Phuket's Baba food: the UNESCO food city, from moo hong to o-aew

Phuket was named a UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy in 2015, and the application put the Baba food of Phuket’s old town at its centre. The Baba are descendants of Chinese settlers who blended with local culture, so their food is Hokkien Chinese cooking with Malay and southern Thai notes. This article introduces the dishes worth knowing: what they are, when to eat them and how to order. It does not recommend shops.

How Phuket got the title

UNESCO announced Phuket in December 2015 as part of its Creative Cities Network, which then had 116 members in 65 countries. Phuket was the first Thai city in the network. Chiang Mai (crafts, 2017), Bangkok (design, 2019), Sukhothai (crafts, 2019) and Phetchaburi (gastronomy, 2021) followed.

Behind it was work collecting Baba recipes and food history that began in 2011, with about 65 local Baba cooks taking part. UNESCO’s page stresses that Phuket’s old recipes are handed down within families and communities, and that food brings generations and cultures together.

What Baba food tastes like

When the title was announced, the president of the Thai Peranakan Association described Baba food as a blend of four kitchens: Thai court food, everyday Thai food, Hokkien Chinese food and Malay food, with flavours that are not too spicy, not too sweet and not too salty. Thailand’s Public Relations Department lists the influences on Phuket food as Hokkien Chinese, Peranakan, Malay and southern Thai.

The result looks Chinese on the plate but carries local touches, such as a shrimp-paste chilli dip on the side or fried local greens. Visitors afraid of fiery southern food often find many Baba dishes easy going. Order a southern curry at the same table, though, and the heat is back in full; see why southern Thai curries are hotter.

The dishes worth knowing

Names from the UNESCO application and from government examples:

Dish	What it is	Hot?	Allergy watch-outs
Moo hong (หมูฮ้อง)	Pork belly simmered in a salty-then-sweet sauce until soft, served with a little sauce	No	Soy sauce (may contain wheat and soy)
Mee hokkien (หมี่ฮกเกี้ยน)	Thick yellow noodles stir-fried over high heat with seafood and a rich sauce	No	Seafood, egg, wheat
Mee hun (หมี่หุ้น)	Stir-fried white rice noodles with pork rib soup	No	Soy sauce
O-tao (โอต้าว)	Soft batter fried with taro, egg and oysters	No	Shellfish, egg
Lo-ba (โลบะ)	Crispy fried pork with a spicy dip	The dip is	The dip
Nam chup (น้ำชุบ)	A punchy shrimp-paste chilli dip	Yes	Shrimp paste
Bue thot (เบือทอด)	Freshwater algae fried in batter with tiny shrimp	No	Shrimp, wheat
O-aew (โอ้เอ๋ว)	Clear jelly with syrup, shaved ice and boiled red beans	No	Toppings vary

Sources describe some dishes differently. One news report calls moo hong “salted boiled pork”, while a food-history article describes pork belly simmered in a salty-sweet sauce. O-aew is described both as a jelly made from a squeezed Chinese herb with banana, and more broadly as jelly served with syrup. Recipes really do differ from house to house, so treat the table as a guide, not a fixed recipe.

Moo hong, the dish with the most story

“Hong” is Hokkien for red, so moo hong is “red pork”, after the dark sauce that soaks into the skin. Red carries good meaning in Chinese culture, and the dish has relatives elsewhere: in Penang it is called hong bak, and central Thailand has kaeng hong, made with dried bamboo shoots and, in some recipes, peanuts.

Phuket families used to cook moo hong in big pots for important occasions, both celebrations and funerals. Large pieces of pork belly are marinated and simmered on a low flame until the meat falls apart and the skin turns glossy. One recorded recipe pounds garlic, pepper and coriander root, uses dark soy sauce and sugar cooked to a deep caramel for colour, and no five-spice powder.

Worked example: how long moo hong takes

The recorded recipe above gives roughly this timeline:

1. Marinate the pork with the pounded paste and soy sauce: about 1 to 2 hours.
2. Meanwhile, cook the sugar until very dark, then add half a cup of water to dissolve it.
3. Fry the pork until the fat runs, add the caramel, and top up with water to cover.
4. Once it boils, turn the heat low and simmer for an hour or more until tender (another article gives about 2 hours).

From marinade to plate that is 1 to 2 hours + 1 to 2 hours of simmering = about 2 to 4 hours. That is why moo hong is cooked ahead in a pot, not stir-fried to order. When the pot runs out, you wait for the next one.

Moo hong is cooked ahead, so go early if you want it. Mee hokkien and o-tao are cooked fresh, one plate at a time.

How big food is for the island

UNESCO’s figures help put it in proportion:

1. Phuket has about 390,000 residents.
2. Food contributes about US$3.6 billion a year to the local economy.
3. Per resident: 3,600,000,000 ÷ 390,000 ≈ US$9,200 a year.
4. The Old Town Festival runs 3 days and draws more than 400,000 people, about 133,000 a day on average, or roughly a third of the island’s population every day.

The economic figure includes tourist spending, which is why it is so large for the population. It also explains why the city invests in food: food-safety programmes and kitchen training for young people among them.

Eating in the old town: how to order

• Go for breakfast. The Public Relations Department describes Phuket’s old town as a place of traditional breakfast spots, noodle shops and cafés in Sino-Portuguese shophouses. Breakfast is the best way in.
• Read the dish names. They come from Hokkien, and each shop spells them in Thai a little differently. If unsure, point at the board and ask what goes in.
• Order one noodle dish and one side dish. For example, mee hokkien plus moo hong to share, then o-aew to finish.
• Be clear about allergies. Say “allergic” (phae), not “I don’t like it”. See eating Thai food safely with a food allergy.

Common mistakes

• Assuming all Phuket food is hot. Many Baba dishes are not. The heat is in the nam chup, the dips and the southern curries.
• Ordering o-tao without knowing it has shellfish. Oysters are often the main ingredient. Ask first if you react to shellfish.
• Expecting simmered dishes all day. Moo hong is made by the pot; when it is gone you wait for the next one.
• Believing there is one true recipe. Every family cooks it differently, which is why descriptions from different sources do not always match.

Summary

Phuket became a UNESCO food city in 2015 on the strength of Baba cooking, a mix of Hokkien Chinese, Malay and southern Thai food. Dishes to know are moo hong, mee hokkien, mee hun, o-tao, lo-ba, nam chup, bue thot and o-aew. Go to the old town for breakfast, order a noodle dish and a side dish to share, and ask about shellfish, shrimp and egg every time if you have an allergy. The next article in this series covers Thailand’s other UNESCO food city, Phetchaburi, the city of three tastes.

Sources

• Phuket, Creative City of Gastronomy — UNESCO
• Phuket’s food heritage — Thailand Public Relations Department
• UNESCO dubs Phuket ‘City of Gastronomy’ — The Nation
• The origin of mu hong, pork simmered with dried bamboo shoots (Thai) — Silpa Wattanatham
• Phetchaburi honoured with UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy status — TAT Newsroom