนเธกเธดเธเธเธฑ เธเธฒเธ—เธฒเธเธงเธฑเธ’เธเธเธฃเธฃเธก
Thai Food : Thai Cultural Heritage ๆณฐๅผๆ–็-ไผ ็ป้ฅฎ้ฃๆ–ๅ–้—ไบง
