Donut People
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0:01 - 0:06♪ Cambodian music ♪
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0:22 - 0:30[DONUT PEOPLE]
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0:30 - 0:32[Samoeurn Phan]
-
0:32 - 0:35[Affectionately known as
Pou Sam (Uncle Sam)] -
0:35 - 0:39[Sam has opened over 20 donut shops
for Cambodian families across Houston.] -
0:39 - 0:42(Uncle Sam) Well, when I came here in 1994
-
0:42 - 0:47to eat one donut you didn't realize
how much work goes into one donut -
0:48 - 0:51until you actually go into
doing the donuts. -
0:53 - 0:57You know, it takes quite a bit
just to make one donut. -
0:58 - 1:01I start off by finding a location.
-
1:01 - 1:02If I find a location,
-
1:02 - 1:08I get a family that needs a donut shop
to go to look at the location, -
1:08 - 1:11and if they like it,
we negotiate the price, -
1:11 - 1:14and if the price is right,
I build it for them and turn them the key. -
1:15 - 1:18You know, most of them
already know how to make donuts. -
1:18 - 1:20They work for a family member,
-
1:20 - 1:24you know, they've already worked
for like two, three or five years -
1:24 - 1:27to save up the money
to start up the business. -
1:28 - 1:30[Chandara Meas
Owner of Snowflake Donuts, Galveston] -
1:30 - 1:33[Cambodian Immigrant]
-
1:35 - 1:37(Chandara Meas) That's what I'm saying,
when I came to the States, -
1:37 - 1:41I don't have no relatives in here,
I don't speak that much English, -
1:41 - 1:43I gotta start to learn English
-
1:43 - 1:45and start to work to support myself...
-
1:45 - 1:48and I don't have chance
to go back to college, -
1:48 - 1:51so I end up at a donut shop.
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1:51 - 1:54Most Cambodians who take us,
-
1:54 - 1:58they own a donut shop,
they run a donut business... -
1:59 - 2:02yeah, you know, it's hard to do it,
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2:03 - 2:06not many people want to do that job
as I'm doing right now. -
2:07 - 2:09[Countless Cambodians were tortured]
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2:09 - 2:12[and more than a million were killed]
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2:12 - 2:13[under the brutal Khmer Rouge regime.]
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2:13 - 2:15[More than a million Cambodians fled
and became refugees.] -
2:15 - 2:18From 1975 to 1979,
-
2:18 - 2:19there's Khmer Rouge ran by Pol Pot.
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2:19 - 2:22At that time I was 10 years old...
-
2:22 - 2:25I still remember the torture,
-
2:25 - 2:30lot of people died
by starving and sickness... -
2:30 - 2:33most of [the time]
they were killing people. -
2:34 - 2:35That was a hard time
-
2:35 - 2:39and that was the worst thing
that happened in the world. -
2:40 - 2:47Most Cambodians escaped from the war
in 1981after the Khmer Rouge regime, -
2:47 - 2:53and when they started to come here,
people don't speak that much English, -
2:53 - 2:58so that's why they started
working at donut shops -
2:58 - 3:00because most of them what they do
are family business -- -
3:02 - 3:04This is my wife's nephew.
-
3:04 - 3:06He just came to the USA last year.
-
3:07 - 3:10He came in a special case
that they call "Lottery Visa". -
3:10 - 3:13He's a lucky one
that won a lottery green card. -
3:17 - 3:22The business we just opened--
it is kind of slow, it's brand new. -
3:22 - 3:27Hopefully, we can stay for a long time
until we get some profit... -
3:27 - 3:31to take care of my family, my kids...
-
3:31 - 3:33go to school, go to college...
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3:34 - 3:36I have a beautiful kid.
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3:39 - 3:42It's like, if you work for a company,
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3:42 - 3:45you have a different schedule
than the donut people. -
3:45 - 3:49So the donut people,
we wake up at 2:00 or 3:00 am, -
3:49 - 3:54and we'll be done by 12:00 or 1:00 pm,
and take a couple-of-hours-nap, -
3:54 - 3:58and, you know, get together
and then, go to sleep, and wake up, -
3:58 - 4:00and go to make some more donuts!
