Outsider to Insider
As I made my way through the tightly packed sidewalk on 61st street, I saw a light brown awning with large white letters that spelled out Farinella poking out the sea of buildings. When I pushed open the glass doors, the smell of warm cheese and tomato sauce filled my nose. There was a long wooden counter that connected both sides of the store. On one side, there were 18 different slices laid out and on the other side was the cash register. Directly across the counter, were four wooden tables with seats beside them. A woman in a fancy black trench coat sat as she watched her friend in the green Canada Goose decide on a slice to eat. I followed the fancy ladies lead and took a seat, as I watched the employees behind the counter stare blankly into the pizza.
I was anxious yet excited walking into my first day of training at Farinella. After the ladies sat down to eat, I asked a girl behind the counter if I could speak to a supervisor and she completely ignored me. Appalled by her behavior, her co-worker immediately apologized and asked who sent me. Looking around for the first time I noticed all the employees were Hispanic, as an outsider this gave me hope because being Latina meant that I had an opportunity to connect with them on a more personal level. Unfortunately, since my first day of training all my co-workers were giving me the cold shoulder. For the next couple of weeks, I was sticking to myself, watching my co-workers and trying to adapt to this new environment. I quickly learned that most of the employees had been working there for over two years, meaning they all knew each other and had already established their places in the shop. Although nobody made the effort to include me in any conversations I put myself in the middle of them. The co-worker who had the most trouble accepting me was the head chef, who everyone called Guero. For example, If I did something incorrectly he wouldn’t bother to tell me, he would just ask a co-worker he was comfortable with to correct me instead. This only lasted a month until I was completely fed up and confronted him. I told him that if he wanted me to do something different he had to say it to my face. It wasn’t until I stood up to him that I felt like I was finally apart of their group. After some time, they even confessed that they were only harsh on me because they didn’t know if I was serious about working there. They’ve seen many people come and go so it’s hard for them to let people into their group. Although they were significantly older we bonded over the similarities between our cultures and economic status.
Finding a job
Before I could even step foot in the kitchen, I was hit with a wave of heat. There were three men in the kitchen, two with plain white baseball caps and one with a tall white hat. In the kitchen, the white tall hat is worn by the head chef. Guero grabbed a container filled with mushrooms and began placing them in a specific pattern along the pizza. Once he was done, I approached his station.
G: What it is like back in México?
G: México is made up of a bunch of small towns called pueblos that aren’t as rich or modern as the Capital. I’m talking about people living in the same houses they grew up in, roads/ sidewalks being broken and barely any stores around. When you grow up in these pueblos you have two options, either you move out and make a better life for yourself somewhere else or you become a farmer and invest all your money in buying crops and animals to sell later. Most children don’t bother to further their education and drop out after middle school because most high schools are either too expensive or far away from home so they just stick to working.
This is a common dilemma faced by many individuals all over South America. People from low-income areas feel trapped in their towns and seek out opportunities in different cities and countries to start a new life.
G: What made you want to become a chef?
G: Growing up my father wasn’t around so the only father figures I had to look up to were my uncles. They would spend hours in the kitchen helping my mom make enough food to feed the entire pueblo. My mother would tell me these stories of when she moved from her hometown to the mountains and all they could afford to eat was handmade tortillas and bean. They would make a broth called guiso out of homegrown vegetables and water to give the beans flavor. The way they were able to create these magnificent tastes with just a few simple ingredients blew my mind every time. I just always knew I belonged in the kitchen.
After quitting his job at a bakery in Mexico he flew to the United States, it wasn’t until 2 months after his arrival that he landed this position. When Latinos come to the U.S they struggle to find jobs, but when they do women are likely to do domestic work while men are more likely to be in food service or construction. According to the survey in Gender and u. s. immigration: Contemporary trends, domestic workers earn $5.90 per hour and work an average of 35 hours per week (5). If someone were to work a week under these conditions they would make approximately $206.50 which is barely enough to pay off bills and adequately feed a family. Discrimination in the workplace is a major obstacle minorities face when finding a job. Due to the gender wage gap in the United States, the Hispanic women makes .53 cents of every dollar a white man does, making them the lowest-paid race. “About 21% of blacks and 16% of Hispanics say they have been discriminated against in relation to hiring, pay or promotion because of their race or ethnicity” (Cooper, 2018). Immigrants are also restricted from high paying jobs because they don’t meet certain criteria to apply. For example, most jobs that pay above minimum wage require the applicant to have some sort of degree, like a GED or a food license. These are documents that aren’t easily accessible to them so they settle for jobs that pay minimum wage or less.
Food Insecurity
After spending money on rent and utilities, some people can’t afford to buy much food for their families. Food insecurity defines this exact problem, the term is used to describe a households’ inability to afford enough food to live a healthy lifestyle. 49,100,1000 people in the United States are food insecure and about 805,000,000 people in the world are as well (Ma). Out of the 13.4 million families that are at the federal poverty level, about 30 percent are Hispanic (Simms, 2019) meaning low-income Hispanic families are at high risk of food insecurity. Being a part of the Latino community, I have seen this issue affect many families including my own. Even individuals who receive assistance from the government struggle to obtain a sufficient amount of food for their families. Not only are Hispanics affected by this but so are other minority groups. According to the USDA, 22.5% of African American households and 18.5% of Hispanic households are food insecure, which is higher than the national average of 12.3% (Cooper, 2018). Minorities experience food insecurity the most because they are more likely to occupy low-paying jobs like “off the book” work or babysitting. Unemployment affects families’ food status because they can’t meet their households needs. Minorities tend to live in low-income communities which also limits their grocery stores and food options (Social Determinants). Due to food insecurity, people learn to value food more than those who have easy access to the food.
As Guero grew impatient of my questions I wrapped up my questions with,
G: What did you do about wasting food back in Mexico?
G: We either give it someone on the street or saved it for ourselves to eat the next morning, but we never wasted anything we didn’t need to.
Being that food security was a challenge for his family, he was taught to value his food and eat every bit of it. He grew up seeing that food wasn’t easy to access so he learned not to take it for granted and treat it an asset. He also watched his family work hard for the food they made, everything from growing vegetables to making homemade tortillas was. This is something not many Americans experience. People who are food secure don’t rely on government assistance and have easy access to food. They often feel like food is easily replaceable, they don’t understand how much work goes into growing their own food and having to make three meals a day out of limited ingredients. Many people who are food secure don’t educate themselves on issues like these and waste food regularly instead of donating or conserving.
