Makan: Recipes from the Heart of Singapore

by Elizabeth Haigh

'It's impossible to pinpoint a certain specific cuisine to one region, so when people ask me what type of food is Singaporean, I simply reply with “the delicious type”. Southeast Asian cuisine is a proud mix of migrants and influences from all across Asia, which fuses together to create something even greater than the original.'

In this beautiful new collection, rising star Elizabeth Haigh draws together recipes that have been handed down through many generations of her family, from Nyonya to Nyonya, creating a time-capsule of a cuisine. Growing up, it was through food that Elizabeth's mum demonstrated her affection, and the passion and love poured into each recipe is all collated here; a love letter to family cooking and traditions.

Recipes
Nonya-spiced braised duck stew
pickled watermelon and radish salad
beef rendang
Singapore chilli crab
fried tofu with spicy peanut sauce
spicy noodle soup
nasi goreng (spicy fried rice)
Miso apple pie
… and many more!

Adapting these traditional recipes to ensure ingredients are easily sourced in the West, Elizabeth brings a taste of Singapore to your own kitchen.

Genres: Cookbooks, Food and Drink, Nonfiction, Cooking, Food and Wine

455 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 13, 2021

Reviews

[Daryl · Rating 1 out of 5]

The book has been shown to have been copied in parts from Sharon Wee’s earlier book of 2012, “Growing Up in a Nonya Kitchen”. I have personally verified this and noted many parallels. Worryingly, Haigh seems to have appropriated not just recipes but also personal memories.

Refer to Sharon’s statement here: https://www.facebook.com/sharon.wee.9...

[Emily · Rating 1 out of 5]

Plagiarized recipes & passages from "Growing up in a Nonya Kitchen" by Sharon Wee. Purchase Wee's book, not Haigh's.

[Ashleigh · Rating 1 out of 5]

The book has been shown to have plagiarised not only recipes but personal memories from Sharon Wee's book "Growing up in a nonya kitchen". I always hope to support Singaporean culture, I wish Elizabeth Haigh had too rather than using her status as a celebrity chef to take advantage of lesser known authors.

[Hannah · Rating 1 out of 5]

Haigh blatantly plagiarised recipes and memories from Sharon Wee's 2012 book, Growing Up In a Nonya Kitchen.

[axegrinder · Rating 3 out of 5]

Plagiarism or not, I don't believe in so-called "intellectual property", it is a well-established strategy against competition and the freedom of the market.

I actually read Sharon Wee's book briefly. It is clearly an inferior product that wouldn't ever sell well. It has a spectacularly ugly cover, dreadful editing and numerous quality issues. Everything in Makan is nicer, pictures, vector graphics, the stories. If you can still get Makan book somewhere, get it over Sharon's book. If both books have the same content - get the nicer one. But, that is only if you value aesthetics. I actually do, and aesthetics is what makes up my bookshelves.

Besides, just think about it. All recipes in the world are plagiarised. People plagiarise recipes from generations, they do it on and on. That is why we have CULINARY TRADITIONS; it is the art of copying the recipes. If anyone didn't "plagiarise" Carbonara, of which there is only one way of making it, we would now be eating pineapple Carbonaras. But we don't. The next thing we see is someone preventing me from cooking something because "I plagiarise it". Well, good luck with that.

As for the plagiarised content like memories or stories, it is a pretty low thing to do from anyone's side. I think the punishment like negative feedback from the market and publishers will be enough.

So, It doesn't matter.

That aside, Makan is simply an average book and the recipes I don't find necessarily compelling. The Laksa paste from the Laksa recipe is weak and bland - there is not enough chilli. I have similar remarks to nearly all the recipes from the book. I made around 10 recipes from Maka and the food did not impress me much beyond average. It is an OK cookbook. If recipes are the same in Sharon Wee's book then maybe find a better book than either of these.

[John · Rating 1 out of 5]

Blatant shameless theft. One of the most audacious cases of plagiarism you will ever see. Control C control V and presto … Elizabeth HAIGH becomes a celebrity chef and has a best seller. Meanwhile the genuine author Sharon Wee who wrote a loving tribute to her late mother and shared her recipes has her book cancelled because she lacks Ms HAIGH’s PR chops. Full disclosure: I did not read Elizabeth’s book but did read comparisons of excerpts from both books in several articles.
My heart goes out to Sharon Wee.
Suddenly Elizabeth HAIGH has stopped promoting and posing and spinning. Her publisher has had her book removed from shops. We are all waiting for Haigh’s explanation and apology.
Am cheered to see Goodreads has caught on to this snd allowed postings. Goodreads is for book lovers … but if we love to read we must acknowledge the true authors and creators.

[Emily · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn't realize until I had it out from the library that this book is no longer in publication due to plagiarism:
https://www.facebook.com/sharon.wee.9...

[Liquidlasagna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Makan... has brought - and continues to bring - me so much joy... and I just delighted in the wonderful melting pot of Singaporean cuisine, in which Chinese food is rambunctiously fused with Malay, Indian, Thai, Indonesian, Dutch, Portuguese and, yes, English cuisine... I want to cook everything in the book.
Nigella Lawson

[Margery Osborne · Rating 2 out of 5]

so i read this cookbook because i'm always searching for singapore nonya recipes and also because of the controversies around the book. i must say that there are many recipes for food i loved when we lived in SG but also, if the plagiarism accusations are true, the truth is this book is way beyond plagiarism IMHO. Its serious level misrepresentation of the sources for the recipes and should be a career ender.

[Jenna]

Wish there were more pictures but I've bookmarked probably too many favorite recipes to try in the new year...

Removed my star rating as I haven't read the other book involved in the plagiarism issue but will be on the lookout for it. Funnily enough, this book was recently added to our library system, so it still appears to be in circulation....

[Sharon]

This book has two major issues:
1. It's apparently substantailly plagiarised; and
2. The recipes are poor...the quantities are all over the place (eg Sweet and sour pork...300g meat to serve 12?!?), and the 5 or so recipes I've tried have all delivered incredibly bland results not at all worth the effort.

Don't waste your time

[Patricia]

Too bad parts were plagiarized. Memories not just recipes!