Israel To Kick Out Asian Restaurant Workers

[advice]

"We feel an Israeli can hold a wok as well as a Thai or a Chinese person."

we can all hold one, but getting it to wok propery is the problem.

[Jingthing]

If I recall correctly, Chow mein is an American food, not Chinese.

I think you are incorrect. There is American style chow mein and also Chinese style. Otherwise, why is there Hong Style Chow Mein (where the noodles are crispy fried like mee krob). Now chop suey, that is pure Americana, or shall I say Ameribama (yes we caaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan, hand me the cigarette now).

Edited February 16, 2008 by Jingthing

[Ulysses G.]

Now chop suey, that is pure Americana

I've been told that it means "leftovers" in Chinese, so maybe not so "American".

[samran]

a Thai restuarant where they gave me Chopsticks.

?

maybe the thinks chop suey, chow mein and kung pow chicken are all authentic Thai dishes as well.....

[Jingthing]

Now chop suey, that is pure Americana

I've been told that it means "leftovers" in Chinese, so maybe not so "American".

Nope. Purely American. Developed by Chinese cooks in America probably during the Gold Rush era.

From Wiki.

Chop suey (Chinese 'mixed pieces') is an American-Chinese dish consisting of meats (often chicken, beef, shrimp or pork), cooked quickly with vegetables such as bean sprouts, cabbage, and celery and bound in a starch-thickened sauce.

Use of the word ("chop suey" or "za sui") in its Western sense was unknown to the Chinese language in pre-modern times. During his exile in the United States, Liang Qichao, a Guangdong native, wrote in 1903 that there existed in the United States a food item called chop suey which was popularly served by Chinese restaurateurs, but which local Chinese people did not eat.[

Edited February 16, 2008 by Jingthing

[kankaroo]

Well in the UK the opposite is happening. We are experiencing a shortage of skilled curry chefs apparently. Tighter visa restrictions stemmed the flow of ethnic groups such as Bangladeshis into the country and now our beloved national dish is suffering!

Our government realizes that a western chef with a couple of years training in making curries is usually not as good as one who has grown up in the mother country of said type of food.

Makes sense.

[TheDon]

Yeah, it is funny how average Thai food commands higher priced than Chinese food in the west. Pad Thai for example vs. chow mein. Fish sauce is probably cheaper than soy sauce. Definitely a marketing success.

Thai food in Australia is also usually more expensive then Chinese food here, IMO Thai food tastes a hel_l of alot better then Chinese. Here in Australia Thai food has become really popular and Thai resturants are popping up everywhere.

Chinese food is only good when you go to a high end Chinese resturant, but Thai food is pretty much always good. But that might just be my taste in food.

[khunandy]

I think a fare percentage of 'Thai Restaurants' are actually re-branded Chinese restaurants.

I would feel weird going to a asian resturant and white people were the ones cooking and serving.

It definately wouldnt be as good

You mean the race of the person cooking and serving makes for better or worse food?

How very strange

I would also prefer a certain touch of authenticity that occurs when you see the staff and cooks representing the country of the food you are eating.

An Isreali staffed restaurant serving Thai food would be as much of a ring to it as a Thai staffed restaurant cooking and serving Israeli food.

[bruceboy]

Who runs the Burmese restaurants?

[TheDon]

Who runs the Burmese restaurants?

New Zealanders ????

[Pepe']

a Thai restuarant where they gave me Chopsticks.

?

--------------------------

I was always taught to push my food on my spoon with my fork.

Weren't you?

[mellow1]

Who makes hamburgers, French fries, Steaks,KFC, etc, here in Thailand? I haven't seen any westerners working in any of these restaurants.

[kmart]

Just sounds like some politico rattling nationalistic sabres to gather a few votes. That never happens here, does it?

[TheDon]

Who makes hamburgers, French fries, Steaks,KFC, etc, here in Thailand? I haven't seen any westerners working in any of these restaurants.

