Philip Campbell Beatson Newington (1888–1964) was the author of a cookery book celebrating Malaysian food, something he conceived while starving as a prisoner of war at the Sime Road Camp in Singapore between 1942 and 1945.
[5] Always curious of the culture of his adopted home he was, before and after World War II, a contributor to journals on his experiences of local customs.
[2] He was initially interned at the Changi Prison[17] where he witnessed the so-called Double Tenth incident and kept a notebook of his experience.
[18] After Changi he was transferred to the Sime Road Camp where he founded a gourmet club, Good Food, which celebrated cooking and eating imaginary meals.
[19] In her book, Wartime Kitchen, Hong Suen Wong explained that "revelling in the finer details of food and dining in a systematic way ... became a way for the prisoners to relieve their hunger and to sustain them psychologically".