Chef Dayanny is the first female to lead the kitchens of the Formula 1 Grand Prix
Dominican Dayanny de la Cruz is the first woman to lead the kitchens of the Formula 1 Grand Prix, in Miami, Florida.
“I have many years breaking certain barriers that may not be as big as the Super Bowl, but certain paths have been opened”, she told Telemundo Noticias.
For three consecutive days, Dayanny, a native of Nagua, María Trinidad Sánchez province in the Dominican Republic, is responsible for the menus that drivers and fans taste at the stadium.
In 2020 she became the first female chef to lead the culinary program at the NFL’s biggest game, as the league celebrated its 100th season.
From cooking normally for her husband and her three children at her home, she hosted 60,000 people at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami for Super Bowl LIV between the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers.
“We are going to have a Super Bowl but for three days”, she added.
Personalities such as George Bush, Michelle Obama, Jennifer López, Shakira, Beyonce, Jay Z, LeBron James, Serena Williams, Rafael Nadal, and Roger Federer have savored their dishes, thus making their recipes with the Dominican flavor transcends.
The woman told Forbes magazine in January 2020 that “when she was a child in Nagua, with her grandmother Elvira, known as “Mama Vira”, she baked bread or cooked rice and beans after coming home from school”.
At just seven years old, she would climb on a stool to help her grandmother or she would run off to pick up fresh herbs, spices, or fruits and vegetables to add to whatever Elvira was cooking.
“My grandmother was a role model for me because she had to cook every day for everyone”, as she explained to Forbes at the time.