Sunday, October 12, 2008

What Dialect Group do most of our Foodies belong to?

I have known for a long while now that a lot of the kakis you see on this blog are Teochew. Smart, Cactuskit, Fashionfoodie, Wahcow, Damien, Jencooks and Amagada, just to name a few from the top of my head. I myself am true blue 100% Teochew as well. So I am just wondering if it is just a matter of coincidence that our group happen to have a lot of Teochews or is it a representation of the wider audience reading the blog?

It would be fun to find out with a poll next week, but I would need to shortlist the top 5 dialect groups before we can start. So let us know which dialect group you belong to!

119 comments:

liverpool1965 said...

Dad's cantonese, mum's teochew!

ieat said...

Well then you are officially Cantonese. Or should I give everyone two choices when they poll? One for father and one for mother? The only problem with that is that if both parents are from the same dialect group, then you get only one vote.

Perhaps it is better if we just stuck with the father's dialect group, in which case you would officially be Cantonese.

neelee said...

I'm hainanese.

Ping said...

Hainanese number 2! :)

liverpool1965 said...

ah...but what happens if your mum happens to be a great cook and you grew up being spoilt by your mum's food! :)

khim said...

dad's hokkien & mum is hakka..

g said...

teochew!

khim said...

smokeduck is also 100% teochew

Longan said...

teochew + hainanese :)

ice said...

True blue Teochew. :)

ieat said...

I think there are indeed quite a number of Teochews around!

liverpool1965 said...

ieat should do a poll on the hawkers too! :)

ieat said...

But they are not the ones who are reading the blog, so how to poll?

Let's stick to the readers first.

liverpool1965 said...

aii...next time when you go around, can ask lah!

Louis Tan said...

officially hokkien (dad's side), but mum's teochew.

germs said...

teochew!

taukwa said...

i'm hokkien

ieat said...

Ay Taukwa, I thought you in Europe?

Anonymous said...

Indian, but I LOVE Hokkien mee. Does that count? :-)

Anonymous said...

Let me be the first: Hockchew
-> 1CSH AEP

ieat said...

Apologies Anonymous, we did not include Indians. But if there are many Indian readers, we will put into the poll. I know there are thousands of Indian dialects as well, so how?

netti said...

Hokkien+Teochew

m.Ru said...

CANTONese. :)

taukwa said...

Will fly this friday morning.

zanzoo said...

100 % Cantonese ...

Holy Drummer said...

Teochew ah hia!

Bunny also Teochew *grin*

candy said...

100% Teochew!

AhChew said...

100% Teo Chew!

chiupee is our friend said...

100% teochew too

His Food Blog said...

100% Teochew too!

els said...

I'm Hakka. =)

Happy FamiLEE said...

I'm 100% HAINANESE!

ieat said...

Well HappyFamilee, no doubt since your family make such great Hainanese Satay!

Gerri said...

100% hainanese!

Amagada said...

I'm Teochew but half Hainanese....

JW said...

Dad Hainanese, Mom Cantonese! Combination of best two food groups.... :p

Human said...

Dad's Hokkien, but mother tongue is Teochew!

Shiyan said...

100% Hainanese!!

homeladychef said...

I am Hakka & Cantonese :)

Carmen said...

cantonese!!

theneelie said...

My dad's Hakka and my mum's Hokkien =)

tj han said...

Hokkien but no roots at all.

Appears that most of the readers here so far are Teochew or Hainanese. Interesting because according to official data, Hokkiens are far more numerous. Looks like either a) Hokkiens love to lurk, b) Hokkiens don't have Internet, c) Hokkiens hate Ieat, or d) Hokkiens are too busy working to go out of their way to eat good food.

I'm of choice d.

abraxis said...

Canton-ese!

2sailaway said...

cantonese!

Jaresh106 said...

Hmm, I'm different then. Dad's Hockchew, Mum's Hokkien (with peranakan blood mixed into mum's blood). Grew up around peranakan food.

ieat said...

tj han, I think that different dialect groups have different characteristics. For some, appreciation of good food is one dominant characteristic. Perhaps the Hokkiens do not place as much emphasis on food as they do on work or finance as you allude to. I think it is the same between the French and the English.

khim said...

hey theneelie, my dialect's e opp. of urs! =)

thewineguy said...

