Sacramento is known as a gastronomic destination and famous for its farm-to-fork ethos, but I doubt you’ll find Santana Diaz’s establishment on the list of “places to go”; in fact, he calls it ‘the hotel that I hope my family and friends never visit.’ Diaz is a renowned local chef who has revolutionized the kitchens and catering at UC Davis Health, turning haute cuisine into hospital cuisine.

Please share your journey with us.  

I [attended] culinary school, trying to produce the prettiest, most flavorsome, style-focused food. The director saw something in me and connected me with the Sacramento Kings’ owners’ personal, French-trained chef. After cooking for the owners and players, I moved onto other opportunities and bigger establishments: The Firehouse Restaurant, Taste Restaurant and Wine Bar, Nieman Marcus in Walnut Creek, Omni Hotels & Resorts, and Hyatt Regency Santa Clara/Santa Clara Convention Center, where I cooked for thousands. The venues were growing, and I was relishing the challenge.

It was then that the director of my culinary school reached out. He’d been following my career and could see what I was achieving. He said, “The San Francisco 49ers are opening a new stadium—would you like to be involved?” I’m a Niners fan and so my answer was yes! I worked Super Bowl 50, which was the largest event of my career to date: roughly 150,000 meals in one day.  

But I wanted to return to my roots in Sacramento. I came back in 2016 and helped open Golden 1 Center with the leading sustainable sports food program in the world at the time—90% of the food and beverages were sourced within 150 miles of the arena.  

Tell us more about your ethos toward food.

I’m all about supporting local and transparency of the food “chain,” which means investing in the local economy and reducing our carbon footprint. For Super Bowl 50, for example, instead of buying oranges from Florida, we purchased them from Auburn and Newcastle.

I’ve built some great relationships with local farmers and ranchers over the years and am at the point where I can say to them, for example, ‘I’m going to need 9,000 pounds of asparagus this spring. Can you supply that?’ The trust is already there, and farmers agree to these huge shopping lists! 

However, and this is a big however, I don’t want the agricultural producers to become dependent on us; I don’t want them putting all their eggs in one basket. We set a limit on how much we buy from them, which means we’re not their only customer.

How did you become the executive chef at UC Davis Health?

I was approached by their CEO who found me via Patrick Mulvaney (the father of Sacramento’s farm-to-fork scene) of Mulvaney’s B&L. It came at a time when my moral compass was directing me to serving the community and so I thought, ‘I can apply my knowledge and experience from preparing mass-produced food, plus the relationships I have with farmers and ranchers, and turn it into something positive.’ When I joined the hospital in 2017, 16.46% of the menu (which evolves with the seasons) was sourced locally; by the end of 2018 it had increased to 43%; fast forward to today and that percentage exceeds 70% at certain times of the year.

What is a typical day like?

When I started, the days were full-on and stressful. I had to sacrifice a lot to make the necessary changes, which required long days, every day: menu creation, produce procurement, training, mentoring, understanding the needs of my new clients: the patients, the staff (providing nutritious and tasty food that a nurse can eat in a 20-minute lunch break), and the visitors.

One child asked for mac and cheese, for example. They were used to it out of a box, but we weren’t going to do that! In my mind, food is a pathway to health. We had to be creative and make it look and taste like boxed mac and cheese but using fresh pasta and locally sourced cheese. We couldn’t add herbs, as we may have wished, as that would have put them off, but we did add turmeric to achieve the right orange color. That’s the level of detail we go to!   

These days, as director of culinary operations and innovation/executive chef, I have two sous chefs and manage the day-to-day food program, which involves more strategic projects such as how catering will expand as the campus expands and [creating] menus for patients—understanding the nuances of certain medical conditions, plus what can be consumed and how. We’re always thinking about how we can deliver the best food possible; even if a patient requests a burger, it’ll be made with California’s finest organic beef, freshly made bread, and locally sourced toppings. Food is medicine. Sometimes, I roll up my sleeves and go back to the kitchen, which I always enjoy.

It all sounds so demanding. How do you unwind?

It is demanding! Considering I work in a medical facility; however, I know I must look after my body and mind. I walk, swim, and once a week talk to someone—the latter of which I’ve been doing for a couple years. I’ve found it to be incredibly beneficial; it’s a space for me to offload rather than doing so at home.  

Photo courtesy of UC Davis Health.