Monday, January 1, 2007

Restaurant Kitchen Workers

New York City has more restaurants per square feet than any other city in the United States. This is because most New Yorkers do not cook or they live in small apartments with minuscule kitchens that are just big enough for a kettle pot and a microwave oven.

As a result, there are ample job opportunities for immigrants who work "behind the scene" at restaurants, as well as in other businesses, where they have minimal contact with the consumers. Almost every restaurant, regardless of the price point or culinary origin, employs immigrant workers in the kitchen. The work is usually long and laborious, and some of these employees are paid below the minimum wage. And yes, most of them are here illegally.

I posted a lot of architectural photos last month (well, it was my first month) so I thought it would be interesting to look at people who live in New York this month.

7 comments:

edwin s said...

Happy New Year! people, things or buildings...doesn't matter what you decide to post. they're all great!

Sally said...

Ming - what a great post for the start of the new year! Have a healthy and happy one, and I'll see you round thru photos!

Anonymous said...

I like it that you are balancing architectural with human. Your posts are always informative, showing us many facets of NY life.

Wishing you wonderful discoveries in 2007! Thanks for all your visits to ELDP, and I look forward to getting to know you better this year.

www.DeltaMovies.com said...

Wow! So you're going to focus on the peeps...here's a thought.

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For a moment, just imagine New York City with all it's grand structures, buildings, parks, and playgrounds...except...something odd...something strange...

ssshhh....

No cars, no motors buzzing, no horns blaring, nothing. No unnatural sounds of any kind.

Perfectly quiet and still.

Deafening silence.

Only the cold uncaring wind whistling around stone, metal, and glass buildings. And the occassion piece of paper whishing down desolate streets.

The city is truly nothing without it's people making it all happen and work every day and night, non stop, for over a hundred years...every nationality, creed, and religion, weaving their own threads into the fabric of this amazing city.

It is an interesting thing to imagine...New York without peeps.
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Happy New Years from the swamps of Louisiana and I'm very much looking forward to seeing and learning more about the unique peeps that make NYC work. A behind the scenes view of NYC work-life. How exciting.

Keep up the good work.

Ming the Merciless said...

Edwin & Sally - Thanks for the comments.

Ruth & Delta - I love architecture & design so I tend to gravitate towards them; plus they don't run away when you point a camera at them. :-)

Unknown said...

hehe... i always wanted to work in a commercial kitchen that has non stop cooking, shh... that's a secret.

Ming the Merciless said...

The chef/owner of my favorite neighorhood cafe said he was amazed at how much it cost to get a 2-year culinary associate degree nowadays. It is like $25,000/year. Not cheap!!