To better understand what’s at stake for undocumented restaurant workers amid the COVID-19 crisis, I spoke, separately and on the condition of anonymity, to an undocumented sous-chef through an interpreter as well as the chef-owner who employs him . In their own words, they explain the open secret of undocumented immigrants in the restaurant world, how life has dramatically changed following the shutdowns, and what that means for them and the industry in the future.
My boss was good to me. He gave me the chance to create dishes, and he helped me, answering my questions and bringing in books for me to look at recipes. I’m now the sous-chef and I run the kitchen, you could say. Four of my dishes are on the menu. In my country, I never thought that I could do something like this, but here I’ve had the freedom to do that. I have this desire to create—it comes from deep inside. But outside of work, you are not really free.
Would I work here legally if I could? Of course. My daughter was born here, and then I could visit my family in Colombia. It’s been a long time. And I would still work in a restaurant, maybe even open my own restaurant, something just for me. The food would be American, and I would be able to give work to the neediest: people who share my experience. Cooking is important to me. It’s what I have learned to do to support myself and make a life here.
Then there are restaurant-adjacent businesses: people who are working at the produce company, the seafood company, the linen company. The dirty rags from a restaurant that disappear and then come back clean—who is washing those? There’s a huge amount of need for employees for these “undesirable” jobs that are hard labor and not great pay.
lmennies So happy that we can fund even more ILLEGAL ALIENS with education (with expenses for ESL classes of course), food stamps, etc., so restaurants can hire them ILLEGALLY to keep expenses down. and listen to this garbage of getting nothing for the drop in the bucket paid in Fed taxes