I know, thats why I dont eat western good in Thailand. I only eat Thai food in Thailand as it tastes 100 times better then what it is in Australia (and its bloody nice too in Oz)

I would never go to a Italian resturant with Thai's working or africans owning the place. We have Aussies too in Australia who have Italian resturant and its just not as good as the Italians who own Italian resturants. Maybe its all in the head but thats just my thoughts

[bina]

anon told me that possibly the sushi dishes might go on strike to protest this new regulation... but we arent holding our breath any....

rules around here always start in february while all the thais wait for their visa extensions to be renewed and the farmers are hysterical about will there be enough workers... meantime, down at the farm, the thai guys told me that 8 new guys coming in (probably on several different moshav/kibbutz visas, and then shared back to us... hope the misrad hapnim (ministry of interior) isnt reading this...)...

anyway, paul from the usa, obviously u dont know what goes on here... thais dont do the visa thang... their 'owners' employers do the paper shuffling , running, and paying for all the renewals, the thais get a five year stint and then that is it... cant come back ever again.. .although enterprising thai from five years ago did the name change thing and came in on a new name. we have a friend here for 11!!! years (two new names) this time round he was fingerprinted at the gates so this is his last stint (he has a fourteen yr old he has barely seen and a large house, a good business, but also a good side line here on the moshav he works at -- thai quasi mafia for money lending, thai mini market on credit, phone cards, etc)...

anyway.. between dec. and feb. every year israel has a foreign visa quota crisis... which always resolves itself after a lot of yackety yack and politic blabla... so that by march/april everything is resolved for this year... after all, the manpower companies stand to lose by this new reg., and restaraunteers, etc etc... and its not like every post army guy is banging at the door to do wok work... (sushi they do; even girls do the sushi stuff with the avocado and omelet rolled in some nasty sauce)

latinos and blacks.......ohmigod........ dont make me laugh... all the nigerian illegal aliens here are worried now that the illegal and countryless sudanese are stealing their jobs by getting political asylum visas and placed to work in restaraunts. as the nigerian worker told my husband, the sudanese are ruining the neighborhood....

ethiopians wont work in restaraunts... they dont like it, they dont do it, and when they do, they are slow and not very good workers.... too shy and quiet also. latinos (morrocans, tunisians, kurdistanis, iraquians, persians, yemenites): well, they run and own a super large majority of the meat restaraunts and keep things in the family for the most part...

tomorrow i will be getting a sample of anon's sushi as his (white, yuppy north tel aviv israeli ) sushi boss is teaching him how to do sushi...

at home, btw, anon does the chicken soup, thai style (knor shrimp flavour, i lie to my son that its kosher)and i do the kneidalach (matza balls)... he loves them, soft style, not the hard leaden style... and we never forget the fresh cuzbara (pakschee)...

its weird really cause even the more cutesy artsy jap restaraunts are really sort of thaish/chinese/stir fry places with lots of atmosphere but not sure how japanese it really is. once there was a korean restaraunt run by koreans but it died off, probably too authentic. israelis are really shnitzel and chips types, they prefer their food recongnizable, they dont like to try things that they cant identify even if they did some crazy trek in nepal and ate bat soup in the amazons. when at home, it has to be recognizable, slightly sweet, with an exotic name. they are more likely to try a new bungee jump then eat something not known.

hence we only have one (1!!!) ethiopian restaraunt in our area but tons of ethiopians here, since most ethiopians are fairly poor, they dont eat out, and they dont have the money to set up a restaraunt, or even a worker style restaraunt, and israelis dont really like the food anyway...

so much for food,

i dont know, maybe if we move to thailand anon will do humous and pita stuff, he really loves the stuff ... with a hotdog shoved inside the pita and lots of hot sauce.... will people come out to korat for humous thai style??? ))) (can i get a work visa for working a humous stall??)

[moe666]

There is a guy in LA who has a van and he serves Korean-Mexican, one of the dishes is kimchi quesidillas, korean style ribs tacos and a number of other things. It just shows if you can put it together they will eat it.

A Thai friend here in New Mexico opened a second restrurant and wanted to use the help from the restrurant he took over well they just never got it, they couldn't grasp the fact that Thai has chilies but not a pound of them. His experiment didn't work and he was having to do all of the cooking. A nothing aganist his workers they were Mexican, hard working guys but the culture wasn't there.

