Tales from the Kitchen: Mr. Low
By Judy Yung, Him Mark Lai, and Laura Lai
Mr. Low was a kitchen helper at Angel Island from 1923 to 1924. The following interview was taken from a December 27, 1975 interview at his San Jose home. It has been reordered from its original format for ease of reading.
WERE YOU A COOK?
“Assignments were all mixed up. I was the kitchen helper and did everything--wash dishes.”
HOW DID YOU COOK THE DISHES?
“We had separate smaller steamers. Someone scooped out the food and put it on a cart which was wheeled out and put out on the table. There were only so many dishes. Rice could be refilled, but not the dishes. If that wasn't enough, you could eat salted fish until you were full. The dishes included soup. For example, if you had bean curd strips as the main course, it went nut in a soup. Most people were not use to beef and potatoes, so there was a lot of left overs of that. So you knew to make just a little. As to the syrup soup [tapioca), it went out with crackers. It was easy to make. Just boil water and add it. Usually the rice cooker made it.”
HOW MUCH DID HE MAKE?
“Ten dollars more a month. We got $70 and he got $80. He was responsible for the rice and tapioca. The chief cook got $l00 a month. He also did the hiring. The assistant cook got $80. I got $70. The assistant cook was surnamed Lum and kept asking me to do it [be assistant cook) but I declined.”
WERE YOU HIRED BY THE GOVERNMENT OR PRIVATELY?
“Privately. A Westerner who had taken over the business. It went to the lowest bidder. But all the workers in the kitchen were Chinese. After breakfast, we went to prepare food--salted fish and all.”
WERE ALL THE KITCHEN STAFF WONG LUNG DO [DOWMOON DISTRICT] PEOPLE?
“No. Two were from somewhere else--one from the city and another was Sam Yup. The others--eight in all--were Wong Lung Do. That's because two took Sundays off. Seven of us worked in the kitchen; the other one was a handy man. When the ship docked and brought in foodstuffs--for example, 500 to 600 bags of rice came at the same time, a Westerner brought it over in a car and the Chinese handyman helped. I preferred to work in the kitchen helping out with the rice or vegetables. It was quite simple to wash the rice. The sink was very big and made of wood. It was bigger than a bathtub. So you dumped the rice into the sink, stirred it around, and then used a basket to hold it. You sieved out the water. Then you took the rice upstairs. You asked the cook how much rice to cook. So even if one person was off-duty, we still had three people to work. Whenever there was time, you peeled potatoes. They ate a lot of potatoes of the number two-size. The cheapest quality. The vegetables were tall. As long as they were vegetables. [It didn't matter how old.) They bought whatever were throwaways.”
HOW CAN YOU CUT SO MANY VEGETABLES--OVER A HUNDRED POUNDS?
“We used a long table to chop them up, then put it in water for the rice cooker to wash. That was it. There were no holidays for the workers. We had to clean and do a lot of chopping.”
HOW MANY HOURS A DAY DID YOU WORK?
“We got up at 4 in the morning. Meals were served at 6. Then we got off at 1 and went back to work at 2. Then we worked until 4. If there was a lot of people, we got off at 4:30. In those days, everyone worked ten hours a day.”
WAS THE WORK HARD FOR YOU THAT ONE YEAR?
“It was very hard. was young then--not even 21 years old yet. My father told me not to work there and to give the job to someone else. But that would not have been right to the others. The stoves used coal. Coal came in large quantities. You had to carry up 100-pound sacks--200 pounds a day--for the stove. There were over 10 steps up the stairs to the second floor. Everything was big and heavy.”
DID THE MEN TAKE THEIR MEALS IN TWO SHIFTS?
“One shift. The women came down after the men returned upstairs. We got off after the women ate. Meals were quick--about half an hour each shift. They ate as we sent the food out.”
WERE THE GUARDS ALWAYS THERE?
“In the morning, there were four guards: two counted the number of people and turned them over to two others [to watch]. They informed the kitchen staff of the changing numbers of people. When a new ship arrived, they let us know how many. [The guards were responsible for the number of people.] Two guards would bring the people down and two others would watch them. There was one head guard. For women, there were two male guards and two female guards. Two female guards worked during the day and two female guards worked at night. There was nowhere to escape to anyway even if they let you.”
DID THEY HAVE TO LINE UP AT MEALS OR WAS THE FOOD SERVED AT THE TABLES?
“We served all the food before they came down. As soon as they came, voom and there they were. Everyone took the same seat. If you just arrived, they would show you where to sit.”
COULD PEOPLE HAVE SECOND HELPINGS?
“They could eat as much as they wanted. We put out so much rice. The wok was so large, we had to stand on a ng gar pay [Chinese liquor] box to reach it. They used steam. Each wok cooked three and a half bags of rice that was 50 pounds each--175 pounds of rice. Each day I washed rice for two meals--14 or 15 bags of rice. There were two woks. They must have been eight feet wide. The new immigrants ate six to seven bowls of rice a meal sometimes.”
