When semi-randomly trawling through teh internets, sometimes a really interesting article surprises you, or in this case, 3CM. That was the case with this article by Lauren Hilgers in the 10/13/2014 issue of The New Yorker, about workers in Chinese restaurants in the USA. One unexpected factoid in the article was this:
"There are more than forty thousand Chinese restaurants across the country - nearly three times the number of McDonald’s outlets."
More (sort of) below the flip.....
For example, per Hilgers, the following towns have their share of Chinese restaurants:
Pinedale, WY, population 2,043 = 1 Chinese restaurant (China Gourmet, 44 W. Pine St., Pinedale, WY 82941)
Old Forge, NY, population 756 = 1 Chinese restaurant (Lion King Chinese Restaurant, 2920 New York 28, Old Forge, NY 13420)
Belle Vernon, PA, population 1,085 = 3 Chinese restaurants (but 3CM the loser found only two:
(a) Little Bamboo Chinese Restaurant, 311 Tri County Plaza, Belle Vernon, PA 15012, and
(b) Hibachi Buffet, 160 Sara Way, Belle Vernon, PA 15012)
Hilgers tagged around with "Rain", one restaurant worker. It's kind of humbling, and scary, to read about what Rain and others like him go through to get to the USA. Once past that scary part (e.g. crossing the Rio Grande in an inflatable boat from Mexico), the snarky irony is that once they make it, they have to deal with "American" Chinese food, and how radically different (i.e. lame) it generally is compared to authentic Chinese food:
"Having grown up on his father’s subtly flavored fish soups, [Rain] was surprised by American Chinese food. Americans seemed to eat like kids: they love starches and sweet things, and are frightened of meat and fish with bones in it. 'Americans eat all that fried stuff,' he told me. 'It's not healthy.' Real Chinese food is more refined: 'You have to spend a lot of time studying and really understanding it.'"
Granted, in NYC or San Francisco, in the Chinatowns there, one would expect more 'authentic' Chinese cuisine as a general rule, vs. Pinedale, WY or Belle Vernon, PA. But that leads to another point for the restaurant workers, finding jobs in NYC vs. "the boonies":
"Restaurants farther from New York have a harder time attracting workers, so they tend to pay better."
Hilgers further notes:
"Restaurant workers heading to jobs in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, or in Buffalo, New York, don’t worry much about the hard work or the long hours. They worry about the isolation. 'If you do this job too long, you’ll eventually lose your mind,' one cook told me."
BTW, in Doylestown, PA, there are at least 3 Chinese restaurants (if 'the Google' search is to be trusted), namely Chin's Kitchen, China Garden, and Mandarin Tang III.
This is the kind of life that my family never had to experience, since my parents emigrated to the US with college degrees and admission to grad school. Rather, we would partake of the labors of these workers, as when I was growing up, we'd go to Chinatown in Philly for Sunday dim sum something like once a month. It is a wonder to imagine how these workers survive this kind of life. Perhaps, in an idealized way, Rain indicates why in this line:
"Everything we do, we do for the next generation. No matter what, it beats sitting around in the village.'
Of course, you can argue that these workers, especially the ones outside of major US cities, have traded sitting around in their home Chinese village for sitting around in a US village. Something to ponder the next time you're at a Chinese restaurant.
With that, time for the usual SNLC protocol, namely your loser stories of the week.....