[submaniac]

There is a guy in LA who has a van and he serves Korean-Mexican, one of the dishes is kimchi quesidillas, korean style ribs tacos and a number of other things.

Hi. Is there a reason which would justify resurrecting this thread from February of 2008?

[alyx]

anon told me that possibly the sushi dishes might go on strike to protest this new regulation... but we arent holding our breath any....

rules around here always start in february while all the thais wait for their visa extensions to be renewed and the farmers are hysterical about will there be enough workers... meantime, down at the farm, the thai guys told me that 8 new guys coming in (probably on several different moshav/kibbutz visas, and then shared back to us... hope the misrad hapnim (ministry of interior) isnt reading this...)...

anyway, paul from the usa, obviously u dont know what goes on here... thais dont do the visa thang... their 'owners' employers do the paper shuffling , running, and paying for all the renewals, the thais get a five year stint and then that is it... cant come back ever again.. .although enterprising thai from five years ago did the name change thing and came in on a new name. we have a friend here for 11!!! years (two new names) this time round he was fingerprinted at the gates so this is his last stint (he has a fourteen yr old he has barely seen and a large house, a good business, but also a good side line here on the moshav he works at -- thai quasi mafia for money lending, thai mini market on credit, phone cards, etc)...

anyway.. between dec. and feb. every year israel has a foreign visa quota crisis... which always resolves itself after a lot of yackety yack and politic blabla... so that by march/april everything is resolved for this year... after all, the manpower companies stand to lose by this new reg., and restaraunteers, etc etc... and its not like every post army guy is banging at the door to do wok work... (sushi they do; even girls do the sushi stuff with the avocado and omelet rolled in some nasty sauce)

latinos and blacks.......ohmigod........ dont make me laugh... all the nigerian illegal aliens here are worried now that the illegal and countryless sudanese are stealing their jobs by getting political asylum visas and placed to work in restaraunts. as the nigerian worker told my husband, the sudanese are ruining the neighborhood....

ethiopians wont work in restaraunts... they dont like it, they dont do it, and when they do, they are slow and not very good workers.... too shy and quiet also. latinos (morrocans, tunisians, kurdistanis, iraquians, persians, yemenites): well, they run and own a super large majority of the meat restaraunts and keep things in the family for the most part...

tomorrow i will be getting a sample of anon's sushi as his (white, yuppy north tel aviv israeli ) sushi boss is teaching him how to do sushi...

at home, btw, anon does the chicken soup, thai style (knor shrimp flavour, i lie to my son that its kosher)and i do the kneidalach (matza balls)... he loves them, soft style, not the hard leaden style... and we never forget the fresh cuzbara (pakschee)...

its weird really cause even the more cutesy artsy jap restaraunts are really sort of thaish/chinese/stir fry places with lots of atmosphere but not sure how japanese it really is. once there was a korean restaraunt run by koreans but it died off, probably too authentic. israelis are really shnitzel and chips types, they prefer their food recongnizable, they dont like to try things that they cant identify even if they did some crazy trek in nepal and ate bat soup in the amazons. when at home, it has to be recognizable, slightly sweet, with an exotic name. they are more likely to try a new bungee jump then eat something not known.

hence we only have one (1!!!) ethiopian restaraunt in our area but tons of ethiopians here, since most ethiopians are fairly poor, they dont eat out, and they dont have the money to set up a restaraunt, or even a worker style restaraunt, and israelis dont really like the food anyway...

so much for food,

i dont know, maybe if we move to thailand anon will do humous and pita stuff, he really loves the stuff ... with a hotdog shoved inside the pita and lots of hot sauce.... will people come out to korat for humous thai style??? ))) (can i get a work visa for working a humous stall??)

