Ellice Handy, (1902–1989) was a Singaporean educator, education administrator and author of Singapore's first cookbook on local cuisine. Her cookbook is the longest-selling compilation of recipes in Singapore and is considered a must-have volume by many cooks. She was inducted into the

Singapore Women's Hall of Fame The Singapore Women's Hall of Fame is a virtual hall of fame that honors and documents the lives of historically significant women in Singapore. The hall is the creation of the Singapore Council of Women's Organisations (SCWO), and grew out of an ...

in 2015.

Early life

Ellice Zuberbuhler was born in 1902 to a racially mixed family. In 1904, she became a boarder at the

Methodist Girls' School Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's br ...

(MGS), along with her older sister Anne, who passed her

Cambridge Examinations Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

in 1915, a year before Ellice passed her own exams at the age of fourteen. In 1917, Zuberbuhler began studying Latin at the

Isabella Thoburn College The Isabella Thoburn College, formerly the Lucknow Women's College and often called informally IT College, is a college for women in Lucknow, India, named after its founder, Isabella Thoburn, the first woman American missionary of the Methodist ...

Lucknow Lucknow (, ) is the capital and the largest city of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is also the second largest urban agglomeration in Uttar Pradesh. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and division ...

, India, as a merit scholar. After a year of study, she enrolled in the Bachelor of Arts programme, graduating with honours in 1922.

Career

Upon completion of her degree, Zuberbuhler returned to Singapore and began teaching at MGS that same year. Her instruction included Biblical knowledge, English and history. In 1937, Zuberbuhler became engaged to Dr. James Muttiah Handy, a doctor of

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heritage, after whom Handy Road in Singapore is named. The couple had one daughter, Helen, and Handy returned to teaching. In 1941 during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the school was disrupted for three and a half years and sustained significant damage to its property. In 1945, Handy began serving as principal of the MGS, the first Asian to hold the position, and the following year restarted the secondary classes which had been suspended during the Japanese occupation. Between 1950 and 1952, she designed and spearheaded construction, with the assistance of Nathalie Means, on the new school building. In 1952, she published the first comprehensive cookbook in Singapore, ''My Favourite Recipes'', to raise funds for the MGS. The recipes covered a broad range of cuisines, including chapters on

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, and Malayan dishes, and Handy became well known in

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and Singapore. While there had been earlier cookbooks printed by organizations for their membership, these usually were adaptations of European dishes with ingredients locally available in Singapore. Asian dishes were typically passed by word of mouth from mother to daughter. Handy was a home cook, who used Asian methods, like steaming and stir-frying, utensils, locally available produce and included those processes in her book. She encouraged her readers to experiment with the recipes to meet their own families' tastes. On 20 July 1957, Handy was awarded the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

for her work in education. She returned to teaching in 1957, resigning from her post as principal, and retired in 1964. After her retirement, Handy wrote articles for ''Female'', a local women's magazine, mostly about cooking and updated the recipes in her book for subsequent publications. In 1982, Handy's husband died and five years later, Handy moved to Australia to be near her daughter.

Death and legacy

Handy died on 30 May 1989 in

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and was buried at Centennial Park Cemetery,

Pasadena, South Australia Pasadena is an inner southern suburb of Adelaide, South Australia in the City of Mitcham. History ''Panorama'' Post Office opened on 1 August 1947 and was renamed ''Pasadena'' in 1982. Facilities * Centennial Park Cemetery * Naomi Reserve * ...

. Handy's cookbook has gone into eleven editions, the most recent being published in 2012 and is the longest selling cookbook in Singapore. The recipe collection is considered "the Bible" of local cooks and spawned a wave of others to publish cookbooks. In 2015, Handy was inducted into the

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * * Excerpted from * Excerpted from * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Handy, Ellice 1902 births 1989 deaths People from Singapore Women educators Singaporean women writers 20th-century women writers 20th-century Singaporean writers Cookbook writers Women cookbook writers Singaporean expatriates in Australia