Take a Look at a Postpartum Hotel's Menu for New Mothers

If confinement conjures up images of pandemic-related quarantine, we don’t blame you - we’ve all had our fair share of it at some point or other since Covid-19 erupted a year ago.

For many societies in Asia, however, confinement refers to the traditional - and often culturally-entrenched - practice of postpartum seclusion for both mother and baby in the immediate 30 to 40 days after childbirth.

Widely practised in Asia - including Korea, Singapore, Thailand, Taiwan, Japan and India - the custom is especially well-documented in China, where it is known as '坐月子' (or sitting the month).

During the duration of “坐月子”, recuperating mothers are not just fed a special diet, they are expected to stay indoors so that they are protected from elements of cold and wind. Customarily served out at home under the watchful eyes of a confinement nanny, often the woman’s mother or mother-in-law, confinement, when done to its fullest extent, often means that women are not even advised to take a shower or wash their hair (thankfully, this is no longer the case).

In some cases, confinement itself even gets outsourced to institutions that meld the age-old tradition with contemporary hospitality, often with a special focus on confinement cuisine.

“We believe mothers who have just given birth should eat well and keep a happy state of mind - food is one of the important factors contributing to postpartum recuperation,” says David Yip, culinary consultant to Singapore’s first and only luxury postpartum hotel, Kai Suites, where a month’s full-board stay costs upwards of S$20,000.

To aid in recovery and to stimulate lactation, Yip says that postpartum mothers must consume the required amount of nutrition and eat according to what the body needs in their different phases of recovery. Eating a variety of food, he says, also helps to uplift their spirits, which in turn speeds up the process of restoration.

But unlike home-spun confinement fare, which has a straightforward emphasis on the use of specific ingredients - like ginger, sesame oil and yellow rice wine, in the case of the Chinese - Yip’s menu at Kai Suites is guided by the traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) principles of 一休二排三调四健养 (process of healing, detoxification, restoration, nourishment).

“We also take into account the mother’s childbirth method, her phase of recovery, how quickly she is recuperating as well as her cultural background and preferences - the latter to give a sense of familiarity,” Yip says, adding that menus are then adjusted after each weekly TCM consultation.

Contrary to common belief that nourishment to gain ‘qi’ (or energy) should start just after delivery, Yip says that the focus of the first week postpartum is 休 (or healing), and improving the appetite. To promote easy digestion and reduce water retention, week one’s recipes at Kai Suites are designed to incorporate less fat and less salt, with a heavier emphasis on soups as well as braised and steamed food. Think house-made wheat noodles with chicken, goji berries and shimeji mushrooms, and steamed snapper nori rolls with a delicious tomato consommé glaze.

Yip says that his recipes during the final week of confinement are catered to strengthen and nourish the body. “We introduce more variety of dishes on the menu - including lactation cookies (with oats, raw yeast, flaxseed and fenugreek), dairy products as well as fried and grilled dishes.”

“According to Cantonese food customs, pork trotter and ginger cooked in black vinegar is a vital dish during the confinement period,” says Yip, who serves this ubiquitous confinement dish - but with 30-day fermented ginger and free-range eggs - in week four. “Ginger is meant to dispel any wind from the body, pork trotter is rich in calcium and collagen while vinegar stimulates blood circulation.”

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But Yip’s approach towards postpartum cuisine does just not lean on tradition alone. Predominantly anchored on the ethos of purity, the artisanal and the wholesome, his kitchen uses flavour extraction and layering techniques to enhance flavours while eschewing MSG and artificial additives.

In Yip’s kitchen, all stocks and selected seasonings are made from scratch; his house-made oyster sauce alone is painstakingly crafted from dried oysters, fresh oysters, sugarcane and herbs. To minimise kitchen wastes, ginger skin left behind from the pork trotter dish is dehydrated and used to infuse the cooking oil. Bearing in mind that many guests are well-travelled and well-exposed to international cuisines, he also integrates cooking techniques “gleaned from across the world”.

“Since their stay is much longer than in other hotels, we need to sustain their interest in our daily meals without forgoing the nutritional role of the food,” says Yip, who has access to a repertoire of about 500 postpartum recipes, some of which are contributed by renowned chefs in Asia (Tomoo Kimura, Han Li Guang, Vicky Cheng and ThiTid Tassanakajohn, just to name a few).

His gastronomic, artisanal and wholesome approach to confinement fare has not gone unnoticed.

Adinda Bakrie, an Indonesian socialite who recently checked into Kai Suites for two weeks after giving birth to her third child, notes that the kitchen only uses “all natural ingredients, without the addition of butter and preservatives”. Yet, she says, the cuisine tasted “delicious”, “healthy” and suitably “gastronomic”.

“They were also creative with the menu, it felt like I was being served different things every day,” says Bakrie, who adds that she was “never bored” with the food. “I love vegetables and Kai Suites serve the best tasting pumpkins, corn and carrots with colourful presentation.”

The cakes and desserts also won her adoration. “Even the cakes and desserts, ranging from western to Malay and Peranakan, are special - never too sweet, but just enough to ward off sugar cravings.”