On a regular basis, hard-working chefs like my father, uncle and their community of friends suffer prejudice against their techniques and field ignorant and snide remarks about ingredients, which can be especially damaging to animal lovers, as insulting cat and dog comments are made. Stress is added by complaints that in any other type of restaurant would seem ludicrous.

However, 11-hour days of manual labor and emotional cost aside, one of the biggest job-related risks actually occurs outside of the takeout.

Life on the Road

The job of a delivery driver has historically been a harsh and underappreciated one, regardless of whom they’re delivering for. Today’s takeouts are all expected to deliver, but the danger isn’t just about driving under treacherous conditions and tight time constraints.

Deliverers are forced to tread especially cautiously in light of escalating gun-related violence across New York State. According to the latest statistics from the NYS Division of Criminal Justice Services, robberies involving firearms reported outside of New York City are up 5 percent—from 2,688 in 2007 to 2,823 in 2008.

Besides robberies, other risks to delivery personnel include muggings, racially provoked pranks, kidnappings and even murder—all of which seem pointless, since money is often left behind, as in the case of Fangwang Chen, a 31-year-old Chinese food deliveryman shot in the head while delivering a $22 order in the Bronx in 2008.

“The attackers didn’t even take Mr. Chen’s money, which makes this an even more outrageous and senseless act,” Jimmy Cheng, president of the Fujian American Association, told the New York Daily News at the time.

More recently, Gao Ji, a deliveryman for Dah Wah Chinese Kitchen in Wyandanch, was beaten, robbed, blindfolded, handcuffed and imprisoned by two teenagers while delivering food in November 2009.

Luckily, Ji escaped with his life.

A Life Not Squandered

Not all of the community views the Chinese-Americans in their neighborhoods as interlopers, though, and the majority of takeout clientele demonstrate kindness and courtesy to their local restaurateurs, seeing the guy behind the counter for what he really is—a fellow man. A sense of contribution and relationships with regulars, fostered throughout the years, gives takeout owners like my father a sense of connection to their adopted country, as they watch the children of their customers grow up, and vice versa.

Like any classic mom-and-pop, kids of a certain age are a common sight and just as iconic as the establishments they help out at, busily contributing to their families and learning life skills, as my sisters and I, and now, my brother, have done. The reasoning: It’s preferred to keep their youngsters at their sides instead of leaving them unsupervised or as latchkey kids; the companionship also better makes up for the long hours at work and ensure that they’re not absentee parents in their children’s lives.

Yung H. Cheng and You Feng Lin are one of many husband-wife takeout teams on Long Island, living icons in our island’s heritage.

After all, it’s these children—children like me, whose past includes studying literature or playing Game Boy in the corner—that are truly the heart of takeout culture, that make the owners feel that their lives were lived with purpose. The parents carry on, but the next generation is why they do what they so laboriously do every day. The first Chinese-American generation endures the hardship, the shouted racial slurs and embarrassing exchanges, long days, and lack of personal life for meager compensation—and considers it a fair price to pay if their children make the most of the Land of Opportunity.

“We work for our kids, so they can have a chance at a better life,” my uncle, Man Cheng, asserts. My father adds: “We do this so that they can choose not to.”

My uncle has bittersweet nostalgia for the industry that has supported our family for what is now two generations.

“It’s the lifeblood that gives us a foothold, a field that’s non-threatening because it doesn’t take jobs away from anybody. Instead, we add value where we go, actively contributing to where we own businesses,” he says.

Although life in a takeout is a challenging one, fraught with worry and built on sweat equity, like any family business in America, it’s not without its rewards.

“When I get compliments on the cooking I love to do, or when a customer is too tired to cook and I can give them fresh, healthy food for their family, it makes me feel good,” my dad says. “And as I put my kids through college, so that they can choose their own future…well, that makes everything worth it.”

Su-Jit Lin-DeSimone is a prodigal daughter of Long Island, one of Oakdale’s newest residents by way of New Orleans. A shameless food junkie and the former food editor for Where Y’at Magazine, her contributions can also be found in many other Louisiana publications, including St. Charles Avenue, New Orleans Bride, Louisiana Cookin’, and various travel guides for the Crescent City, including the “Hungry City” series. She is a freelance writer for Examiner.com’s Long Island Historical Landmarks section as well as TheVicariousFoodWhore(.com).