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An apple tree grows in
Hunting Park P
by Matt Kelchner hiladelphia police officer for 10 years, Food Network’s Ultimate Grand Chopped Champion, a master’s degree, post-baccalaureate certification in paralegal. For most people, having just one of these on their list of achievements would be enough for a lifetime. For the famed “cop-turned-chef” Diana Sabater,
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she’s just getting started. Next on her list? Entrepreneurship. Currently, Sabater owns and operates an online store selling homemade seasonings. The idea came to her one afternoon while experimenting with homemade hot sauces in the kitchen. She thought, “I could make spice blends for people that make it really easy to flavor their food.” And thus, Diana’s Spice Cantina was born. Sabater does all the heavylifting for her latest endeavour. Well, she actually does all of the lifting. From drying and blending the spices, right down to creating her own compost to use, Sabater does it all. When she’s not hard at work creating a new batch of products to sell, she’s developing new ones. Sabater even keeps a notebook close by at all times to jot down all of the great ideas that come to mind. The love of cooking was instilled at a very young age. Some of Sabater’s earliest memories of the kitchen center around her grandmother. “Whenever she was in the kitchen, she dominated the kitchen,” she emphasized while recounting all of the delicious Puerto Rican meals her grandmother made. “That was her place.”
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Despite all of this, becoming a professional chef was never something a young Sabater strived to be. “My plan was to learn many different languages and travel the world as an FBI agent,” she recalls. “I wanted to be that femme fatale who was solving crimes all over the world.” But after failing the FBI program admissions test twice, she set her eyes on a more local level - becoming a Philadelphia police officer. A friend suggesested Sabater gain some in-field experience before attempting to take the FBI test again. So she set out to join the ranks of the proud men and women patrolling and protecting our streets. “Being a Philadelphia cop, there was never a dull moment.” She wound up working the midnight shift in the same district she grew up in – Hunting Park. “I got to see a side of the area that I didn’t see growing up.” It was unfortunately, a darker, more dangerous one. Sabater explains how civilians don’t always see the same side as cops. Growing up, her mom moved her family out of the neighborhood and into Olney, in search of a better area to raise her children. After she retired from the force, Sabater swore she would never go back to the area. But years later, she
| ROWHOME MAGAZINE | April / May / June 2019
came back with Esperanza, a faithbased non-profit organization that seeks to strengthen the Hispanic community. “They showed me the progress that they helped to make in Hunting Park.” She was shocked, but in a good way. Esperanza helped to set up an Amish farmers market on Saturdays, built community gardens, and even planted an apple orchard. “It was nice to see that the area was not being neglected.” Sabater’s goal in any job she has is to see herself grow and evolve. After 10 years, obtaining a master’s degree and post-baccalaureate certification, she never got the promotion she hoped for in the police force. Around the same time, the Food Network was hosting auditions for Chopped, a show that pits professional chefs of all backgrounds against one another. “For fun, I decided to apply to go on this food competition.” Not only was she picked to compete, but Sabater won. And she kept winning until she eventually become the Ultimate Grand Chopped Champion. With her confidence high and a head full of steam, switching careers seemed like it was destined to happen now. After winning, Sabater thought to herself, ‘Okay, great, now I have credibility with this title. Now I can take things to the next level.’ Her first professional cooking job saw her making routine trips north to New York City. “I’m either going to sink or swim” she says. “The
first opportunity I’m going to get, I’m going to run with it.” Within weeks, she was getting booked for dinner parties. In true Sabater fashion, she continued brainstorming new ideas and ventures, even while finding success in New York. “I liked the idea of being mobile.” The thought of owning her own food truck could not escape Sabater’s mind. “I had an opportunity to get a food truck but the deal fell through,” she says. Her dreams of owning a food truck had crumbled and it was a huge financial loss. Sabater stopped cooking but not for long. “After a couple days of mourning the loss, I told myself, ‘okay you’ve got to get up and get back into the kitchen.’” That’s when Diana’s Spice Cantina was born. Ideas started to flow, again. Hot sauces, spice blends, even cooking aprons. There are plenty of people who go through a difficult situation, get crushed and give up. “I’m not that kind of person. I’m not going to give up on myself. One of my strongest assets is my creativity.” Looking back, Sabater acknowledges that the highs and lows she’s experienced have been nothing short of unique. “It’s been quite a journey. With everything in my life, I’ve learned that when something doesn’t work out, it doesn’t mean I need to stop what I’m doing. It just means I need to regroup and take what I learned from the past situation to make the next one even better.” PRH gohomephilly.com