Dr Ong Jin Teong is the author of the recently published book, Penang Heritage Food, which gives a Nonya perspective of traditional Penang dishes. Hence there are chapters on the two dominant Malay and Hokkien influences on Penang Heritage Food as well as Thai and South Indian Influences. The latter two influences distinguish Penang Nonya food from that from Singapore and Melaka. His book also gives an insight into the Hainanese and English influences on Penang Heritage food. Jin Teong was born Penang into a Nonya family. He was exposed to cooking at home at an early age. His mother gave cooking demonstrations to the members of the Penang YWCA and the MGS Old Girls' Association. As a very active member of the Scout movement, he first learned to cook his full course meal while earning his Scout badge for cookery. He went to London to study Electrical Engineering in 1963, where he extended his range of cooking. In those days, it was difficult to find Malaysian or Singaporean restaurants, so he resorted to cooking Penang food, drawing on his observations of food preparation at home and at hawker stalls in Penang. The time spent standing by the hawker stalls, waiting for food to be prepared came in useful. Many basic food preparation techniques were picked up. Recipes from his mother's cooking demonstrations were treasured. He even tried making Poh Piah skin. Dr Ong is a retired professor from the Nanyang Technological University's College of Engineering.