SEATTLE — The two-star Michelin chef, Jose Andres has used his phenomenal culinary skills to help those in need around the world. Andres has received numerous awards over the years, including “2018 Humanitarian of the Year” by the James Beard Foundation, a non-profit culinary arts organization based in New York City. Jose Andres is the owner of ThinkFoodGroup and founder of Jose Andres’ World Central Kitchen. Both organizations are working to end hunger.
Jose Andres’ Educations Projects
Born in Spain, Jose Andres immigrated to the United States in 1991 to work in New York City as a chef. It was not until 2013 that Jose Andres became a naturalized U.S. citizen. Inspired by his immigrant experience, Andres has been an outspoken advocate for immigrant rights.
Jose Andres has helped create culinary programs and classes at George Washington University, Harvard University and School Without Walls. He has also partnered with American Chef Corps and Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves to help improve education projects on cooking and nutrition. Not only has Jose Andres helped others through education and philanthropy, but he has also appeared in television shows including National Archives, Undiscovered Haiti, The Getaway, Hannibal, Made in Spain and Vamos a Cocinar.
Jose Andres’ World Central Kitchen
Following the Haiti earthquake in 2010, Jose Andres founded the World Central Kitchen and has since helped communities affected by the disaster in Brazil, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Zambia and the United States. This non-profit organization is invested in ending hunger and poverty around the world by focusing on health, education, jobs and social enterprise.
Through these four focuses, World Central Kitchen has provided clean cookstoves and food safety and sanitation training, school kitchens that encourage school attendance and reliable revenue, culinary training to elevate the hospitality workforce and other food ventures that have helped create jobs for low-income communities.
The World Central Kitchen has partnered with international organizations to fight against hunger. Some organizations include Cesal, Coptic Mission, Meant2Live Foundation, Dog Tag Bakery, The Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, Partners in Health, Smallholder Farmers Alliance, Fabretto, Switch Haiti and Caring for Cambodia.
Hurricane Maria
Following Hurricane Maria in 2017, World Central Kitchen quickly arrived in Puerto Rico to help after the lack of federal assistance. The organization created emergency kitchens and food trucks to make sure that as many people as possible could receive a nutritious meal. After creating kitchens in any place they could, like stadiums and schools, the #ChefsForPuertoRico served more than 150,000 meals per day.
After Jose Andres thought the government was not doing enough to help Puerto Rico, he took to social media to show what was really happening in Puerto Rico, creating the hashtag #ChefsForPuertoRico. Since then, Jose Andres and the World Central Kitchen have provided over 3.6 million meals for Puerto Ricans. In addition, Andres recently fed 200,000 teenagers in Washington, D.C. who were participating in the March for Our Lives protest.
This Michelin-starred chef has emerged as a leader in the food world and through his humanitarian relief. His belief that food can change the world has already helped millions of people around the world in the wake of disasters. Jose Andres’ World Central Kitchen is just one example of how this immigrant from Spain is working to end poverty in the United States and around the world.
– Andrea Rodriguez
Photo: Flickr