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4:02 - 4:07(man singing Karaoke in Cambodian)
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4:11 - 4:14[Tao Ngo Vietnamese Restaurant
North Houston] -
4:14 - 4:16[Cambodian Karaoke Party]
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Not Synced(end of singing)
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Not SyncedYeah, we like to get together
because, you know, -
Not Syncedwe work seven days a week.
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Not SyncedSome of us wake up at 1:00 am,
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Not Syncedsome of us wake up at 2:00 am,
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Not Syncedsome of us at 3:00 am,
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Not Syncedand we work seven days a week,
-
Not Syncedyou know, this is the only fun we have.
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Not Synced(Cambodian music)
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Not SyncedI would say 95% of the donut shops
in Texas, not just in Houston, -
Not Syncedin Texas is Cambodian people owned.
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Not SyncedOne one-big -family, that's all.
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Not Synced(Cambodian music)
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Not Synced[Second Generation Donut Shop Owner]
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Not Synced[Roth's parents, sisters, aunts,]
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Not Synced[and uncles all own donut shops.]
-
Not SyncedMy parents bought the store in 1994.
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Not SyncedThey would always bring us on weekends
because we have school on weekdays. -
Not SyncedI really dread waking up on the weekend
just to come make donut, you know. -
Not SyncedThey told me one day
I'm going to own my business -
Not Syncedand I kind of say
I didn't want to do this. -
Not SyncedThis is not my first choice
of what I really wanted to do. -
Not SyncedFor me, going to school
what I really wanted to do, -
Not SyncedI wanted to experience that life.
-
Not SyncedOne day I woke up and I realized
I didn't want to work for somebody else. -
Not SyncedI called my mom and I told her
I wanted to come back home -
Not Syncedand try this again,
-
Not Syncedand she was very excited,
very happy for me -
Not Syncedthat I can kind of woke up
and I wanted to do this. -
Not SyncedI get up at 4:00 am,
-
Not Syncedand my sisters get up
at around 2 - 2:30 am, -
Not Syncedthey're closer to the plant
so they wake up earlier, -
Not Syncedto go to the plant and--
-
Not SyncedI'm fortunately to have
a little bit of both, -
Not Syncedso I can stay in bed a little longer
and they can-- -
Not SyncedSo when I first got to Houston
I didn't know-- -
Not SyncedI thought my family was the only one
that was doing donuts -
Not Syncedbut I come to find out that
-
Not Synceda lot of Cambodian people
have done this way before we have... -
Not SyncedYou know, it's like a community
of helping out each other, you know, -
Not Syncedlike, people were telling each other
what can make you successful -
Not Syncedand I don't think anybody
was envious of each other, -
Not Syncedjust wanted to see our culture succeed,
-
Not Syncedand the donut business
is where it started -
Not Syncedfor a lot of these Cambodian cultures.
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Not SyncedIt's definitely a dream
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Not Syncedthat a lot of people want
when they are in Cambodia, -
Not Syncedto have their own place, back in Cambodia.
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Not SyncedIt's a fast-pace life.
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Not SyncedEvery day is a struggle to find
money and food for the family. -
Not SyncedIt made me realized
what I have out here in America. -
Not SyncedAs hard as I work down here,
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Not SyncedI think that they work harder over there
to make a small living. -
Not SyncedMy first place when I came,
-
Not Syncedare the one along with Donald's Donut
on el Dorado in Webster. -
Not SyncedThen I preach it out to
Yankee Doodle Donuts. -
Not SyncedAnd that's when I met David
on the El Dorado store. -
Not SyncedI was teaching him since he was young.
-
Not SyncedI taught him probably
about five years, I believe. -
Not Synced(David Buehrer) My name is David Buehrer
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Not Syncedand this is Morningstar.
