Chef Diego Garcia: I Had Nothing to Fall Back On

Carl Fiadini (0:00)

Chef Diego Garcia was born in Queens to Mexican immigrant parents. When his father was deported, his family returned to Mexico and Diego spent much of his childhood in Puebla, surrounded by food in a way most of us will never experience. On one side of the family were markets, farms, fruits and vegetables. On the other side was barbacoa. By 11 or 12 years old, Diego was helping his father and grandfather process goats and cook barbacoa underground. Then at 14 years old, he came back to New York, alone. His parents couldn't come with him. He wasn't going to school. He barely spoke English. He worked nights, washed dishes and eventually found his way into the kitchen of a French restaurant near the World Trade Center.

But there was another part of that story. For a period of time, Diego had nowhere to live. He slept in the New York City subway. He worked two jobs. He waited until his coworkers left so he can clean himself up in restaurant bathrooms. Some nights he'd sit in Union Square and watch people heading home, knowing he didn't have a home to go to.

His parents back in Mexico didn't know. Eventually he saved enough money, rented a room and never slept on the street again.

What followed was a career built almost entirely inside kitchens. French technique, Italian cooking, seafood, Nordic influences, Mexican tradition, New York, California, Long Island and eventually here in Tampa. But today the most important thing Diego carried out of those years wasn't technique. It was an understanding of what it feels like to struggle and a decision that if he ever had the opportunity to lead people, he would do it differently. Chef, you're 14 years old, you're back in New York without your parents, and eventually you're sleeping in the subway. When you think about that kid today, how did he keep going?

Diego Garcia (1:39)

I think what kept me going was pure necessity.

I didn't have any money at all. I didn't have anybody to depend on, and that made it easier for me to keep on going forward. I knew that I didn't have anything to fall back on. So, that to me was a huge, it was like a huge push for me because that kept me moving because I know what was already behind me. So, I wanted to find out where can I get if I kept on going.

Carl Fiadini (2:11)

You're a teenager, young teenager, barely speaking English, no parents. Did you even understand how vulnerable you really were?

Diego Garcia (2:22)

I don't think that I understood how vulnerable I was because I was too focused on trying to grow up.

But I did understand that it was hard. I understand that it wasn't right. But I guess I just kept on going one day at a time and just trying to get there and just try to let time do its thing.

Carl Fiadini (2:47)

But whose choice was this?

Diego Garcia (2:50)

It was my choice to come to the US by myself. It was purely my choice and my mom didn't want to let me. But back home, there was anything for me. I wasn't going to school. I wasn't getting any education. I was working in the streets selling bananas and fruits in the streets.

I had to buy my own shoes. There was one time where I had to buy a pair of Crocs and I wore that pair of Crocs for probably three years.

That pair of Crocs had a huge hole in the sole. So I would cut out cardboard and like soles and put them inside there. So all of that just really got to me. When I was older, I was like, you know what, I already have papers. I'm an American citizen, so I'm working here in Mexico for nothing. So might as well go to the United States and work for something.

Carl Fiadini (3:39)

That's not easy for a mother. Forget it not being easy for you. You made the choice, right? So there's a bed, you're sleeping in it.

Your mother in another country, far away.

Were you communicating with her?

Diego Garcia (3:56)

I would call her every week, but it wasn't easy for her. No, she felt bad for it for a long time.

She always carried that inside of her. She was very protective of us, but she understood that she didn't have anything to give me in Mexico. So it was either that or I could go back to the US and make a life for myself. And she understood that and she had to carry that weight.

Carl Fiadini (4:25)

How come you were compelled to not tell them you were homeless, that you were sleeping in subways?