Kuo Hsing-chung (郭興忠) owns two popular Thai restaurants in Taipei that serve dishes meticulously prepared by Kuo and his team of cooks.
At first glance, the restaurants are just two more of the city’s many Thai restaurants.
It’s only when clients enter Kuo’s restaurant on Guangfu South Road and meet the owner that they notice he is missing his left hand — a condition he was born with — and invariably wonder how he manages to cook.
PHOTO: CNA
Kuo is just one of many individuals who have had to overcome a physical disability, but his acquired profession is one that does not lend itself easily to working with only one hand, as he has discovered during his 16-year career.
Some of the simplest kitchen tasks, such as cutting vegetables or stir-frying dishes in a wok, nearly drove Kuo away from the profession more than once, but he persevered and now the chef, known as the “one-handed knife king,” treats his missing hand as nothing more than an inconvenience.
“I have only one hand, but I can do things that a normal person cannot do with two,” the 32-year-old said.
Originally from the Thai-Burmese border town of Mae Salong and moving to Taiwan with his family when he was 12, Kuo was reduced to tears on numerous occasions during his quest for success.
“Fortunately, I didn’t give up in the early years of my apprenticeship. I have accomplished what others may have believed I could never achieve,” he said.
In retrospect, Kuo said he isolated himself from others after he came to Taipei.
“Back then, I was at a loss about the future. From a primitive Thai-Burmese border town to a city like Taipei, I was afraid of strangers’ gaze or glares. Walking in public, I instinctively hid my deformed hand and did not like to show it to others. I feared they would talk about me behind my back,” he said.
The turning point came when he was 16. His uncle, who had opened a Thai restaurant, recruited him as an apprentice.
“I was assigned to work in the kitchen. At first, I thought it was good as I didn’t need to face customers. But my deformity, coupled with my inability to interact with others, discouraged cooks from teaching me anything,” he said.
“They even told my uncle I was unlikely to become a cook or chef. I was enraged. Since they didn’t want to teach me, I told myself I didn’t want to learn,” Kuo said.
After working in the kitchen for half a year, Kuo still could not hold a knife properly and was ready to give up.
But thanks to the repeated encouragements of his father and uncle, and the shock of seeing others get promoted ahead of him, Kuo finally saw the light.
“I couldn’t throw in the towel so easily. I was determined to learn by myself if nobody would teach me,” he said.
He began to observe how cooks cut different foods. During breaks, he would practice cutting discarded carrots and cabbage, using his left elbow to keep things in place as he chopped. It was not easy and he often cut himself.
After several months of “groping in the dark,” he gradually mastered cutting skills, slicing vegetables to a consistent size. Fellow cooks began calling him the “one-handed knife king.”
Then came the equally difficult challenge of stir-frying or sauteing food.
“Woks tend to be heavy. Every step — stirring, seasoning or flavoring and heating — must be perfectly timed for a stir-fried dish to be perfect,” Kuo said.
He remembers throwing away the first sauteed dish he prepared after four months of practice because other workers at his uncle’s restaurant complained that it had a “burnt smell.”
His lack of progress left him downcast and despairing. Worse was to come, as by using one hand to do everything, he suffered severe back ligament injuries.
“The debilitating pain frequently made me cry in the middle of the night. At one point, I thought of giving up,” Kuo said.
“But realizing that I didn’t have many options prevented me from giving up. Even though I had to endure more hardship and adversity, I couldn’t afford to declare defeat,” Kuo said.
After three years of hard work and study, Kuo emerged as a skilled chef of Thai cuisine who can prepare a wide variety of dishes.
In all, it took him eight years to climb to the position of chief chef at his uncle’s restaurant. He did so at the age of 24.
To perfect his culinary art, Kuo has traveled to Thailand many times to study with noted Thai chefs.
Kuo said he was lucky to have had such opportunities.
“They repeatedly encouraged me to take part in culinary contests and they often reminded me that I should never lose confidence because I can do with one hand what others do with two,” Kuo said.
“Their words acted as a wake-up call, boosting my self-confidence and letting me understand that I’m not weak,” he said.
Kuo opened his own restaurant at the age of 28.
“Over the years, my disability has become my strength. Having recognized this, I’m confident I can cope with life’s challenges,” he said.
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