Violet Oon

Violet Oon was born to Peranakan parents Beng Soon Oon and Nancy Oon in Malacca, Federation of Malaya.[2][3] Oon spent part of her childhood in London where her father worked as an executive at Royal Dutch Shell.[4] Her family later moved to the Katong neighborhood of Singapore.[3][4] Although her mother never cooked, Oon began cooking at the age of sixteen with her aunts in an effort to document her family recipes.[2][5] She attended the University of Singapore (now the National University of Singapore) in 1971.[5]

After graduating from the University of Singapore, Oon was a features and music journalist for the New Nation newspaper.[2][5] In 1974, she began a food column in New Nation at the request of her then-editor David Kraal.[2][5] Throughout the 1980s, Oon wrote for The Singapore Monitor.[2] Oon ran a monthly magazine, The Food Paper, from 1987 to 1996.[2][5][6]

Oon has written three cookbooks: Peranakan Cooking, Violet Oon Cooks, and A Singapore Family Cookbook, in addition to several other co-authored cookbooks in collaboration with international publishers such as The Peninsula Hotels and Tiger Beer.[5] Her cookbooks were part of a national effort for preserving oral history and national heritage.[1]

The entrance sign to National Kitchen by Violet Oon

In 1993, Oon opened her first restaurant called Violet Oon's Kitchen in the Takashimaya department store in Ngee Ann City.[2][5] She also operated three cafes starting in 1995, but the restaurant and cafes closed by 1996 due to poor business.[2][6][7]

In 2009, Oon opened another iteration of Violet Oon's Kitchen in Toa Payoh which eventually closed the following year.[2][3][8]

In 2012, Oon and her two children opened Violet Oon's Kitchen in Bukit Timah initially with a Peranakan menu with Western influences.[2][5][7][9] In 2015, Violet Oon's Kitchen was renamed Violet Oon Singapore and refocused with an entirely Peranakan menu.[10] Later in the same year, Oon and her children opened National Kitchen by Violet Oon at National Gallery Singapore in the National Gallery Singapore.[11][12]

From 2017 to 2019, Oon and her children opened three more restaurants in Clarke Quay, ION Orchard, and Jewel Changi Airport which focus on Peranakan as well as British-Hainanese cuisine.[2][4][7]

In 1988, Oon was appointed Singapore's food ambassador by the Singapore Tourist Promotion Board.[2] Her role as food ambassador began with a three-week, eight-city trip to the United States during which she gave food demonstrations and media interviews about Singapore's culinary heritage.[5] Her visits have included a cooking demonstration at the James Beard House.[9] She led Singaporean teams at the World of Flavors Conference and Festival organised by the Culinary Institute of America in 2004, 2007, and 2009.[5]

In 2016, Oon was inducted into the Singapore Women's Hall of Fame.[5]

In 2018, Oon received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the World Gourmet Summit Awards of Excellence and the Lifetime Achievement Award at The Straits Times and Lianhe Zaobao's Best Asian Restaurants Awards.[7][13]

Oon has two children who are co-owners of the Violet Oon restaurants.[7][14] In June 2014, Oon suffered a stroke from which she recovered.[6][7][15]