Hey

I do not mean to be rude (as your posts are well documented and your assessment of the Israeli society sems fair as well as interesting) but I could not help noticing the persistent manner you had to write restaraunt where it is spelled restaurant

[webfact]

anon told me that possibly the sushi dishes might go on strike to protest this new regulation... but we arent holding our breath any....

rules around here always start in february while all the thais wait for their visa extensions to be renewed and the farmers are hysterical about will there be enough workers... meantime, down at the farm, the thai guys told me that 8 new guys coming in (probably on several different moshav/kibbutz visas, and then shared back to us... hope the misrad hapnim (ministry of interior) isnt reading this...)...

anyway, paul from the usa, obviously u dont know what goes on here... thais dont do the visa thang... their 'owners' employers do the paper shuffling , running, and paying for all the renewals, the thais get a five year stint and then that is it... cant come back ever again.. .although enterprising thai from five years ago did the name change thing and came in on a new name. we have a friend here for 11!!! years (two new names) this time round he was fingerprinted at the gates so this is his last stint (he has a fourteen yr old he has barely seen and a large house, a good business, but also a good side line here on the moshav he works at -- thai quasi mafia for money lending, thai mini market on credit, phone cards, etc)...

anyway.. between dec. and feb. every year israel has a foreign visa quota crisis... which always resolves itself after a lot of yackety yack and politic blabla... so that by march/april everything is resolved for this year... after all, the manpower companies stand to lose by this new reg., and restaraunteers, etc etc... and its not like every post army guy is banging at the door to do wok work... (sushi they do; even girls do the sushi stuff with the avocado and omelet rolled in some nasty sauce)

latinos and blacks.......ohmigod........ dont make me laugh... all the nigerian illegal aliens here are worried now that the illegal and countryless sudanese are stealing their jobs by getting political asylum visas and placed to work in restaraunts. as the nigerian worker told my husband, the sudanese are ruining the neighborhood....

ethiopians wont work in restaraunts... they dont like it, they dont do it, and when they do, they are slow and not very good workers.... too shy and quiet also. latinos (morrocans, tunisians, kurdistanis, iraquians, persians, yemenites): well, they run and own a super large majority of the meat restaraunts and keep things in the family for the most part...

tomorrow i will be getting a sample of anon's sushi as his (white, yuppy north tel aviv israeli ) sushi boss is teaching him how to do sushi...

at home, btw, anon does the chicken soup, thai style (knor shrimp flavour, i lie to my son that its kosher)and i do the kneidalach (matza balls)... he loves them, soft style, not the hard leaden style... and we never forget the fresh cuzbara (pakschee)...

its weird really cause even the more cutesy artsy jap restaraunts are really sort of thaish/chinese/stir fry places with lots of atmosphere but not sure how japanese it really is. once there was a korean restaraunt run by koreans but it died off, probably too authentic. israelis are really shnitzel and chips types, they prefer their food recongnizable, they dont like to try things that they cant identify even if they did some crazy trek in nepal and ate bat soup in the amazons. when at home, it has to be recognizable, slightly sweet, with an exotic name. they are more likely to try a new bungee jump then eat something not known.

hence we only have one (1!!!) ethiopian restaraunt in our area but tons of ethiopians here, since most ethiopians are fairly poor, they dont eat out, and they dont have the money to set up a restaraunt, or even a worker style restaraunt, and israelis dont really like the food anyway...

so much for food,

i dont know, maybe if we move to thailand anon will do humous and pita stuff, he really loves the stuff ... with a hotdog shoved inside the pita and lots of hot sauce.... will people come out to korat for humous thai style??? ))) (can i get a work visa for working a humous stall??)

Hey

I do not mean to be rude (as your posts are well documented and your assessment of the Israeli society sems fair as well as interesting) but I could not help noticing the persistent manner you had to write restaraunt where it is spelled restaurant

be aware that not every member is a native English speaker and posts regarding others spelling is poor netiquette.

webfact

[Jingthing]

Bina, its funny to me that Israelis are not very adventurous in the food department. In my experience, that is also the truth just like you state. Contrast that to American Jews in the US who are among the most adventurous of food explorers (liking the real thing fully spiced) there. For example, go to a Burmese or Ethiopian restaurant in the US, among the palefaces, chances are you will find Jews lovin' it.