HOW LONG DID IT TAKE TO COOK THE RICE?
“Four hours. We cooked the evening rice at 11 o'clock. All steam. We couldn't get up too early in the morning. The rice cook had to get up at 3 while the rest of us got up at 4 o'clock. We prepared everything the day before. The night guard turned on the steam. The rice was all ready to cook so you just had to turn on the steam and cook it. No one could lift those woks. The fork a was as big as a broom. The utensil to scoop up the rice was like a shovel used for dirt. You shoveled some into bowls and the waiters came to take it out. There were over 10 waiters. The steam heat was hot so we had another shift of workers come in.”
COULD PEOPLE GIVE YOU FOOD TO COOK?
“They could [for free]. Steamed food was no problem. We couldn't make shark fin's soup, for example. We would steam up the dishes-salted fish or whatever--and put it out on the cart. People would identify their own. It could be Chinese sausages, other preserved foods, or leftovers.”
DID ANYONE EVER TAKE SOMEONE ELSE'S OR GET INTO FIGHTS OVER FOOD?
“Not while I was there. But fights occurred in the kitchen. The kitchen helper always nibbled on the food even though we got gifts of food all year ‘round from the Chinatown stores. The rice cooker told. him not to eat the food sent down for someone else. The kitchen helper on purpose nibbled some more, so the rice cooker tried to chop off his hand and they got into a fight. He told him not to steal other people's food, that we had good food to eat. It was true. We had all kinds of food to eat. We cooked our own rice, different from the detainees. Their steamed rice was awful.”
YOUR FOOD CAME FROM THE BOSS?
“Yes, we could eat anything in the kitchen. But we also bought barbeque duck and other dishes. And when we ran errands, we were given food or liquor. When we returned from our day-offs, we usually came back at about three, so we always bought some food back for our coworkers.”
Do you recall any demonstrations while you were there?
“There were quite a few demonstrations by the Chinese. One time, they had to send for soldiers from Fort McDowell. I'm not sure whether it was because of the food or because there was an informer. The Young China Newspaper said it was because the bread was old. They gave them old bread to eat on purpose. When they bought new bread, they served the old bread first. You remember the old bread boxes, the size of this sofa. They bought the bread by the crate. The bread before was not as good as today's. Day old bread became hard. They served two-day bread usually. And the bread wasn't precut. We used a machine to cut the bread. And it wasn't individually wrapped in paper. The machine could only cut hard bread, not fresh bread. They provided tea. When they brewed tea, it was in big quantities.”
Can you tell me about it?
“It happened like this. There was a Gee Gee Wui [Self-governing Association] organized there by the young people. They wanted equality and better food. Everyone was in support of the demand. One day in the dining hall, they broke all the dishes. That dining hall housed 33 long tables at six to eight persons a table. There were always 250 to 300 persons at one time. When I was working there, there were over 700 people.”
WHAT HAPPENED?
“It was planned by the Gee Gee Wui for equality. After they broke the dishes, immigration called the Chinese consulate, who sent an official to explain things to the detainees. He told them the menu was set by our [Chinese] government and that they couldn't change it. Even if the cooks wanted to give them more, they couldn't. All you could do is have food sent from the city--roast duck and other cooked foods. The kitchen could help cook it. Usually, it was the women who asked us to buy such foods.”
WHAT YEAR WAS THE DEMONSTRATION?
“1923 or so because I worked there in 1923 - 1924.”
What else DO YOU REMEMBER?
“Fort McDowell was on Angel Island. When the demonstration started, they were called over to help. They thought it was the cook's fault, but it wasn't. The soldiers pointed guns at the Chinese [to protect the kitchen staff], so no one dared enter. Telephones were handy there and with one call, soldiers were called over from McDowell. The soldiers made everyone go back upstairs. Then later, they refused to come down for meals. We continued to cook as usual.”
HOW MANY MEALS DID THEY REFUSE?
“I think it lasted three days. We had a sundry counter that sold saltine crackers, sandwiches, ham sandwiches, egg sandwiches, and all, but they discontinued selling sandwiches.”
TO PUNISH THE DETAINEES?
“Yes. We continued cooking even though they refused to eat.”
NOT A SINGLE PERSON CAME DOWN FOR MEALS DURING THOSE THREE DAYS?
“Not a single person even though the doors were opened for them to come down.”
DID you serve CHINESE OR WESTERN FOOD?
“Everything. European food, Japanese food, and Chinese food of course. People from India ate salmon fish with potato paste. We had to cook for whoever passed through. Europeans were served Western food, although the fare was simple. Seventy to a hundred would pass through.”
WHAT KIND OF CHINESE FOOD WAS SERVED USUALLY?
