As a chef, culinary explorer and a son, sometimes I feel like there are problems that I can’t seem to solve or run away from. One main problem is my family. Don’t get me wrong, I still respect my family but now it’s not really “love”, it’s more like respect. The reason being is that they don’t respect, know and appreciate how much work I’ve done for the past 5 years. I can talk about them all day but I’ll try to make this short and sweet (I think sweet is a terrible word to use).

Back when I was in grade 12, I told my parents I want to pursue my career in the food industry. They were totally against that since every Asian parent wants their child to be a doctor, lawyer, engineer (you know, all those high paying jobs). I told them, “If you help me pay for my tuition, I’ll pay you back once I get a well-paying job”. Luckily they finally gave in and gave me the money for my tuition. For all my first year in George Brown, I worked my ass off. I went to school 30 hours a week and worked 30-40 hours a week. I was basically a full time student and a full time cook in my first year. So many people know that I worked so hard in my first year; everyone except my parents. They still regret that they let me go to culinary school. 

Fast forward 8 months later, I was working part time at my workplace during my midterms. Suddenly, I had some severe pain in my chest. Later, my heart was pounding and I was having some trouble breathing. I was rushed to the hospital due to breathing problems. A week later, my manager told me that she was glad I was alright. Everyone at my workplace was really worried about me. My manager also told me that when my mom was there to pick me up, she tried to calm her down. But then she did nothing but to complain that I was a coward, troublemaker, animal. Of course I was furious at my mom. She spreads a bunch of bullshit to the people I know and worked with. Like I don’t know what’s so fucking complicated for her to not spread a bunch of lies!

Urghh. Fast forward another year and a half later, it’s my second graduation at my second program at Centennial College. I was pretty excited because it’s my last program that I’m going to for a while. After that, it’s onto the worklife. The day before the graduation my mom got angry said something that really pissed me off. I swear, it’s still stuck in my mind to this day. She said “I still don’t get why you’re still working in the food industry. They don’t make much money and you’re wasting your energy and time. I shouldn’t have supported you in the first place” First she said I was a coward, now she tells me that I made the wrong decision?? She got so pissed off, she said that she and my dad are not going to my graduation! I still don’t forgive her to this day. 

How is it my family is so blind? I’ve been working my ass off for 5 years and they still don’t get how driven I am in this industry. They don’t even know the name of my program I was in at George Brown. That’s so embarrassing! My parents are so blind eyed and they don’t appreciate how much work I’ve done. My friends from church hoped and prayed for me that everything will be alright and my parents will open up. It’s been fucking 5 years! It’s gotten to a point that God can’t even fix this mess. I swear, when I die, all my friends, workers, people I love the most will know how much work. Meanwhile, there will be my family, being all delusional and will be thinking I was a coward. No matter how hard you’ll try to convince my family, they’ll still think their opinion is more stronger than yours. That’s how my family is; whining, delusional fucking assholes.