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Just before we start, this episode contains some strong language and descriptions of violence.

When our restaurant was firebombed, it was kind of like this puzzle for my eight-year-old brain that didn't quite fit together.

And I didn't have all the pieces.

I just had these half-remembered scenes. And as I got older, I sort of collected more info,

more of these puzzle pieces. And it only came together really slowly. In some ways, I still don't have all the pieces. And it wasn't just like this for me. Other restaurant kids say they've had the same experience. Like, take

Josh, for example, his dad worked in the kitchen of the Lingnan restaurant, which was attacked a few

months after hours.

And the thing he remembers most clearly about that time isn't the fear or the racism.

It was a kind of game, a roulette game, but with canned food.

So, so after the fire, obviously, the restaurant had to close for repairs, even though it was minor.

Josh's dad had to stay home, and for Josh, he was too young to understand why the restaurant was closed.

This was kind of awesome.

Because nowadays he wasn't at the restaurant so much, he would actually be home for dinner.

So then he would start cooking dinner for us again.

The fire had damaged the restaurant and part of the storeroom, and Josh's dad had managed to salvage a bunch of tin cans of food.

Well, we are all this by nature.

It wasn't a lot, but it's still better than waste.

But the catch was they had no idea what was in the cans,

because after the fire, none of them had labels.

Because I thought it got burnt off or washed off by the fire hoses.

Every can was a new surprise.

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