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Not Synced(Uncle Sam) Most of the time
I don't ask for help, you know. -
Not SyncedIt surprises me it came up from David
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Not Syncedjust to ask me to get into
a business partnership with him. -
Not Synced(David B.) This is the first I'd learned with--
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Not Syncedwhen I was in high school
was how to roll kolaches -
Not Syncedand Sam's family
they would let me roll a kolache -
Not Syncedand they would immediately
unroll the kolache, -
Not Syncedand then they would roll it again
to make sure it was perfect. -
Not SyncedAnd for like the first three
or four months of me working there -
Not Syncedthey never served any of my kolaches.
(chuckles) -
Not SyncedOne day they just saw one of them
and decided it was okay, -
Not Syncedand from then on,
they let me roll kolaches for them. -
Not SyncedBut it took like months
-
Not Syncedbefore they even serve
one of the kolaches that I rolled. -
Not SyncedIt shows the attention to details
on level of quality -
Not Syncedand maybe, I just needed to learn more,
-
Not Syncedbut it took months to roll
the kolaches with them. -
Not Synced(David B.) One of the things
we wanted to do with Morningtar -
Not Syncedis bring in the technique that we learned
from the Cambodian donut shops -
Not Syncedand apply it to the foodie nature
that specialty copy exists in. -
Not SyncedWe have a lot of bartenders, and chefs,
and sommelier friends, -
Not Syncedand a lot of our donuts
are inspired by them. -
Not SyncedYeah, at one point in high school
I was driving at two in the morning -
Not Syncedto go and learn how to make donuts
in Magnolia, Texas, with Sam. -
Not SyncedAnd then, an hour back,
and then go to school by 7:30, so... -
Not Syncedbut you do what you gotta do to learn.
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Not Synced(Sam P.) In the nineties, you know,
-
Not Syncedthat's when the donuts started here
in Houston by the Cambodian community -
Not Syncedto now is a long time to me...
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Not SyncedYou feel like it needs change,
it needs some time to change. -
Not Synced(Sam P.) And then,
all of a sudden one day, -
Not Syncedhe called me pou,
which is Cambodian for uncle, -
Not Syncedand said, "Would you like to do
a donut shop and a coffee together?", -
Not SyncedI said, "Sure", but, you know,
I never expected it. -
Not SyncedIn the future, you know,
-
Not Syncedthe new generations
they know that I own the store -
Not Syncedand they want to do something like this.
-
Not SyncedI don't want to do
the same thing every day, you know. -
Not SyncedEspecially, because I've been doing it
for almost 20 years. -
Not SyncedYou're doing the same thing every day,
-
Not Syncedand to me, I wouldn't want to go back
and do the same shop -
Not Syncedlike a mom-and-pop shop.
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Not SyncedThis is the shop that I want to do
as the next one... -
Not SyncedAnd the next one, and the next one...
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Not SyncedPeople have no idea
what goes into a single donut here. -
Not SyncedEnglish subtitles by
Jenny Lam-Chowdhury
- Title:
- Donut People
- Description:
-
"This short food film tells the story of Cambodian immigrants in Texas, where Cambodians own an estimated 95% of the donut shops. Some of the film's subjects escaped torture and persecution in Cambodia at the hands of the Khmer Rouge. Interviews with immigrants and their children offer insights into the culture. The film wraps up with a look at the exciting new style of Cambodian donut shop/coffee house with gourmet Asian donuts and hip baristas."
DISCLAIMER: I don't own this video and I'm not monetizing it. This is a copy only used with the purpose of adding subtitles and making it accessible to more people around the world.
"Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use."
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- Eating With My Five Senses
- Project:
- Food Film Festival - New York 2019
- Duration:
- 11:46
Jenny Lam published English subtitles for Donut People | ||
Jenny Lam edited English subtitles for Donut People | ||
Jenny Lam edited English subtitles for Donut People | ||
Jenny Lam edited English subtitles for Donut People | ||
Jenny Lam edited English subtitles for Donut People | ||
Jenny Lam edited English subtitles for Donut People | ||
Jenny Lam edited English subtitles for Donut People | ||
Jenny Lam edited English subtitles for Donut People |