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This time, ACU PAY will talk about one of the characters in the story “Love Destiny 2” that is famous in history named “Thao Thong Kip Ma”, who created many kinds of Royal Thai desserts that have been inherited until now.
“Thao Thong Kip Ma” was formerly known as “Maria Guyomar de Pinha” or some may called ‘Marie Guimar’ She is a Christian of Portuguese, Bengal, and Japanese descent. At the age of 16, Guimar married “Chao Phraya Wichayen” or “Constantine Phaulkon,” a Greek nobleman who served during the reign of King Narai the Great of Ayutthaya.
However, the glorious life was extinguished when her husband, Phraya Wichayen, was sentenced to death and forfeiture of royal decree after the riots just a few days before the end of King Narai The Great’s reign. Marie Guimar was in a state of poverty, suffering from severe hardship and sorrow.
She suffered imprisonment and also had to face harassment from Luang Sorasak (Phra Chao Suea), the son of King Phetracha, the new land King who was fascinated by her appearance and wanted to take her as a wife, but she didn’t want to, so it turned to a hateful and feud.
After Thao Thong Kip Ma was in dire straits, she wrote a letter in Latin and sent it to the French priest for the priest to give a letter to King Louis XIV, forcing the French East India Company to pay the shares of Chao Phraya Wichayen who had invested in it back to Thao Thong Kip Ma. This evidence was recorded on June 20, 1706(2249 B.E.), which was the land during the reign of Phra Chao Suea.
The account of Monsieur Chaumont, a Frenchman who entered Siam in B.E.2262 – 2267 provides information that after the end of Phra Chao Suea’s reign, Madame Phaulkon’s life has improved, respectively. King Thaisa ( Phra Chao Suea’s eldest son) ordered Madame Phaulkon to serve in the inner court. Appointed her to take care of the royal silverware and goldware and be the head of collecting His Majesty’s clothing with more than 2,000 woman subordinates.
Thao Thong Kip Ma performed her duty honestly. Return a larger sum of money to the treasury once a year until it was favored by the King, including her son George, who is still alive, because King Taisa was pleased to keep George close to himself.
In 2260 B.E, the French government decided to grant her the Phalkon’s income. After misery from bad deeds, Thao Thong Kip Ma spent the rest of her life practicing strict religious activities with her daughter-in-law Louisa Passagna, Constantine’s widow, and passed away in 2265 B.E.
During her time in the royal palace, Thao Thong Kip Ma created many sweets by adapting them from Portuguese recipes into Thai desserts by combining original foods with local ingredients. She also taught baking knowledge to women in the palace until it became a recipe that was widely distributed and passed on to later generations. It is one of the Portuguese cultures that has spread into Thai society.
However, some data by Predee Phisphumvidhi, a professor at the Faculty of Humanities at Burapha University, revealed that Portuguese snacks were widespread along with people of Portuguese descent who lived in Ayutthaya more than 150 years before Thao Thong Kib Ma was born.