100% Teochew!! according both sides' grandparents, there was never a break in the dialect bloodline... until my cousin married a Kiwi (tat's another story)!! As for me, i'm blessed, Wifey also 100% teochew ah muay!

ieat said...

You really hardcore Teochew man! How often do you eat Teochew Muay?

champagne said...

Dad - Hainanese
Mum - Heng Hwa
Hub - Cantonese
Brought up - teochew estate

Cannot speak hainanese, can speak fluent Heng hwa, teochew and cantonese.

foodiefiend said...

100% Hokkien. But more fluent in Teochew as hub is a true blue Teochew ah hia

iJeff said...

I am a 100% Hainanese, hence the love for Hainanese chicken rice :P

P. Chong said...

peranakan hokkien father, hakka mother. Mom's cooking is heavily influenced by peranakan side of dad.

Anonymous said...

Wua si hokkien lang.

ieat said...

P Chong, that is interesting. We know that Peranakans are particularly proud of their food heritage, so I am sure there are a lot of Peranakan Foodies, but they comprise many dialects. I feel that the Peranakan culture overshadows the dialect culture in most instances. Do you think that is true?

dp said...

dad's hainanese, mom's cantonese...

I definitely prefer hainanese food though.

Anonymous said...

there arent many of us around... but i guess i would like to see Hakka as one of the shortlisted groups

ieat said...

Actually for such a small population, the Hakkas are pretty big on food. I think sumosumo is Hakka. Will see how many more Hakkas are online.

Steelman said...

I'm Teochew as well :)

sumosumo said...

Dad Hakka, Mom Cantonese.
Altough i can only speak cantonese as i have little exposure to Hakka given all my hakka relatives are in Malaysia.

I would expect singaproeans to be mostly Teochew or Hokkien, given that these are the southern provinces from which the Chinese migrants came to Singapore.

sumosumo said...

ijeff - there are both cantonese and hainanese chicken rice. although the hainanese chicken rice we get in singpore is totally different from what u can get in hainan itself...

cantonese CR - i think the chicken is cooked to be bordering on undercooked, as the marrow is still bloody, whereas hainanese tends to cook the chicken more thoroughly? and i think the use of minced ginger as an accompaniment stems frmo cantonese cooking..?

sorry for the OT..

sumosumo said...

the hakkas are nomads. thats why they are known as 客家 people, literally guest family or guest people.

Anonymous said...

Hi there Ieat,

I am from Malaysia, and I really enjoy visiting your blog. Seriously, I think you take one of the best food photos in this part of the world!

My dad is a Cantonese from Penang (therefore a minority in a predominantly Hokkien-speaking city), and my mum is a Henghwa from Ipoh (likewise a minority in a Cantonese-speaking city). Even the term "Cantonese" is misleading, as dad is actually Seiyap or Taishanese, and his dialect is unintelligible with "standard" Cantonese. However, the only dialect I can speak well is Cantonese, as I grew up in KL.

No matter. I grew up eating Hainanese, Hokkien, Teochew and other sorts of Chinese cuisines, not to mention Peranakan, Indian, Mamak, Malay etc etc.

Seriously, I do not see how my dialect identity has anything to do with my taste in food! I am a foodie who appreciates good food, period. Although I am not Teochew, you can bring me Teochew Moi with chai poh and braised pig's ears in soy sauce anytime, Teochew Ah Hia Ieat!!

Raymond

Anonymous said...

both mom and dad r hockchew. but not sure if many hockchew ppl are v particular about food.
armrd

kaisg said...

teohock!

Pong said...

Cantonese
(but I like to call myself Can-Teochew! Dad's cantonese, mum's teochew, same as Liverpool. I speak better Teochew than Cantonese.)

Sandie said...

Hainanese 100% :D

tiffanyx said...

hakka. :)

Blur Ting said...

I'm Teochew too.

Anonymous said...

100% Teochew as well.

Anonymous said...

my dad hakka, mum hokkien.but i speak teo chew cos close to my grandma

angela said...

I'm a 100% Teochew too... both mum n dad r teochews and I married a Teochew Ah Pek who must have rice on every meal too... kekekeke..

Anonymous said...

I'm a 100% hokkien..=D

Jeremy said...

wooo Teochew nang!! ima true blue teochew too..

just wanna say hi.. from Samuel hill camp north.. ex. wallaby 2008

ieat said...

You missing Singapore food Jeremy? Heard the Aussies serve pretty good grub there in their army camps

shegobbles said...

