Donut People
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0:01 - 0:06♪ Cambodian music ♪
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0:22 - 0:25[DONUT PEOPLE]
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0:30 - 0:32[Samoeurn Phan]
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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 - 1:00I start off by finding a location.
-
1:00 - 1:02If I find a location,
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1:02 - 1:07I get a family that needs a donut shop
to go to look at the location, -
1:07 - 1:10and 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. -
1:14 - 1:17You know, most of them
already know how to make donuts. -
1:17 - 1:20They work for a family member,
-
1:20 - 1:23you know, they've already worked
for like two, three or five years... -
1:23 - 1:26to save up the money
to start up the business. -
1:27 - 1:29[Chandara Meas
Owner of Snowflake Donuts, Galveston] -
1:29 - 1:34[Cambodian Immigrant]
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1:35 - 1:37(Chandara Meas) When I came to the States,
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1:37 - 1:39I don't have no relatives in here,
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1:39 - 1:41so I don't speak that much English,
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1:41 - 1:43so I gotta start to learn English
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1:43 - 1:45and start to work to support myself...
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1:46 - 1:47and I don't have chance
to go back to college, -
1:47 - 1:51so I ended up
at a donut shop right now. -
1:52 - 1:55Most Cambodians who take us,
-
1:55 - 1:57they own a donut shop,
they run a donut business... -
1:58 - 2:00[Congratulations on your new shop Bong!
Wish you all the best!] -
2:00 - 2:02Yeah, you know, it's hard to do it,
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2:02 - 2:05not many people want to do that job
as I'm doing right now. -
2:05 - 2:07[Countless Cambodians were tortured]
-
2:07 - 2:09[and more than a million were killed]
under the brutal Khmer Rouge regime.] -
2:09 - 2:11[More than a million Cambodians fled
and became refugees.] -
2:11 - 2:14From 1975 to 1979,
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2:15 - 2:19there's the Khmer Rouge ran by Pol Pot.
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2:20 - 2:22At that time I was 10 years old,
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2:22 - 2:25I still remember when they tortured...
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2:25 - 2:28a lot of people dying
by starving and sickness... -
2:29 - 2:31most of them were killing people.
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2:33 - 2:34That was a hard time
-
2:34 - 2:38and that was the worst thing
that happened in the world. -
2:40 - 2:46Most Cambodians escaped from the war
in 1981after the Khmer Rouge regime, -
2:47 - 2:50and when they started to come here,
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2:51 - 2:53people don't speak that much English,
-
2:55 - 2:57so that's why they started
working at donut shops -
2:57 - 3:00because most of them what they do
are family business -- -
3:02 - 3:03This is my wife's nephew.
-
3:03 - 3:06He just came
to the United States last year. -
3:07 - 3:10He came in a special case
they call "Lottery Visa". -
3:10 - 3:13He's a lucky one
that won a lottery green card. -
3:16 - 3:21The business we just opened--
it is kind of slow, it's brand new. -
3:21 - 3:24Hopefully, we can own it
for a long time until we get... -
3:25 - 3:26you know, some profit...
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3:27 - 3:30to take care of my family, my kid...
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3:31 - 3:32go to school, go to college...
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3:33 - 3:35I 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 - 3:49The donut people, we wake up
at 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning, -
3:49 - 3:53and we'll be done by 12:00 or 1:00 o'clock
and take a couple-of-hours-nap -
3:53 - 3:56and, you know, get together and then,
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3:56 - 3:59go to sleep, and wake up,
and go to make some more donuts! -
4:01 - 4:06(man singing Karaoke in Cambodian)
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4:10 - 4:13[Tao Ngo Vietnamese Restaurant
North Houston] -
4:13 - 4:15[Cambodian Karaoke Party]
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4:21 - 4:23(end of singing)
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4:25 - 4:28Yeah, we like to get together
because, you know, -
4:28 - 4:29we work seven days a week.
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4:30 - 4:33You know, some wake up at one,
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4:33 - 4:34some of us wake up at two,
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4:34 - 4:36some of us at three...
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4:38 - 4:40and we work seven days a week,
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4:40 - 4:43you know, this is the only fun
that we have. -
4:45 - 4:48♪ Cambodian music ♪
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4:49 - 4:53I would say 95% of the donut shops
in Texas, not just in Houston, -
4:54 - 4:57in Texas is Cambodian-people-owned.
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4:59 - 5:01One one-big -family, that's all.
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5:01 - 5:04♪ Cambodian music ♪
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5:35 - 5:37[Second Generation Donut Shop Owner]
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5:37 - 5:40[Roth's parents, sisters, aunts,
and uncles all own donut shops.] -
5:40 - 5:42My parents bought the store in 1994.
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5:43 - 5:47They would always bring us on weekends
because we have school on weekdays. -
5:47 - 5:50I really dread waking up on the weekend
just to come make donut, you know. -
5:52 - 5:54They told me one day
I'm going to own my business, -
5:54 - 5:57and I kind of say
I didn't want to do this. -
5:57 - 6:01This is not my first choice
of what I really wanted to do. -
6:04 - 6:07For me, I thought going to school
was what I really wanted to do, -
6:07 - 6:09I wanted to experience that life.
