Ask most people where bird's nest comes from and they will say China. The recipes, the tonic shops and the gift boxes are Chinese, and the tradition is centuries old. But the nests themselves are made far to the south, by small swiftlets that live along the coasts and islands of Southeast Asia.
Thailand is one of those homes. This is the story of Thai bird's nest, and of the woman our shop is named after.
A Chinese tradition, a Southeast Asian ingredient
Edible-nest swiftlets build their nests from their own saliva, in dark caves on sea cliffs and, today, in quiet buildings made for them. Most of the world's edible bird's nest comes from Southeast Asia: Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand. For generations, Chinese families cooked with nests that crossed the sea to reach them.
So every bowl of bird's nest is a meeting of two worlds: a Chinese way of cooking, and a Southeast Asian ingredient. In Thailand, those two worlds have lived side by side for a long time, nowhere more than in Yaowarat, Bangkok's Chinatown.
Mother Ju: in bird's nest since 1975
Mother Ju as a young woman, with her bird's nest cart in Yaowarat.
Mother Ju started in bird's nest in 1975, at sixteen, working alongside her own mother. She learned the whole trade: buying raw nest, cleaning it by hand, judging quality by eye and by feel, and stewing it the way Yaowarat families liked it.
Over the years she went further than most. She built swiftlet houses and held a government concession to collect nests from island caves, where collectors climb bamboo ladders in the dark to reach them. This short film, made by her family business years ago, shows that world: the islands, the caves, the drying, and one of the swiftlet houses she built.
Island cave collection, drying, and Mother Ju in one of the swiftlet houses she built.
A small industry, built by families
Thai bird's nest has never been a business of giant companies. It has been built by families: people who climb, people who build swiftlet houses, people who clean nests one by one with tweezers, and small shops that cook it. Each family holds a piece of the knowledge, often passed from mother to daughter.
We think that is something to be proud of. It means Thai bird's nest still carries a human hand and a family name, and that the people selling it usually know exactly where it came from.
Different, not better
Good bird's nest comes from many countries, and we respect the people who make it everywhere. Thai bird's nest is not about being better than anyone else. It is about having its own character:
- Its own places. Nests from Thai island caves and from swiftlet houses across the country, each with its own look and texture.
- Its own craft. A tradition of cleaning by hand with water only, and of honest grading by eye. Read how we grade our nest.
- Its own way of eating. In Thailand, bird's nest is not only a warm Chinese tonic soup. It is also served cold with ripe mango or melon, in fresh young coconut, and in coconut milk: a Chinese tradition that met Thai fruit and Thai heat.
Want to know which regions it comes from? See our map of Thai bird's nest.
JUMAMA, since 1988
Mother Ju cooking bird's nest in her shop in Yaowarat.
We count our years from 1988, from Mother Ju's physical shop on Yaowarat Road. People in the neighbourhood called her Ju, and JUMAMA, "Mama Ju", is named after her, spelled the way her name was said. Today her daughter carries on what she learned from her: buying good Thai nest from sources we trust, cleaning it by hand in our own workshop, grading it honestly as 3A, 4A or 5A, and stewing it fresh every day.
We are one small piece of Thai bird's nest, and proud of it. Come and taste it at our shops in Yaowarat and Banthat Thong, or read our story.
In our mother's name, to her standard.