I have been here as a cook for around five or six years, but I’ve been in the district for so many years — since 2013.

I had a kid at Ardenwood Elementary School, so I volunteered a lot helping teachers out in the library or whatever the school needed. One time they said, ‘Hey, you are a volunteer a lot. Why don’t you become a new supervisor?’ I said, ‘I love kids anyways, so yeah.’ One year, one of the child nutrition workers had stomach pain and was sick, so I put on my hairnet, washed my hands, and all the kids said, ‘Yes, Ms. Chanthy, you are finally here!’ That’s how I started and fell in love with child nutrition. 

Our daily routine really depends on the menu. So first we set ourselves up: your hairnet and your hair, and then you set up all the equipment. When I cooked, it’s not only for high school, I cooked for elementary as well. Every day we cooked about 2000 meals. We check our equipment, like the oven, to make sure it is on and on the temperature that is required. We also start preparing for the next day. For example, if we’re done cooking the pizza today, and tomorrow there’s orange chicken, we continue preparing for the next day. There are a lot of things to do, but it’s a lot of fun.

Since we are in high school, and students are older, more understanding, everything comes smoothly, and I love all of you guys. 

Sometimes there is a lot of chopping — green onions and a lot of crying. One time a supervisor came from the district, and it just so happened that day I had to cut so many green onions. Many people also called in sick, so I had to cut green onions as a cook myself. The tears were coming up, my supervisor asked me if I was okay but it was just the green onions.

I love cooking. Can you believe it? At home, sometimes more than 20 people come over and I cook for them. Sometimes I make egg rolls, and sometimes wonton. I cook for my crew, and then I also make glass noodles. We cook a lot of those, just not for the students, because it was a long process. We cannot make 1000 here, so I just cook for my group which I enjoy a lot.