-
6:10 - 6:13One day I woke up and I realized
I didn't wanna work for somebody else. -
6:14 - 6:18I called my mom and I told her
I wanted to come back home... -
6:18 - 6:19and try this again,
-
6:19 - 6:21and she was very excited,
very happy for me -
6:21 - 6:25that I can kind of woke up
and I wanted to do this. -
6:28 - 6:30I get up at four o'clock,
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6:31 - 6:34and my sisters,
they get up at about 2:00-2:30, -
6:34 - 6:38they're closer to the plant
so they wake up earlier, -
6:39 - 6:41to go to the plant and--
-
6:41 - 6:42I'm fortunate to have
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6:43 - 6:45a little bit of both,
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6:45 - 6:49so I can stay in bed a little longer
and they can-- -
6:51 - 6:53So when I first got to Houston
I didn't know-- -
6:53 - 6:56I thought my family was
the only one that's doing donuts. -
6:57 - 6:58I come to find out
-
6:58 - 7:01a lot of Cambodian people
have done this way before we have... -
7:01 - 7:05You know, it's like a community
of helping out each other, you know, -
7:05 - 7:08like, people were telling each other
what can make you successful -
7:08 - 7:11and I don't think anybody
was envious of each other, -
7:11 - 7:14they just wanted to see
our culture succeed, -
7:15 - 7:17and the donut business
is where it started -
7:17 - 7:20for a lot of these Cambodian cultures.
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7:20 - 7:22It's definitely a dream
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7:22 - 7:24that a lot of people wanted
when they are in Cambodia, -
7:24 - 7:26to have their own place.
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7:26 - 7:27Back in Cambodia,
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7:28 - 7:30it's a fast, fast-pace life.
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7:30 - 7:33Every day is a struggle to find,
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7:33 - 7:35you know, money and food for the family.
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7:35 - 7:38It made me realized
what I have out here in America. -
7:38 - 7:40As hard as I think I work down here,
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7:40 - 7:44I think that they work harder over there
to make a smaller living. -
7:50 - 7:52My first place when I came,
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7:52 - 7:55I learned in the one Donald's Donut
on el Dorado in Webster. -
7:56 - 7:59And then I breached it out to
a Yankee Doodle Donuts. -
8:01 - 8:07And then, that's when I met David
on the El Dorado store. -
8:07 - 8:09I was teaching him since he was young.
-
8:10 - 8:15I taught him probably
about five years, I believe. -
8:16 - 8:18(David Buehrer) My name is David Buehrer
and this is Morningstar. -
8:18 - 8:19[Houston coffee entrepreneur.]
-
8:19 - 8:22[Spent high school with Sam & Roth
working in the Ouch family donut shop.] -
8:22 - 8:25(Uncle Sam) Most of the time
I don't ask for help but, you know-- -
8:25 - 8:28It surprises me it came up from David
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8:28 - 8:31just to ask me to get into
a business partnership with him. -
8:35 - 8:37(David B.) This is the first thing
I'd learned with-- -
8:37 - 8:40when I was in high school
was how to roll kolaches -
8:40 - 8:43and Sam's family
they would let me roll a kolache -
8:43 - 8:46and they would immediately
unroll the kolache, -
8:46 - 8:49and then they would roll it again
to make sure it was perfect. -
8:49 - 8:52And for like the first three
or four months of me working there -
8:52 - 8:55they never served any of my kolaches.
(chuckles) -
8:56 - 9:00One day they just saw one of them
and decided it was okay, -
9:00 - 9:02and from then on,
they let me roll kolaches for them. -
9:02 - 9:03But it took like months
-
9:03 - 9:06before they even serve
one of the kolaches that I rolled. -
9:06 - 9:09It shows the attention to details,
a level of quality, -
9:09 - 9:11and maybe, I just needed to learn more.
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9:11 - 9:14But it took months to learn
how to roll the kolaches right. -
9:16 - 9:19(David B.) One of the things
we wanted to do with Morningtar -
9:19 - 9:21is bring in the technique that we learned
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9:21 - 9:22from the Cambodian donut shops
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9:22 - 9:27and apply it to the foodie nature
that specialty copy exists in. -
9:27 - 9:30We have a lot of bartenders, and chefs,
and sommelier friends, -
9:30 - 9:33and a lot of our donuts
are inspired by them. -
9:34 - 9:36Yeah, at one point in high school
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9:36 - 9:39I was driving an hour
at two in the morning -
9:39 - 9:42to go and learn how to make donuts
in Magnolia, Texas, with Sam. -
9:42 - 9:46And then, an hour back,
and then go to school by 7:30... -
9:47 - 9:49but, you know,
you do what you gotta do to learn. -
9:49 - 9:51(Uncle Sam) In the nineties, you know,
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9:51 - 9:56that's when the donuts started here
in Houston by the Cambodian community, -
9:56 - 10:01and to now is a long time to me, like...
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10:01 - 10:03we feel like, it needs change,
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10:03 - 10:05it needs some time to change, you know.
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10:06 - 10:09(Uncle Sam) And then,
all of a sudden one day, -
10:09 - 10:14he said-- he calls me pou
--which is Cambodian like, uncle-- -
10:14 - 10:19and he said, "Would you like to do
a donut shop and a coffee together?" -
10:19 - 10:22I said, "Sure",
you know, I never expected it. -
10:26 - 10:28In the future,
-
10:28 - 10:31the new generations
they know that I own this store -
10:31 - 10:34and they want to do something like this.
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10:36 - 10:40I don't want to do
the same thing every day. -
10:40 - 10:43Especially, when doing it
for almost 20 years. -
10:44 - 10:47You're doing the same thing every day,
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10:47 - 10:53and to me, I wouldn't want to go back
and do the same shop -
10:53 - 10:54like a mom-and-pop shop.
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10:55 - 11:00This is the shop that I want to do
as the next one... -
11:00 - 11:01and the next one,
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11:01 - 11:02and the next one...
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11:05 - 11:10People have no idea
what go into a single donut here. -
11:13 - 11:16English 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 |