Gladys Foo: “When we made love letters pre-pandemic, we all will go over to my mom’s place to help out. I come from a family of six siblings, so we have everybody in the different areas. I am in charge of rolling it, my elder sis is in charge of removing the love letters from the mould to pass it to me, one of my sis is in charge of monitoring it, my second sis is in charge of scooping it. My brother is the firewatcher to ensure that the fire is consistent… My siblings and I, we have a very special bond because we grew up with very little, and so the bonding is there. The sacrifice that all my siblings made for one other – we really appreciate it… That’s why we have a lot of these family activities. It’s that family closeness that brings everyone together, and so does the cooking.”

Gladys Foo, founder of Kuehdys Foo, shares about her kueh-making business started, plus: *Her growing up years* *Love letters, nian gao, and yibua* *Factors contributing to the slow death of traditional kueh-making* *Why eating kueh is typically seen as an ‘old person thing’*

*The importance of homecooking and exposing children to traditional food* *COVID and the resurgence of heritage food and other upsides* *The communal aspect of kueh-making* *Origins of Hainanese cuisine* *Her family’s version of roast pork belly* *Chicken poop kueh and art buah*

Gladys Foo: @kuehdysfoo

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