It’s the 11:00 a.m. brunch rush on Monday morning at the Fresno City College Campus Café dining room.
Dozens of students and staff stand in lines, waiting to order their food. The café is abuzz with activities. Students huddle around various tables, eating, chatting, playing cards, or just studying while they await their next class. Voices are occasionally raised, and the chatter and activities stay constant, even as the rush ebbs.
The students’ relaxed mood is in stark contrast to the crew of cooks noticeably scrambling from station to station, taking orders, cooking orders and dispatching foods to the patrons in quick succession. The cooks banter with customers, ribbing and coaxing them as they order and wait for their food.
On this morning, cooks David Walker, Steve Stephens, and Ramiro Gonzales are at work in the kitchen. They move swiftly and in rhythm, like a well-oiled machine. The sounds of clanking utensils and the sizzle of food on the grill mix with the conversations and the temperature rises.  Many FCC students and staff who are patrons of the eatery know the three men by sight, but few know their stories and their commitment to feeding the community.
Working in a kitchen takes a certain sense of passion and dedication, said Gonzales who has worked in the cafeteria for one and a half years.  He said he loves the job and has always been drawn to work in a kitchen.  “There was a time in my life when I couldn’t find my gift,” Gonzales said.  “I always wondered what my gift was, and when I was in high school, I worked with a buddy in a kitchen of a restaurant he owned. I liked the environment.”
Walker also said that he always had a passion for cooking. “I would help my mother in the kitchen when I was eight or nine, even though half of the time, I really didn’t know what I was doing, Walker said. “I was just a kid trying to help his mom.”
In addition to his childhood cooking experiences, Walker also worked at Mono Wind Casino as a cook.  “I love it; it took me a while to adjust to it. While working at the casino, I would have to serve up to 200 tribal members, and if I was by myself, I had to learn to handle it,” he said.  Walker he enjoys the interaction with the customers. “I could be having a bad day, but I don’t let it affect my relationship with the customers,” he said.
The third member of the team, Steve Stephens, said he has always loved cooking. “I’ve had the passion for cooking all my life, and to get paid to do what you like doing, that’ll work,” he said. Stephens is a graduate of the FCC culinary arts program. As a student, he volunteered in the College Cafe and was hired after graduation.
Ramiro Gonzales said of the seamless operation with his co-worker, “I realized that we are like a football team. We all come together to make it happen and get credited for it.”  The staff of 15 people, including cashiers, keeps things running smoothly and the years of experience shows through while watching them work. He said this teamwork and dedication is especially important during the busy times of the day when a lot of students need to be fed fast.
All three look to the future and would love to continue cooking and working in kitchens. For now, however, this team of cooks will continue to feed the customers at the FCC Campus Café.
“In the future I would like to start my own restaurant, but not now with the way the economy is, it’s scary,” Walker said. “You can jump in, but can you swim? That would be later on.”
The ease with which the three move around the kitchen and serve their customers make it seem easy.  It’s not easy,” Walker said. “We got our rhythm in the kitchen.”