KUALA LUMPUR, Nov. 4 -- As our palates evolve and global influences seep into every meal, there is a quiet but growing move away from mass production and a return to the patient art of small-batch craft.

Imagine the soy sauce we douse half boiled eggs with on our breakfast table or the fiery chilli sauce drizzled over noodles, rice or whatever we fancy.

Increasingly, we care more and more about where these condiments come from and how they are made. We listen to the stories of the people who made them.

To understand this shift, I spoke with three local sauce makers: Shirley Chia of Mu Artisan Soy Sauce, a third generation producer of handcrafted soy sauce; brothers Kevin Ong and Philip Ong of Bintang Flavours, purveyors of chilli and h...