A Taste of My Life

Restaurant: Taste of China

Address: 1321 5th Ave, Garner, NC 27529

Name of Interviewer: Ana Morris

Name of Interviewee: Mrs. Zheng

Taste of China is located at a strip mall called Forest Hills Shopping Center in Garner, North Carolina. The exterior of the eatery is quite simple, with only the name of the restaurant in a simple font to distinguish that it is indeed a Chinese restaurant. The neighboring area of the restaurant is calm and unassuming.

Mr. and Mrs. Zheng opened up Taste of China in 2001 after moving from Fujian province in 1994 and they’ve been working there diligently ever since. In addition to working at the restaurant, they raise two kids – one daughter age 19 and one son age 16. I had the honor of interviewing Mrs. Zheng, allowing her to share her personal struggles and hardships of working at a Chinese restaurant.

Once I entered the restaurant to meet Mrs. Zheng for my interview, I spotted her and her son taking orders from customers from behind the counter. After the customer told her what they would like, she would yell out the order to the cooks in the back and turn back to the customer to tell them the total balance. Since it was shortly after dinner time when I arrived, business seemed to be slower than usual. Once she saw that I had arrived, she left her teenage son responsible for taking orders while she participated in my interview. We sat at a table towards the back of the restaurant so we could get awayfrom all of the noise from the kitchen and customers. Since Mrs. Zheng was not confident with her English-speaking skills, she felt more comfortable having her daughter translate for her, which is what we did.

During our interview, Mrs. Zheng shared with me that she came to the United States for a better life for herself and for future generations. Anticipating the “American Dream,” she soon realized it wasn’t anything like what she had heard. Upon arrival to the United States, she faced a lot of struggles, the biggest one being the language barrier. Knowing very minimal English, she had a very difficult time getting from place to place and often faced judgment from Americans she interacted with. She also shared that the differences between Chinese and American cultures was something that she had a hard time adjusting to. To this day, she still doesn’t think she’s fully adjusted.

A good portion of my interview with Mrs. Zheng revolved around her family. When asked to describe her family life, she responded with, “when my kids go to school, I’m always at work but when the kids are home, I’m still at the restaurant working. If my kids have stuff to do, I can’t really take them to their events and when I can take them, I usually can’t stay.” After I asked all my questions for the interview, I asked if there was anything she’d like to add. This is what she ended the interview with: “It’s very hard to open a restaurant. Before I opened a restaurant, I wanted a good life for my kids and a good education for them. I want to always be there for them but the lack of time does not allow me to do that. Sometimes, there are no people able to work and we’re the only ones who can. I wanted to take the kids to their events but I don’t have a lot of time to drop them off and pick them up. Sometimes I get so mad at myself. It’s good that they’re so good and independent. They’re such a help around here but it’s still not easy.”

Dishes Available at Taste of China

Dish Served: General Tso’s Chicken and Fried Rice

Through this interview, I was able to gain new knowledge about the people who work behind the scenes at Chinese restaurants and I was able to hear about their past and current struggles. Like Mrs. Zheng said, opening and running a restaurant is very difficult and time consuming. She only gets rare days off on holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas. Since her restaurant is open practically every day of the year and she doesn’t have many employees, her and her husband practically live at the restaurant. She shared that she rarely gets time for herself and her family. Hopefully through this interview, her strong work ethic will be appreciated and she will get the recognition she deserves.