Restaurant

Interview 1

Mr. Chan aged 56 who is married with three children is a native Chiu Chow people. He moved to Hong Kong 40 years ago. Since then, he has worked at many Chiu Chow restaurants in Hong Kong. In recent years, he has settled at a famous Chiu Chow restaurant (called 尚興) in Sai Ying Pun.

He used to communicate solely in the Chiu Chow language with his parents. But his wife spoke Cantonese. So he spoke less Chiu Chow after marriage. Although his children comprehend and speak the Chiu Chow language, most of the time they only speak in Cantonese or English, if not talking to grandparents. They acquired the dialect since they were small without learning because they used to go back to Mainland China with their mother and grandmother annually during summer holiday. He cannot foresee if the dialect could be inherited by future generations, but at least he believed he fulfilled his responsibility to pass it on to his children. Apart from the family perspective, he talked about the presence of Chiu Chow in his community, pointing to the Chiu Chow noodle shop opposite to the restaurant he worked at and recognising him as a native Chiu Chow.

“We steam rice cakes on our own during Lunar New Year. It is different from those available in the market because we do not add colorings.”

Being asked if any Chiu Chow traditions during festivals have been kept after moving to Hong Kong, Mr. Chan specifically labelled their cultural habits to be relatively exquisite through the attempt to distinguish the difference between Guangdong culture and Chiu Chow culture.

“I want to try my best to further promote the Chiu Chow cuisine and make it known to a wider audience.”

From his advocation of Chiu Chow gourmet, perseverance working at different Teochew-owned restaurants since moving to Hong Kong, and his clear identification of the presence of Teochew in his surrounding community, we can see that Mr. Chan is proud of being a Chiu Chow people and has a strong sense of belonging to this identity.

“It feels better to hire a Teochew because of the sense of familiarity and the accompanied friendliness.”

Beside Mr. Chan’s passion in Chiu Chow cuisines and his sense of obligation to promote the Chiu Chow style of gourmet to the wider public, he also addressed the significance of the contribution of the Chiu Chow language to the bonding and trust between people. Working in an environment surrounded by Chiu Chow people would give him the sense of friendliness, intimacy, and trustworthiness. At the same time, he felt the same way for the Chiu Chow people employers, that they hire Chiu Chow people for the trust and emotional attachment reasons.

Interview 2

Mr. Fai aged 58 is unmarried. He does not have any children, so he avoided talking about the inheritance of a language. He was born in Hong Kong but his provincial origin was Chiu Chow. He worked for a well-known Chiu Chow restaurant in town for over 30 years. We got in touch with him, being referred by a previous respondent Mr. Chan who is also a Chiu Chow people working next door to Mr. Fai. He did not receive further education after primary school and began working since he was small. He started as a waiter at restaurants. Now he is a supervisor at a Chiu Chow restaurant. Moreover, Mr. Fai used to speak the Chiu Chow language more often at home when his parents were still alive. Now, he get much fewer opportunities to speak in Chiu Chow. Mostly he speaks in Cantonese.

“Who do I talk to in Chiu Chow at home after they passed away?”

The only chance is to talk to other Chiu Chow people in his community, visiting the market daily, meeting Chiu Chow colleagues, and taking orders for Chiu Chow customers at the restaurant. From the tone of Mr. Fai, we could tell his preference for the Chiu Chow language over Cantonese. Regarding the decline of the Chiu Chow language in contemporary society, he is sad about the inevitable change.

“Before the 70s, Chiu Chow restaurants must be owned by Chiu Chow people and you must know the Chiu Chow language to work there. Otherwise you wouldn’t be hired - you couldn’t even comprehend and take orders. Guangdong people wouldn’t be hired. Why should they hire you?”

Time has changed and the Chiu Chow language is no longer the main or popular language spoken in Chiu Chow restaurants. Mr. Fai repeated historical facts to illustrate the high time of the Chiu Chow language and expressed his sense of helplessness towards the fading of the dialect. He explained before the 70s the Chiu Chow language used to be the dominant language for communication within the restaurant settings as the major customers for Chiu Chow restaurants were limited to Chiu Chow. At that time, Teochew went to Chiu Chow restaurants and Guangdong people went for Guangdong cuisines. Since the 80s, customers were from much more diversified origins, so the mode of communication was no longer limited to the Chiu Chow language. Due to the change of customer base given the waves of migrations undergone in Hong Kong, the tradition of using the Chiu Chow language at the Chiu Chow restaurant context has been replaced to cater customers’ need and cope with business development. Still, we can see that Mr. Fai is very much proud of his Chiu Chow identity, while looking down on non-Teochew and non-Chiu Chow style cuisines.

“As Teochew ourselves entering the society and looking for the first job when we were young, of course working in the area of Chiu Chow cuisine is expected and preferred.”

Mr. Fai always refer to himself as ‘a Chiu Chow people' and indexed ‘we Chiu Chow people’ many times explicitly. Besides, his utterance also suggested a presupposition of a higher position for Chiu Chow cuisines within his described hierarchy of food styles. In this way, he demonstrated a strong local identity by indexing.

“Chiu Chow cuisine is undoubtedly more expensive but we use all fresh food, unlike the Shanghainese food which uses frozen ingredients. People who could afford the price would go for Chiu Chow food. Chiu Chow cuisine has always been of higher class than Shanghai or Guangdong dishes. Because we use fresh ingredients.”

A strong sense of belonging and conviction about the high standard and sophistication of Chiu Chou cuisines could be observed throughout the interview with Mr. Fai. By making comparisons with Shanghainese and Hakka food, particularly raising examples of Shanghainese buns and noodles, Mr. Fai emphasized Shanghainese and Hakka use of frozen ingredients in cooking, which further makes Chiu Chow dishes distinguished among other styles. Furthermore, he explicitly described Chiu Chow cuisines to be of ‘higher class’ so as to amplify the social status of Chiu Chow cuisines and differentiate its exquisite culture from other provinces.

“At the restaurant, we talk in Chiu Chow with Teochew. When the customers start talking in Chiu Chow and some of our waiters might not understand, then I would go to serve.”

Mr. Fai persists in communicating in the Chiu Chow language if the customers initiated speaking in Chiu Chow in the first place. Therefore, he showed clear respect to the Chiu Chow language.