“There was one major dish. For example, bean curd and pork, and then salted fish. One day it would be salted fish; another day, preserved bean cake. There was always a major dish and a minor dish. One day there would be vegetables like boy-choy or carrots; another day, vermicelli; another day, bean curd; another day, beef and potatoes; another day, dried vegetables. Major dishes were like beef and potatoes, dried vegetables, dried bean curd and pork, vermicelli and pork. Mostly it was pork. There was only one day of beef and potatoes.”
WHAT WAS CONSIDERED SMALL DISHES?
“Salted fish, preserved bean cake. Mostly salted fish. There was only one of preserved bean cake. Sometimes fermented bean paste. The fish came in a huge box and was usually served on Tuesday and Friday.”
WAS THAT CONSIDERED A MAJOR OR MINOR DISH?
“Every day, there were two dishes (one major and one minor). Afternoons, there was congee or sugar soup. On Sundays, we served Chinese noodles. The head cook earned money at lunch. It cost 17 cents a meal for the congee. The 17 cents was set by the Chinese and American government. Before interrogation, the shipping company paid for the meals. After interrogation, you either landed or were deported. These were the only two routes. If you stayed to fight [appeal], you had to pay [for the meals].”
DID ANYONE EVER GET SICK EATING YOUR FOOD?
“No. The hospital said our kitchen was up to standards.”
THE FOOD WAS JUST NOT VERY TASTY?
“That's right. Coarse food. The health department always came to check out the kitchen. If they saw cockroaches, they would fumigate. The liquid they used stung the eyes. They waited until we were off duty before they fumigated. They closed the windows for two hours.”
WHAT DID YOU PUT IN THE CONGEE?
“Minced pork. Nothing else.”
NO OTHER DISHES?
“There were no dishes at lunch. Just congee one day and tapioca the next.”
PEOPLE GOT FULL ON TAPIOCA?
“It was not a matter of being full. You could buy roast pork or beef at lunch.”
WAS IT WESTERN FOOD AT BREAKFAST?
“No. Chinese had Chinese food and Caucasians had Western food--two eggs.”
WAS BREAKFAST FOOD AND DINNER FOOD THE SAME [FOR THE CHINESE]?
“No. But still Chinese food--one major and one minor dish at each meal.”
WHAT HAPPENED IF WHILE AWAITING APPEAL, A DETAINEE RAN OUT OF MONEY FOR FOOD?
“The relatives in San Francisco took care of all that through the attorney. Most sponsors were merchants with businesses. The charge of 17 cents per meal was cheaper than the average meal in San Francisco’s Chinatown, which was 25 cents for beef stew or pot roast.”
Example of a coaching note with a detailed village map hidden inside a banana.
WERE YOU ALLOWED TO TALK TO THE DETAINEES?
“No, we couldn't talk to them.”
BUT YOU SAW EACH OTHER AT MEALS?
“We saw each other but we weren't allowed to speak. They hired whites as service workers.”
WERE YOU ALLOWED TO GO TO SAN FRANCISCO?
“We had one day-off each week.”
WERE THE KITCHEN STAFF GIVEN COACHING NOTES WHEN THEY CAME TO SAN FRANCISCO?
“Yes. It wasn't that simple. It worked this way. A lot of Chinese worked in immigration matters, like Jun You, Yi Lung Hing. If I were working there and quitting, I would introduce you to Jun You at Canton Flower Market. And you would know·to ask him for coaching notes. He would say whether there was or not. There was usually something every day.”
SO YOU WOULD GO UP AND ASK ON YOUR DAY OFF?
“He knew who would be by each day. There were seven or eight of us working [at Angel Island], so there would be someone with a day off every day of the week. For example, you got off at 4 p.m. in the afternoon and went over to San Francisco. You went back the day after at 4 p.m. and began work the morning after. They provided us with a house to live it. It was very nice.”
HOW MUCH WERE YOU PAID EACH TIME YOU TOOK OVER COACHING NOTES?
“Five dollars each time.”
DIDN'T IMMIGRATION SEARCH YOU?
“You were prepared.”
HOW DID YOU HIDE IT?
“We watched to see how tight security was. We would only dare sneak in notes if the policies were liberally enforced. On the days they watched us carefully, we would not take in coaching notes.”
WAS ANYONE EVER CAUGHT?
“No. After a year or two, I decided to quit and work in San Francisco.”
HOW DID YOU GET THE NOTE TO THE DETAINEE?
“They were fast. As soon as we rang a bell, they ran down to get it. There were many stairs.”
THEY CAME DOWN TO GET IT?
“Even after we passed the note, the guards had not arrived.”
YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO HIDE IT IN THE FOOD?
“No, we gave it to them directly. We only did it for people we knew--businesses or relatives we knew. Sometimes, people would come down to the kitchen and help peel potatoes.”
SO YOU GAVE THE NOTES TO THEM?
“That's right.”