4/12/15
Today I had sushi with a friend at a place in Lakewood called Mamma’s Sushi. Aside from the recent renovation, obvious disorganization, and terrible service, what stood out to me was the distribution of the workers. Anyone greeting customers, seating customers, or making sushi behind the bar, where they were easily seen and partially there for the enjoyment of the customers, was Asian. Anyone busing tables, taking orders, or bringing you food was Hispanic.
This assignment of tasks based upon race is most likely due to the fact that the restaurant wants to uphold an “Asian” aesthetic. Asian food with asian workers just makes sense, right? It makes those who are not used to Asian culture feel that they are having an “authentic” experience. However, aesthetic aside, it is obvious that the multitude of Hispanic workers doing menial jobs sprouts from the fact that minority labor is cheap.
Oftentimes in class, we have spoken about the Hispanic population as those of the working class population. With the growth of white middle class suburbs came the growth of working class Hispanic neighborhoods. The middle class wanted their work to be done for them, and minorities were willing to be paid for these hands-on jobs. This trend has carried itself to our modern day world, where minorities, especially in Southern California, are often employed in working class jobs.
A friend recently told me a story of how one of his coworkers mentioned that you wouldn’t find as many minorities working in fast food restaurants on the East Coast as you would here. And although this coworker was pretty racist, he’s right. That isn’t due necessarily to the fact that minorities can easier surpass social stratifications on the East Coast than on the West Coast. (Maybe they can, but I really don’t know.) Rather, it’s most likely due to the fact that Southern California has a pretty prominent minority population that has lived here since its beginnings.
Contrary to the East’s Plymouth Rock foundation, Southern California was first inhabited by non-white men. Conquerors have aimed to turn the story of Southern California into a Spanish Fantasy, where, similar to the East Coast, the European man has established and grown this wonderful community. But no matter how much minority labor is looked down upon or ignored by those of higher class, it minority labor is an integral part to Southern California’s economic wealth.
On a side note, even though the service was terrible, the sushi was pretty good.
Mama Sushi is one of my favorite sushi restaurants within Lakewood since it’s good sushi at an affordable price. I have many friends who work there (all of which are Asian), but I never realized the ethnic distribution of workers till I read your post. I do find it ironic that my friends that do work there are not Japanese, but customers could still perceive this as an “authentic” Asian experience. I also like how you tied this post to our class.
Angel Mae Elchico
I worked at a sushi restaurant in Irvine for 6 months and we had a more diverse staff in the front of house (only one sushi chef was Japanese), and all of the chefs in the kitchen we Latino. I did have several customers comment on how some sushi chefs were Mexican, and others who mistakenly took the Filipino sushi chefs for Japanese.
As we’ve learned in class, the Latino community in Southern California has nearly always served at the working force, so it isn’t really a surprise that they have a heavy presence in a sushi restaurant (which is just another food service). If people (ahem, white people) think that Latinos workers in sushi restaurants ruins their “authentic Japanese” vibe, these customers should realize California rolls and all that jazz are not authentically Japanese. And you are right in saying that minority labor functions as an integral part of SoCal’s economic wealth. I hope your next sushi endeavor has better service!
