Chef in Severn, Maryland

In a kitchen there is typically a lot of tension between cooks, chefs, and front of the house. A kitchen is crazy because it's like a micro-society of people that can stretch from 20-100 people (depending on the size of the operation) with each and every person being essential but eloquently unique; almost like an orchestrated ensemble where the chef is a conductor of a mad group of pirates. Unbeknownst to most outside of the industry, the people who prepare, cook, and serve food barely ever have time to eat themselves. Some restaurants take the time to do family meals, which i find to be the most quintessential meal for any food work related employee in any facet of the industry, because for some it may be the only meal that person ever gets to eat. For me family meal is not only the most important meal of the day for the whole restaurant staff, its the most challenging, but can also be the most fun part of any given day. Any cook can make a family meal, but most fail. Its not about serving oven roasted chicken and overcooked rice everyday until one person complains about have an allergic reaction to poultry. Sure its easy to stuff a sheet tray of raw chicken thighs with some salt and pepper and forget about it after an hour letting it dry to the degree of sandpaper as you clumsily under cook some rice you may or may not have forgotten to put on the stove while you painfully begin your mise en place for the station. OR you could be organized, work efficiently, set up your own station and help another station who got rammed in last night and have nothing left from the night before, all while making a delicious family meal that was different from the past 7 days. Its challenging; damn near impossible for some people, but so worth it to see that smiling face of your co-workers as they say "did you cook this Nick? Thanks bro!' I've cooked a lot of cuisines in my travels across the states; being raised as a Cambodian American ive had to adapt to many styles of cooking through out both my career and personal life. In the end it has only made my flavors unique to me. And although i may not get it right every time i can always say i have fun doing it. And to those who do not understand the importance of family meal riddle me this: How can you cook good food for customers, if you can't even cook good food for the people you work with?