My Cham Tongue: A Taste of an Ancient Kingdom Through Family Recipes
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Writer and food justice advocate Nurhaliza Mohamath uses family recipes as a gateway into the history, culture, and survival of the Cham people, whose kingdom once stretched across parts of Southeast Asia before centuries of war, displacement, and assimilation scattered its communities across the globe.
Part cookbook, part cultural archive, the book combines recipes passed down through generations of Mohamath’s family with essays on Cham history, language, and identity. Traditional dishes such as Poo Kha Ra, a spiced beef porridge, and Kureng Magik Kalu, a simple black pepper stew born from periods of hardship, are presented alongside photographs, illustrations, calligraphy, poetry, and family documents.
Rather than striving for strict standardization, many of the recipes reflect the oral traditions through which this cooking has been preserved, emphasizing memory, intuition, and intergenerational knowledge. Self-published, My Cham Tongue serves as both a personal project and a broader effort to document and sustain a culinary heritage that remains largely unfamiliar to many readers.
Hardcover. Color illustrations and photographs throughout.
Published on 2025
