Southeast Asian Personalities of Chinese Descent: A Biographical Dictionary, Volume I

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Southeast Asian Personalities of Chinese Descent: A Biographical Dictionary 736 Ma Mon Luk ( , MaWenlu, 1896–1961) Chef, entrepreneur, philanthropist, Philippines M a Mon Luk was a Chinese chef who was able to perfect his recipe of mami ( ), siopao ( ), and siomai ( ) to suit the Filipino palate. From the 1800s to the early 1900s, noodle dishes were considered a poor man’s fare, sold in panciterias for the factory worker, ambulant vendor, stevedore, and every other lowly Juan. Ma was credited with popularizing mami and bringing it to the attention of every Filipino of every age. His persistence led to the growth of his chain of Ma Mon Luk Restaurant.The products that he had developed and promoted have left an indelible imprint on Filipino cuisine. Ma was born in 1896 in Shayong village, of Liangdu town in the Zhongshan municipality of Guangdong province. He was very intelligent even as a child, always topping his class, and was considered by his townmates to be a child genius/prodigy. His paternal grandfather, Ma Wei Shan ( ), was renowned for being a complete man — a noted calligrapher and a martial arts expert — and a community leader. Because of his leadership and civic-mindedness, he was chosen to be the village leader of the eighteen villages that make up Liangdu in Zhongshan. His maternal grandfather was Zhang Gongding, who was a renowned healer,known far and wide as a Hua Tuo incarnate.This proves that Ma Mon Luk was descended from illustrious forebears. Ma’s family was poor so he finished only junior high school, but managed to do self-study and improve himself. He immersed himself in the study of Chinese classics and imbibed Chinese traditions and good virtues while growing up. Ma became a schoolteacher in Canton, but did not earn enough to give himself a decent life. It was therefore not surprising that the parents of his love,Ng Shih,disapproved of him.They did not want their daughter to live with a man who could not provide properly for her. Undaunted by the hardships of life in Canton and the risks of migrating to a foreign country, Ma Mon Luk was determined to prove Ng Shih’s parents wrong and win Ng Shih’s hand in marriage.Thus in 1918, he left for the Philippines to seek a fortune. Alone in a strange land, he had to start from scratch to build his business with his bare hands. Whenever he felt overtired, he would recite his mantra: “there is nothing difficult in this world, the only obstacle is the lack of determination. One who can withstand the greatest of difficulties can rise above other men” and “A young man who fail[s] to work hard will suffer during old age.” He knew little about succeeding in this foreign country, but brought along his knowledge of Chinese culinary arts and expertise on noodles.At a time when Filipinos were wary of “instant” food and noodles, Ma used his skills and persistence to make them change their minds and their taste about his noodles, Ma Mi. He would position his stall, made up of two heavy steel containers and a wooden bamboo pole,at the foot of the bridge M Southeast Asian Personalities of Chinese Descent: A Biographical Dictionary 737 of Puente Espana to wait for business. When customers were few, he would peddle along the streets of Manila, such as Gandara (one of Manila’s shoe-stores lane), Ongpin, and Santa Cruz; Quiapo, Sta. Ana, and Recoletos en la Intramuros. Back then, his product was called by the conventions of its preparation: gupit, a Filipino word meaning“to cut”,as the noodles and chicken strips were cut to portions for cooking. Eventually Ma expanded his offering of products to include siomai and siopao. This added to his popularity among students of nearby schools such as Ateneo and Letran. As his clientele grew, so did the demand for his delicious food and so he opened a small, two-table stall in Salazar Street, in Chinatown, which was the first authentic Ma Mon Luk restaurant. Ma felt that it was necessary to introduce Filipinos to his products and thus began a very ingenious way of “marketing” them: from time to time, he would knock on random doors in Manila to give away samples of his siomai and siopao.He became quite well known for his calling cards — entitling the bearer to a prescribed number of siopao and mami.He gave away free samples...