[Huey]

I just hope that the workers them selves can find decent jobs after they loose their visas. The folks that come to work there make a HUGE sacrifice compared to those that come to work just about anywhere else. Firstly they have to work in isreal, secondly once you have a isreali visa in your passport it becomes nearly impossible to work in much better markets in the middle east like, Kuwait, UAE, Bahrain, ect. I guess they will just have to come back to Thailand get new passports and make up some new work experience. ...once again I'm glad I'm not an isreali.

[bonobo]

I think a fare percentage of 'Thai Restaurants' are actually re-branded Chinese restaurants.

I would feel weird going to a asian resturant and white people were the ones cooking and serving.

It definately wouldnt be as good

You mean the race of the person cooking and serving makes for better or worse food?

How very strange

I would also prefer a certain touch of authenticity that occurs when you see the staff and cooks representing the country of the food you are eating.

An Isreali staffed restaurant serving Thai food would be as much of a ring to it as a Thai staffed restaurant cooking and serving Israeli food.

Good cooks are good cooks, and as long as the training and real ingredients are available, race is not an issue in cuisine.  The best prime rib I have ever had is in a Vietnamese-owned and run restaurant outside of Atlanta, and Zanoti on Soi Saladeang has outstanding Italian food (the owner is Italian, but the cooks are Thai.)  My favorite Japanese restaurant in San Diego has an all Hispanic kitchen (with a Korean owner).

[Jingthing]

I guess they will just have to come back to Thailand get new passports and make up some new work experience. ...once again I'm glad I'm not an isreali.

It was their choice to go to Israel. Nobody made them go. I doubt they were offered a lifetime guarantee. I agree it would be stupid to kick out native chefs, but each country has the right to make its own immigration rules. I am sure Israelis are glad you're not Israeli as well, so its a mitzvah mitzvah ...

Edited October 15, 2009 by Jingthing

[sassienie]

I wonder Israel is using this as a tactic and negotiation ploy. I wonder if the Thai workers in Israel are forced to do Visa runs and now limited to how much time they can spend in Israel in one year?

No, the Israelis have a better solution, they expel the foreigners altogether.

If this statement is true, than Israel has created these laws to suit it`s self, the righteous and the holier than thou, Whose policies, no one dares to question.

There are many Israelis living in Thailand, who are left alone, free to practice their religion and work without hindrance or prejudice by the Thai Government, as is the case in most countries of the world, excluding the Middle east who are at loggerheads with Israel.

If the Thai government expelled them from the Kingdom, than see how fast the world’s media would be accusing the Thais of anti Semitism and unjustifiable conduct.

Edited October 15, 2009 by sassienie

[Huey]

I wonder Israel is using this as a tactic and negotiation ploy. I wonder if the Thai workers in Israel are forced to do Visa runs and now limited to how much time they can spend in Israel in one year?

No, the Israelis have a better solution, they expel the foreigners altogether.

If this statement is true, than Israel has created these laws to suit it`s self, the righteous and the holier than thou, Whose policies, no one dares to question.

There are many Israelis living in Thailand, who are left alone, free to practice their religion and work without hindrance or prejudice by the Thai Government, as is the case in most countries of the world, excluding the Middle east who are at loggerheads with Israel.

If the Thai government expelled them from the Kingdom, than see how fast the world's media would be accusing the Thais of anti Semitism and unjustifiable conduct.

VERY well said. Fortunately for us the Thai govt, even with all it's drama and issues, is still better than to stoop that low. Though I kinda wish they would do it just on GP, and tell the media to kiss their azz. With any luck it would bring light to the situation that caused it.

[mrtoad]

I wonder Israel is using this as a tactic and negotiation ploy. I wonder if the Thai workers in Israel are forced to do Visa runs and now limited to how much time they can spend in Israel in one year?

No, the Israelis have a better solution, they expel the foreigners altogether.

If this statement is true, than Israel has created these laws to suit it`s self, the righteous and the holier than thou, Whose policies, no one dares to question.

