Dayanny De La Cruz, The Latina Chef Who Made Super Bowl History

2024 Author: Steven Freeman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 08:15

Latin women were the main protagonists of Super Bowl LIV, of this there is no doubt. Demi Lovato opened the night with a masterful performance of the United States national anthem; Then Shakira and Jennifer López made the world dance with an unforgettable Halftime Show; And behind the scenes, another Latina also made a mark in the history of the big game by becoming the first female chef to be in charge of food in a Super Bowl: Dayanny de la Cruz.

Of Dominican blood and with a charisma that highlights her Caribbean roots, Dayanny was charged with the difficult task of feeding the more than 62,000 people who came to Hard Rock Stadium to enjoy the long-awaited game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the San 49ers Francisco.

But not only the food of the fans was under his supervision, each dish prepared in the VIP areas, the celebrity suites and even what Shakira, Jennifer López and their teams ate had the Dominican personal touch.

"It was a magical day, very exciting, we all ran with an adrenaline rush of 120%," the charismatic chef shared with us about everything she experienced on February 2 at Hard Rock Stadium. "I arrived at 1:30 in the morning and left at 10 at night," he told us, also adding that on that day alone he walked more than 17 miles.

Of course, the work required to start an event like the Super Bowl requires a huge team of people and also amounts of food that are hard to imagine. "We brought some 4,000 lobsters, more than 30,000 hot dogs, we smoked 5,000 pounds of pork, we brought more than 9,000 cookies and 5,000 cake pops," are some of the exorbitant numbers that Dayanny remembers.

And while he was unable to meet Shakira and JLo, he did have the opportunity to be very close to other celebrities, including Beyoncé, who upon learning that Dayanny was the first woman in Super Bowl history in charge of food took a time to congratulate her and talk to her. "It was nice … I like that when (the celebrities) are here they feel like home, I don't like that they feel like celebrities, I like that they feel like they come to their house."

Despite the busy day, Dayanny took a few minutes to see one of the most anticipated moments in the world live, the presentation of JLo and Shakira. It was magical. I was thrilled to know that as Latinos, as women we had such a strong presence. The Halftime Show was exciting, beautiful, incredible. At that moment I was struck by the emotion of knowing she was here, that we all as immigrants arrived with the bundle under her arm and we did not imagine that we could create something so big,”the chef shared with us.

Of course, we couldn't help but ask him about the menu he prepared for the thousands of fans who came to Hard Rock Stadium and we were very struck that one of the most popular dishes was a healthy twist option for the traditional burger. "We had an impossible burguer, with lettuce, tomato and a mushroom stir fry that was phenomenal, everyone was fascinated," Dayanny said.