Oh, what a surprise! Fat Mama isn't a Filipino. Fat Mama or Maria Cordero, a popular HK singer, actress, TV Host and DJ isn't a Filipino but her husband is. In fact, she is a Macanese and that doesn't simply mean she comes from Macau but she does have Portuguese blood. When the Portuguese founded Macau in 1557, they took non-Portuguese brides, Chinese, Malay, Japanese, Sinhalese, Indian; and as a result, there is this East Asian ethnic group called Macanese who practise Sino-Latin culture and speak Patuá, a Portuguese-based creole language. I suppose they are different from the Malacca Portuguese, the Kristang who may also have besides a Malay, or Indian heritage, a Chinese heritage. The Kristang speak a Portuguese-based creole language too, the distinctive Kristang language or Malacca Portuguese and both groups came into existence in the 16th century when the then powerful Portuguese Empire launched a great many expeditions to various parts of the world including Malaysia and China and encouraged the explorers to marry local indigenous women, under a policy set by then Viceroy of India, Afonso de Albuquerque.
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