There are many Israelis living in Thailand, who are left alone, free to practice their religion and work without hindrance or prejudice by the Thai Government, as is the case in most countries of the world, excluding the Middle east who are at loggerheads with Israel.

If the Thai government expelled them from the Kingdom, than see how fast the world’s media would be accusing the Thais of anti Semitism and unjustifiable conduct.

Good and valid points.

[Jingthing]

As is typical when the Jewish state of Israel comes up here, the comments get suspiciously IRRATIONAL.

So lets keep this real:

-- This was an old post showing an older news item. Are there any updates on what actually happened to the Asian restaurant workers?

-- The workers targeted in the story did not include only Thai workers. It was Asians in general, and that includes Indians.

-- The issue was limited to restaurant workers

-- Israel has unemployment issues like all countries and it is common for many countries to try to protect some industries for their own citizens, this is not a phenom restricted to Jews or Israelis, it is more or less universal

-- Israel is the world's only Jewish state but people of other religions are free to practice their religions there (as long as they are legally there and as long as their religious dogma doesn't involve blowing themselves up on buses, etc.)

-- Someone touted the other Middle Eastern countries as wonderful places for contract work. Perhaps for many. However it is not only Jews who have a problem there. I know personally a Catholic Filipino who arrived in Saudi for a contract job with rosary beads and was subject to a physical beating.

-- Do you think there is even one Israeli in Thailand on a work permit to cook falafel? Maybe there is, and if that is so, perhaps it would be fair to kick those masses of Israeli cooks in Thailand out in direct retaliation (again do any exist?)

Bottom line -- for some people for whatever reason (guess) it is kind of a sport to demonize Israel.

Edited October 15, 2009 by Jingthing

[webfact]

General information -

this topic was started 2008-02-14 - 20 month ago...

The last posting was made 20 month ago.

The post received a reply on October 15, 2009

I'm not sure whether the information in the OP is still valid or not.

If someone cant update this old/new topic it may not live very long.

Edited October 15, 2009 by webfact

[Huey]

As is typical when the Jewish state of Israel comes up here, the comments get suspiciously IRRATIONAL.

So lets keep this real:

-- This was an old post showing an older news item. Are there any updates on what actually happened to the Asian restaurant workers?

-- The workers targeted in the story did not include only Thai workers. It was Asians in general, and that includes Indians.

-- The issue was limited to restaurant workers

-- Israel has unemployment issues like all countries and it is common for many countries to try to protect some industries for their own citizens, this is not a phenom restricted to Jews or Israelis, it is more or less universal

-- Israel is the world's only Jewish state but people of other religions are free to practice their religions there (as long as they are legally there and as long as their religious dogma doesn't involve blowing themselves up on buses, etc.)

-- Someone touted the other Middle Eastern countries as wonderful places for contract work. Perhaps for many. However it is not only Jews who have a problem there. I know personally a Catholic Filipino who arrived in Saudi for a contract job with rosary beads and was subject to a physical beating.

-- Do you think there is even one Israeli in Thailand on a work permit to cook falafel? Maybe there is, and if that is so, perhaps it would be fair to kick those masses of Israeli cooks in Thailand out in direct retaliation (again do any exist?)

Bottom line -- for some people for whatever reason (guess) it is kind of a sport to demonize Israel.

Ok now that we have had the obligatory "How dare you say anything critical about israel rant" can we keep it on subject. I just think it's a shame that the Thais and other Asians who made the sacrifice (a much larger one than had they went to work in the gulf for exsample) to work in isreal suddenly get the boot because isreal can't find better jobs for it citizens than frying up poori bread and pad thai.

Sure, other middle eastern countries are not heven for asian workers, but they do employ TONS of them and account for huge remitances back to their home countires. And the good thing about working in a gulf country it dosn't black list you from working anywere else, AND you don't have to worry about sucide bombers on the streets or in the clubs.

All I'm saying is, sucks to be them (The Thais & other Asians getting booted) and I feel for em. Stop trying to make it about something that it isn't.

[Ulysses G.]

Bottom line -- for some people for whatever reason (guess) it is kind of a sport to demonize Israel.

It is not politically correct to lynch African Americans these days.