How old were you when you ran under the bombs?
He was 11 years old when the civil war between Lon Nol’s Republic Party and Pol Pot’s Communist Party broke out. It was horrible, Pol Pot forced the students to demonstrate in his favor and I escaped, if they had caught me they would have killed me.
He was lucky.
I have. Another day I was riding a motorcycle and a bomb fell next to me, I was shot. Lying on the ground I saw corpses and wrecked cars around me. I remember the salty taste of the saliva, I didn’t know if it was blood.
Was she injured?
She was unharmed! That day I was born again. Four years later I asked my father to let me go to Paris, but he said that girls were not allowed to leave the house.
How was it done?
I went on a hunger strike and my father relented on the condition that my brother, six years younger than me, would accompany me to watch over me. But my mother used to tell me: “Study, earn a living, don’t depend on any man”. After a year Pol Pot took power and I lost all communication with the family.
How difficult.
I arrived in Paris when I was 18, my brother was adopted by a family, I was a working girl coming from a family that had a working girl. My father was a successful businessman, I didn’t last long.
what did he do next
Temporary jobs as kitchen helper, dishwasher, nurse. I cried every night, I didn’t know anything about my parents.
Why did you go to Barcelona?
I fell in love with a Chinese man who lived here. I worked for a restaurant and in 1980 I opened the first Asian restaurant in Barcelona, ??it was very successful, and after three years I opened another.
Ambitious?
I wanted to create a factory of pre-cooked spring rolls and I started making them myself when I closed the restaurants at night, slept four hours a day, and sold them cold door to delicatessens and grocery stores.
And what was her husband doing?
It helped a little, not much. When I opened the second restaurant I separated.
He got his factory.
Yes, and I made a line of rolls and three delicious rice. I wanted to show my father, the great businessman who lost everything in the war, that someone was following his legacy.
A woman.
Yes, my father was sexist, it was the mentality of the moment; he always told us that we women didn’t have the ability or the intelligence to work like a man, and I wanted him to see that what he said was false.
Has it been recognized?
He didn’t say it, but he did. My parents ended up refugees in Zurich, he died and my mother and her sisters are still there.
Did you continue to expand the business?
I set up another restaurant, which is run by my brother, the one who had to watch over me. The factory grew, with a turnover of 17 million a year, but collapsed due to covid and excessive success.
explain it to me
I grew and invested a lot, with the covid the demand continued but I had no workers, they were all oriental and they were scared. I had to sell.
Is he back on the attack?
I have just created a pre-cooked Latin American cuisine company (empanadas, fajitas, chicken chili). I start from scratch: new machinery, new people, new product.
Valentine.
Re-creating a company is very hard, and I’m 70 years old, but I find it a beautiful challenge despite the uncertainty. Illusion vivifies, without illusion you get nowhere.
What has he learned in this life?
That every day you have to learn new things and contribute something to the world. Employing people fills me up, and I love seeing restaurant customers leave their plates empty.
I’ll take care of it.
At eight in the morning I’m already at the factory, when I leave I go to the restaurant to serve customers, it’s my life. And the guys who work for me love me like I’m their mother.
Did she feel alone?
Yes, when Pastas Gallo bought me and I stayed with them developing product I didn’t like it. My company was a big family, we all loved each other. With the jump to a multinational this was lost. They, logically, cared about the numbers and I cared about the concept of family and quality.
I understand.
Today in my R&D room I make food for all the workers every day. What interests me is humane treatment and that everyone is comfortable working.
what scares you
When I see harsh images of the current wars on television I start to cry.
