Meet Victoria Kraus | Nonprofit Staff, Food Professional

We had the good fortune of connecting with Victoria Kraus and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Victoria, how has your background shaped the person you are today?

I was born and raised in low-income, working-class communities that were predominantly Latino in the East LA and San Gabriel Valley areas before internet and mobile phones were ubiquitous, and when households still watched network television at the same time in their time zones. Domestic and international phone calls were placed on land lines at home and conversations were generally brief. My family made and received frequent phone calls to and from Japan when calls were $2 per minute. This meant that such phone calls were planned, deliberate, and brief.

Growing up, my brother and I spent most of our time at our local Boys and Girls Club in Baldwin Park at the boxing gym, in the judo room, playing pool and basketball, doing arts and crafts, and staying til 9pm when the club closed.  Our parents were hardly home during the week and weekends as they always worked.  My father – a white Jewish graduate of Los Angeles High School – was a delivery truck driver for a while with Lucky Strike, Frito Lay, and Fornaca Bakeries before he started selling Winnebagos, then used cars.  My mother – a Japanese immigrant from Tokyo – was always working, often double shifts as a waitress at a Japanese restaurant in the City of Industry.  On the weekends, she’d work at Yaohan in Little Tokyo or Marukai in Gardena all day – morning til early evening – offering food samples to patrons.  She’d often then work the dinner shift at the Japanese restaurant.  On her one day off – Wednesdays – she’d do the laundry at home, but more often would take gigs cleaning homes for elderly Japanese folks in Arcadia, San Marino, Alhambra, and other odd jobs through her Japanese immigrant women network.  My mother was also a low-level Amway distributor selling – but mostly keeping inventory in the garage – multivitamins, dish soap, steel wool packs, glass cleaner, the Queen cookware line, among other items.

My multicultural background and upbringing in the communities I lived in LA had great impact on who I am today.  I would say that watching my parents work the way they did and the jobs they did, constantly struggling financially, and living in a stressful household, impaired my vision of how I viewed ordinary life for the ordinary person.  Living life seemed to be an austere existence made even more burdensome with the responsibility of child-rearing.

It took me many years of trial and error – through working over 50 jobs, mainly in the food industry in LA – that even in the most challenging of circumstances whether financial or social or environmental, the most important thing I can do is my best and be my best, and if I’m facing a particularly difficult challenge, that I ask for support among my trusted network of friends and colleagues.  Easy to say, yet difficult to do, especially having grown up in a very culturally stoic, Japanese household.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.

I’ve mostly worked as a barista at independent cafes and at farmers markets in LA, as a sandwich maker at a bagel shop, as a server at a tiny Japanese restaurant in Boyle Heights, as a cashier/greeter/window cleaner at the now-gone Curry House in Little Tokyo, briefly as a line cook at a Cantonese restaurant, as a cater waiter and cook at private parties, as a mochi maker and packer during the New Year’s season at the now-closed Kinokuni on Jefferson, as a cashier and food runner at Casita del Campo in Silver Lake, and as a cashier at the register at Enbun Market (now Nijiya) in 1998 and 1999 in Little Tokyo when I was in high school, as an order taker, beverage maker, and cook on a few food trucks, among many other jobs.  There were times between these jobs when I thought I should pursue something different, like teaching or working in nonprofit.  I tried these jobs out but eventually got tired of them and found my way back to the unstable, backbreaking, low pay work in food.

In my 30s, I went through a love-hate phase with food industry work.  Loving it for the creative challenge and satisfaction of sharing with others, especially receiving positive feedback.  Not loving it for the mental and physical toll it took on me, the unstable income, and the lack of security in all senses of the word.

I believe my cumulative work experience strengthened my understanding of myself, accepting my limitations, and challenging to think of other creative ways to express myself without compromising my identity.  I’m in a place that is difficult to describe but can be summed up as an inner confidence developed over time, through making mistakes, and being at peace with my past.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?

I like spending time at LACMA for its large collection of contemporary and historical art.  I also like being at the Getty above the 405 for its serene views of LA. Griffith Park Observatory is a must.  I would say, though, drive as far away from LA as possible, north ideally, to Santa Barbara, Carpinteria, and/or the Santa Ynez Valley to get out of the city and noise and lights and traffic.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?

I was particularly struck and astounded by the in-depth research and interviews conducted by author, Benjamin Lorr, in his book, The Secret Life of Groceries: The Dark Miracle of the American Supermarket.  I believe anyone working in the restaurant, trucking, grocery, international trade, shipping, farming, agriculture, ranching, maritime, hotel and hospitality industries in the US – especially those working on on the frontlines – must read this book (alongside Fast Food Nation) to better understand the inner-workings of American and international trade policies, capitalism in America, and how the American economy and the growing wealth divide in our country is no coincidence.

My shoutouts go to all those working on the frontlines of small independent restaurants, the independent contract truck drivers who have no union protections, fellow baristas and line cooks who I used to work with, and anyone working under the table and getting by, fighting for their hard-earned dollar to pay their rent and feed their family; the people who don’t have the luxury of working from home, and those who can’t make it out to neighborhood community meetings on weeknights because they work the graveyard shifts.  These are the people who inspire me the most and remind me to not give up.

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Image Credits
Celine Vacher Helen Kim Janet Kim