The Y.W.C.A. of Malaya Cookery Book

Llewellyn, Mrs A E (ed). The Y.W.C.A. of Malaya Cookery Book. (8th Ed) The Y.W.C.A of Malaya: Singapore, Malaya 1958. 8vo (220x145mm) qtr bnd blue cloth, red printed bds x,254,[8]pp (preface by Ruby H Norris) VG/- bds edges lightly worn; eps lightly foxed

LLEWELYN, Mrs A E (ed). [Morag]

The Y.W.C.A. of Malaya Cookery Book: a book of culinary information and recipes compiled in Malaya [The Y.W.C.A. International Cookery Book of Malaya]

Singapore : The Y.W.C.A of Malaya, 1958. Eighth Edition.  First published in 1932. Printed by Messrs Cathay Printers, Penang.

Octavo (220x145mm) quarter bound blue cloth, red printed boards x,254,[8]pp.  Preface by Ruby H Norris, National President.

Boards edges lightly worn, some chipping to verso paper cover edges; corners gently bruised; spine head and tail lightly worn; endpapers offset toned and lightly foxed; a few small signs of kitchen use.

The Y.W.C.A. of Malaya was established in 1875.  In 1931, at the Y.W.C.A. Malayan Conference in Ipoh, the publication of a cookery book was proposed to preserve the various dishes taught at the Y.W.C.A.  Cookery classes had been offered for some years.  Although originally designed to teach Western dishes, by the 1930s the classes also taught Malayan dishes to an audience of local and ex-pat residents.  In 1932 The Y.W.C.A. Cookery Book of Malaya was published,  with a print run of 1000 copies.¹  Already unusual for an expat cookery book, there were in addition to the usual Anglo-French cosmopolitan receipts, significant references  to local cuisine and produce contributed by experts: Holtum, the director of the Botanical Gardens in Singapore on cultivating salad plants and providing an illustrated list of indigenous local ingredients with the Malay and Chinese names; Bertwhistle the Fisheries officer on local fish; and Furtado on local Indo-Malay cooking terms and items.

Llewellyn arrived in Malaya in 1934 with a diploma in domestic economy from the University of London.  In 1936 she gave cooking classes in Kuala Lumpur on behalf of the Y.W.C.A.  Llewellyn was the 3rd editor of the Cookery Book, editing the 5th to 9th editions between 1946 and 1962.    Local dishes had been included in the earlier editions, but under her editorship, the number of local recipes significantly increased with separate chapters for  Malay, Javanese, Chinese and Indian cooking (there are also many such recipes in the general chapters, particularly relating to baking).   A bilingual section on meal planning and cooking techniques was also added.  Later editions became the official domestic economy textbook in Malaya schools.

A significant reference on Malay and Anglo-Malay cooking of the mid-twentieth century.  A solid clean copy.

 ¹  Tan, Bonny. In Cookery We Trust: The YWCA Cookery Book (1932-1964), BiblioAsia Vol 9, Issue 3