We were lucky to catch up with Mae Chandran recently and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Mae thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?
Being one of the eight contestants chosen to be on pbs 2024 (Season 3)”The Great American Recipe” has been an honor for me – a culmination of all my experience as a home cook and the awards and accalades I have received through the years.
The other project that has been extremely meaningful to me is writing my memoirs. For years my story has been like a volcano inside me waiting to explode so I had to write my story. I was born in China in an era when the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, the only Act passed by Congress that was directed at an ethic group – the Chinese- deeply affected my life as well as the lives of millions of other Chinese. Yet presently this sad chapter of American history has been forgotton and never taught in our schools while the rebeverations still run deep in the annals and very fabric that make up the history of the Chinese-Americans.
Mae, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I was born in Guangzhou, China in 1948 and came to this country at the age of 8. I grew up in the family restaurant business in Fall River, MA where we lived on top of the restaurant with my parents, my brother, his wife and children. It was a very dysfunctional family with much in fighting and my only solace was attending school. I could not wait to attend college when I chose the furthest college away from home – University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA). It was there I met my husband who was a graduate student from Sri Lanka. Upon marriage my family except for my mother disowned me because I had married a foreigner. After receiving a BA in Asian Languages from UCLA I attended Loyola Marymont and received my MBA. I worked in the accounting department at Getty Oil Company. It was during that time when the “Women’s Libration Movement” was at its height. I was always torn between a so called career and having a family because to me my job as an accountant just helped me pay the bills, nothing more. When I had my second child, I quit my job and stayed home taking care of my two children. I knew that I was never going to set the world on fire with my accounting knowledge but I knew that I might make a big difference in a child’s life. By this time my husband and I had made some real estate investment so I was handling that in addition to taking care of my home and children.
Later I purchased a crystal shop at a swapmeet and worked on the weekends for extra income. I put my kids who where now 7 and 12 to work there also. I didn’t know it then but the fact they were working so early made a profound difference in their lives. Both became entrepreneurs and are now head of their own companies. My daughter is Founder/CEO of Tea Drops and my son is Co-Founder/CEO of XANO, one of the fastest growing “no code” companies in the country. I am naturally very proud of them and am so happy we as a family and their respective spouses and children are very close. My daughter, the ambitious entrepreneur once asked me, “Mom, didn’t you ever wanted more than just a happy family”? I told her I wanted to be a business tycoon too but I knew they were going to achieve what I couldn’t achieve. Because I grew up in a dysfunctional family my whole goal in life was to be happy and have a happy, closed knitted family. I believe I have achieved this, creating a family that I had only dreamed about during my childhood. To me that is an achievement.
Throughout my life my passion has been cooking. That was the case while growing up in the restaurant business when I used to experiment with my recipes after the restaurant had closed. Throughout my youth, I have collected a vast cooking library along with written recipes. I was head of our hospitality committee for 18 years at our temple where we served from 500 – 1000 congregants every month with homemade goodies. We also had a Bake Sale every month. Because our Bake Sales were so popular, we were one of the highest fundraisers. Through my years being the chair person, I often entered contests such as for pies and marmalades. I did this to add “pizzazz” to our items. Along the way I won an award for our popular apple pies and an impressive International Silver Award for my marmalades from the Dalemain Marmalade Awards in the UK. where over 3,000 entries are received from all over the world!
I was elated to have been chosen as one of the eight (8) home cooks in the country to participate on pbs’ 2024 Season 3 “The Great American Recipe”. This was truly an honor because to have been even selected for the show one had to be one of the best home cooks in the country. We contestants from all parts of the country ranging from Alaska to Boston flew into Nashville last fall to compete and to film 8 episodes of the cooking show. These episodes were shown nationally over an 8 week period from mid June through mid August 2024 on pbs. The best part of this amazing experience was that I had become great friends with my fellow contestants. To find friends who have the same interests and passions is so wonderful! We have already created our own little chat group where we all keep in touch. I know we will be life-long friends. In fact by the time this article gets published I would have been visited by two of the contestants, one being the winner of the show who will be staying with me during her visit.
Besides my deep interest in family and cooking, I also enjoy gardening. My garden has been featured in the garden issue of “The Malibu Times”. Presently I am working on my memoirs in addition to enjoying my family, especially my grandchildren. This period of my life are truly the golden years and I am so blessed to be able to enjoy them with my husband of 48 years who has always been my biggest supporter and cheerleader.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
In a society that worships sons, people like my father thought me worthless simply because I was born female. As a result of this thinking, he sold my birth papers which was worth a lot of money especially in light of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 which forbade Chinese immigration to the US with rare exceptions. A person possessing these fraudulent papers could easily immigrate to America which was considered a land of opportunity and called “Gam Saan” which means Golden Mountain. As a result, when my mother was called to join my father in America in 1952 when I was 4, I could not accompany her because I had no identity. I was left with a poor couple with 4 small children who took me in only because my parents would send them money regularly to look after me. Even though I was a mere child, they treated me like a servant and could care less about my welfare. After school, I did my chores and then like a street urchin would roam the streets of Hong Kong where I was living for entertainment. When I contracted maleria at the age of 6 and became very ill, I was hospitalized for a week with no visitors. I doubt my parents knew about this. My luck changed at the age of 8 when I was finally reunited with my parents in America. Because I had been left alone during these formative years, I have always been somewhat of a loner, and have always been self reliant.
Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?
Often when I see my daughter and son being entrepreneurs, I think I was born at the wrong time. During my 20’s, 30’s there was no such thing as the internet where one can turn to for information or find resources at one’s fingertips that is so helpful in one’s entrepreneurship or creative journey.. Today, I see how easy it is to just “google” something to find the information needed and find the many support groups that are so helpful in one’s professional or creative journey. There simply were not the same resources available during my time and as a result making it “big” was much more difficult. Today with the power of the internet, the so called ” playing field” has become much more level.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: maechandran
Image Credits
pbs Season 3 “The Great American Recipe”