50% Hainanese pork chop + 50% Teochew muey!

cactuskit said...

Toothfairy is Teochew too.

Anonymous said...

Am 100% Teochew!

missymistress said...

actually Teochew very particular abt food...
and especially enjoy good food... :p
though I'm hokkien but i'm brought up under strong influence of Teochew... most ard me consider me a teochew... (a mixture of both)... :)

keichi_k1 said...

Am shanghainess + hakka...

wonder if there are any shanghainess pple here?
love the white goeey "Nian Gao"!!!

Liz said...

I'm Teochew

jonwwy said...

doesn't seem to be alot of cantonese around, guess i'l'l add myself to the list of cantonese :)

Anonymous said...

Peranakan Hokkien. Grew up eating peranankan and malay food. I would love to see more of good malay and Indian food in your blog which is not often. But I still love to view your blog everyday as I'm basically a food lover!! From Apple

laundrygirl said...

one hundred per cent HOKKIEN LANG! HUAT AH!

Anonymous said...

Dad's Teochew, Mum's Hokkien.

Anonymous said...

Cantonese

Dennyz said...

Dad's Hokkien, Mum's Teochew, but i grew up in a teochew environment, so i am more towards teochew's side :P

Jenny said...

Dad's Hokkien, Mum's Hakka (but i speak cantonese with mum + relatives)

Anonymous said...

Hakkah (Paternal) and Teochew (Maternal). But 100% teochew in soul!

getg3 said...

100% Hakka (Meixian)

Ee Lin said...

100% Cantonese.

nonchann said...

I am teochew myself. Perhaps we could give fair representation to all groups. I think we can have maybe more than 5 dialect groups in the poll? Is that possible? This will give us a better overview of the demographics.=)

From what i have observed here, the major dialect groups represented here so far include the Hokkiens, Teochews, Cantonese, Hainanese, Hakkas, Hockchew and Heng Hwa, about 7 groups. Any other known dialect groups that we may have missed out?

inibble said...

father & mother are teochews. paternal grandparents are teochews from 普宁 in china. maternal grandparents are teochews, not sure of the details.

Anonymous said...

Hokkien..

Damien said...

Hockchew - mix of both.

jems said...

Hainanese~!~! I haven't heard of a single hainanese who is not passionate abt food too :)

inez said...

i'm hokkien =)

hwee guang said...

teochew woot

Anonymous said...

Actually, I thought that since Cantonese are also as crazy as the Teochews (if not more) about food, I assumed that there should be a disproportionate number of Cantonese here. But I was wrong.

What about the Chinese saying that one should marry in Suzhou (due to an abundance of beautiful girls), die in Liuzhou (due to good-quality wood for coffin found there) and eat in GUANGZHOU (for obvious reasons)? ;)

witchz said...

half hokkien half hainanese

splatpotato said...

cantonese (paternal), teochew (maternal)
but see myself more as cantonese.

Anonymous said...

Chia chng eh teochew nang. Paternal side from Teng Hai, maternal Teo Yeo. Grew up in Malaysia, been in Singapore for the last 15 years.

U-B said...

British Born (and Raised except last 6 years working here in KL & SG) Hong Kong 100% Hakka! My mandarin is pretty much non-existent, but fluent in Cantonese and Hakka.

khim said...

leslie, i think u should discount away those anonymous without any pen names. too many of those already.

daphne said...

HOCKCHEW!!

Anonymous said...

HOCKCHIA.

Any hockchias here? My dialect group is very rare & I have only tasted one traditional hockchia dish.

Cheryl said...

im 100% teochew!.. mum and dad's side both teochews

Keropok Man said...

Dad: Hokkien, M: Heng Hwa
So that makes me Hokkien :-)

EastCoastLife said...

Teochew ah nia. :)

Leaf Tan said...

100% pure teochew! but don't look and behave like one. :)

lunarsky said...

Father shanghaines
Mother Teochew

matcha said...

I'm Teochew too!

Anonymous said...

100% Hockchia here

Anonymous said...

What are the traditional HockChia dishes?
I don't think I have ever tasted any

Regards
100% Hockchia =D

itOe said...

Parents are Teochew, therefore i'm 100% Teochew! :)

Anonymous said...

Hainanese

Anonymous said...

Hokkian, but in no way kiam siap!

gracie said...

HAKKA girl :)

cheerios

anton said...

100% Hakka (meixian)

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