Lee Wen Cong Lucas, 13
About Lucas
Lee Wen Cong Lucas requests for his 90-year-old da bor zor (great-grandfather)’s orh bak (black meat), one of Lucas’ favourite dishes when he was young. How differently would da bor zor cook the dish now?
Have a listen to Lucas' reflection in this journey of documenting his great grandfather cooking orh bak or read on in the transcript below.
Lucas: Hi, my name is call Lucas and I’m 14 this year.
Shiyun: Maybe you can share with us the food that you have chosen this time.
Lucas: I choose orh bak - it’s like black meat in Hokkien and it’s like a lot of soya sauce, add some sugar. When I’m young, my dabor zor ya means my great-grandfather cook this dish for me and like, I really like it.
Shiyun: Is there something that you discover about your dabor zor?
Lucas: There’s something happen during like the when cooking the orh bak, it’s like he forget to add sugar. After that right, he keep saying “I got add sugar! I got add sugar!” Then I say “No, you don’t have.” ya
Shiyun: Do you find that like he’s like not… he’s like forgetting things?
Lucas: Yea, like forget things and like wake up at 12am and thought it’s like morning…ya, like the time…
Shiyun: His sense of time is very distorted
Lucas: Yea…
Shiyun: Remember the last time when the first time we met you right, it’s like wa, you have 四代同堂. It’s like so rare to have that grandfather, then great-grandfather. It’s actually very rare. So, it’s a very precious thing.
Lucas: I’m still very young that’s why I have!
Shiyun: That’s… Not really! Because when I was born, already don’t have grandfather!
Shiyun: You also?
Larry: No, I also have ah zor. I never saw my dua gong and ah zor but wasn’t close.
Shiyun: Now you’re the one cooking for yourself?
Lucas: Ya. Because my mother also work until very late. I will go YouTube search or sometime my mother teach me, how to fried rice or I go Popular buy that kind of recipe book.
Lucas: Ya, I bought it like last week but haven’t even buy the dish yet. I want to buy the 排骨. Pork rib! Ah, yes, but haven’t buy.
Suhuai: Did you buy the ingredients from the market or?
Lucas: Market, because market good!
Suhuai: Market?
Lucas: Because you say ah like auntie 要 500 gram the 排骨 hor, $5 only! Then you buy the vegetables ah $1. You say auntie 我要一个 $1 的菜心 then 她给你. Then you take. Then 你给我一点 potato 可以吗?
Shiyun: 所以哪里的阿姨全部都认识你阿？They all know you right?
Lucas: Yea… 还好还好
*Larry laughes*
Shiyun: Waaa, next time you can go market with me.
