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{{Short description|Singaporean writer}}{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2021}}{{family name hatnote|Chua|lang=Chinese}}

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| birth_name = Chua Jim Neo| birth_date = 1905Singapore in the Straits Settlements>Singapore, Straits Settlements19808df=yes}}| death_place = SingaporeChef|cookbook writer}}| spouse = Lee Chin Koon| children = 5 (including Lee Kuan Yew)



factoids



}}Chua Jim Neo ({{zh|c=蔡認娘|poj=Chhòa Jīn-niû}}; 1905 – 8 August 1980) was a Singaporean chef and cookbook writer best known for Mrs. Lee's Cookbook, which preserves the recipes of Peranakan cuisine. Chua was also the mother of Lee Kuan Yew, the first Prime Minister of Singapore and the paternal grandmother of Lee Hsien Loong, the third Prime Minister of Singapore.

Biography

Chua was born in Singapore in 1905 to Chua Kim Teng, a wealthy local businessman, and Liong A Soen (aka Neo Ah Soon), a Chinese Indonesian of Hakka descent who hailed from Pontianak, West Kalimantan, Dutch Borneo (present-day Indonesia). While her father was born in Singapore, her paternal grandfather came from a Hokkien Peranakan family in Malacca, Malaysia with ancestry from Haicheng, Zhangzhou, Fujian.WEB,weblink LKY's Maternal Ancestors Found! : Bukit Brown: World Monuments Watch 2014, bukitbrown.com, WEB,weblink LEE KUAN YEW, SINGAPOREAN - The Peranakan Association Singapore, Her parents arranged a marriage for her to a storekeeper, named Lee Chin Koon, and they married when she was fifteen. Chua had five children and her oldest son was Lee Kuan Yew, who went on to become the first Prime Minister of Singapore.WEB,weblink Chua Jim Neo, Singapore Women's Hall of Fame, Singapore Council of Women's Organisations, 7 January 2019, NEWS,weblink Remembering Lee Kuan Yew: Devoted husband and caring father, Chan, Robin, 24 March 2015, Straits Times, Tan, Sumiko, 22 November 2016, Chua saved her family jewelry and money, managing household finances and helping Kuan Yew attend law school in Britain.In 1974, she wrote Mrs. Lee's Cookbook: Nonya Recipes and Other Favorite RecipesBOOK,weblink registration, mrs lee's cookbook., Historical Dictionary of Singapore, Corfield, Justin, The Scarecrow Press, Inc., 2011, 9780810871847, Lanham, 142, in order to preserve the heritage of Peranakan cuisineBOOK, Eating Her Curries and Kway: A Cultural History of Food in Singapore, Tarulevicz, Nicole, University of Illinois Press, 2013, 9780252038099, Urbana, 106–107, (also known as nyonya or nyonya/baba cuisine), which combines Straits Chinese cooking with Malay-style cooking. Chua, a nyonya (Peranakan Chinese woman), was considered a "highly respected authority" on the subject.BOOK,weblink The Asian Insider: Unconventional Wisdom for Asian Business, Backman, Michael, Palgrave Macmillan, 2004, 1403916578, New York, 73, NEWS,weblink Living Abroad: Singapore—the Clack of Chopsticks, Andelman, David A., 20 April 1977, The New York Times, 22 November 2016, The original publication included a preface by her cousin Wee Kim Wee, who was then serving as the high commissioner to Malaysia and would later become President of Singapore.WEB,weblink Veritas: Lee Kuan Yew and late president Wee Kim Wee are related, 19 July 2011, The cookbook was updated and republished in 2003 by her granddaughter, Lee Shermay.NEWS,weblink Preserving Singapore Flavours, Goh, Kenneth, 17 January 2016, Straits Times, 22 November 2016, Chua died on 8 August 1980, and was cremated at the Mount Vernon Columbarium.NEWS,weblink zh:李光耀总理萱堂蔡认娘女史逝世, Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew's beloved mother Madame Chua Jim Neo passes away, Nanyang Siang Pau, 9 August 1980, 3, 1 October 2017, NewspaperSG, She was inducted posthumously in to the Singapore Women's Hall of Fame in 2015.

References

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