While developing his recipe, Luis Santos called his aunts who make tamales every weekend: “I called the experts.” (USC Photo/Stephen Gee)
Keck Medical Center of USC chef wins national award for plant-based tamale recipe
STORY AND VIDEOS: Executive Chef Luis Santos’ deconstructed Honduran tamale was chosen from five finalists. Read the backstory — and learn how to make the delicious dish.
Award-winning gourmet food is not something most people would expect to enjoy at a hospital. However, Keck Medical Center of USC Executive Chef Luis Santos is working to change that. His plant-based deconstructed Honduran tamale was named this year’s winner of the nationwide Health Care Culinary Contest.
Santos’ unique twist on a traditional recipe was inspired in part by his family’s Honduran heritage.
“We are very inclusive at Keck Medical Center of USC, and I have never seen my heritage in our creations, so I decided to incorporate my culture,” Santos said. “I had to call my aunts that make tamales every weekend for a living for advice. Essentially, I called the experts.”
Luis Santos discusses the inspiration behind the dish:
Santos oversees the preparation of more than 3,000 meals daily. “I was glad to see that a lot of the critics that tried this dish felt that it was a gourmet dish,” he said.
“I had a lot of people that wanted a meat version who were happy to eat this dish and told me how great it was,” he said.
Luis Santos shows you how to make his award-winning plant-based deconstructed Honduran tamale:
Santos was recognized at the CleanMed 2025 conference in Atlanta on May 6-8, where his award-winning dish was served to attendees. He will also be celebrated at the Culinary Institute of America’s Menus of Change Leadership Summit in June in Hyde Park, New York.
The annual competition is organized by Health Care Without Harm, Practice Greenhealth and Menus of Change, an initiative of The Culinary Institute of America, the Harvard University T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and the College of Food Innovation & Technology at Johnson & Wales University in Rhode Island. It aims to inspire culinary health care professionals to elevate their menus with plant-based options that promote sustainability.
