The Exchanges

Q Jose, this is a question from Magda Rodriguez Hunt, and Magda asks, um, what is it that, that drives your passion? Like, what, is there a story that explains why you chose to put so much of your energy and effort into this work?

A I don't, I don't think it's, it's mean just one thing. I think it's mean a lot of things. Maybe when I opened Jaleo on Seventh and E, downtown Washington DC, that my restaurant Jaleo is across the street from a red brick building. It says the missing soldier's office. This was the building where Clara Barton herself had her headquarters. Clara Wharton is such an amazing American hero because single-handed, she was able to create a network to provide relief to the soldiers, wounded soldiers during the Civil War. Thanks to her, the American Red Cross was created. My mom and dad were nurses. I spent a lot of time in the hospitals because they had different ships and the hospital was the place, uh, my brothers and I, we, We will exchange mother and father, and I think fondly of these hospitals. Watching how my mom and my dad and their friends were always working beyond their duty to bring comfort and relief to people that were sick and sometimes without family members, I saw that the small gestures, they have very big input. For me as a cook, very early on, I learned that if I could put at the service Of others, especially in emergencies, to feed people, sometimes in my own community, that is real hunger, um, is obvious. When I joined Robert Egger in 1993, the year I arrived in Washington, D.C., Robert Egger being one of the best foot fighters in the history of America, he told me …

AI assessment note: “I don't think it's just one thing. I think it's a lot of things.”

Q What was it like to be in that kitchen in those early days? Was it just crazy? Was Ferran nice, kind? Was he tough? Was it, what was the atmosphere there like?

A Ferran was all of the above because things were happening in very quick moments. One moment, I remember I had a gelatin of almond milk. Everybody knows that the gelatin is good when it's cold. If it's hot, it melts. I had a pot of hot oil. Ferran came towards the gelatin of almond, and he began looking at the oil, and I could see that he was thinking about dropping the almond milk into the hot oil. All of the cooks in the kitchen, we were five at a time, we were quickly looking at each other. He's gonna do it. He's gonna do it. Why he's gonna do it? This is gonna be bad. Everybody knows if you put a hot gelatin in hot oil, it's gonna melt, and it's gonna explode. Well, in that moment, the almond milk going into the hot oil exploded. Yeah. 12 years later, he created the liquid croqueta. That you will put in your mouth, will be like a traditional croqueta, the flavor of chicken, and will explode in your mouth. But that was the message of who Ferran Adria was. The message was, don't be afraid of trying, and don't take things for granted. You have to experience and discover things in your own. If you follow the teachings before you, you are only following what somebody else has done before you. You need Not only to read and, and learn the theory, you need to discover on your own. That's the moment of true learning.

AI assessment note: “Ferran was all of the above because things were happening in very quick moments.”

Q I mean, given that you're running a major company now with, with hundreds of employees, um, do you, do you get to log as many hours or spend as much time in, in the kitchen or in the creative side of really building up interesting menus, or do you kind of have to give, let go a little bit and let other people come up with that stuff?

A I, I spend a lot of, of my, what I will call brain time thinking and creating. I cook at all hours, in my free time and in my non-free time. Cooking is what I really enjoy. I see myself very much like a orchestra director. He doesn't play any instrument, but he's able to produce beautiful music. But you know one thing, I'm very lucky that I have Chefs, sous chefs, GMs, managers, sommeliers, that many of them, they are as talented, if no more talented, that I am. And what I have that always work very well is, in, in my thin food group, we have what we call the thin food tank. That's my creative arm, and for me, creating that arm of eight, nine, 10, 11, 12 individuals, That the only thing they do is thinking, creating, and maintaining quality is a very powerful research and development tool, and I use it a lot. My team travels with me a lot. We always go to faraway countries. We are always getting inspired, because if you want to get inspired, you have to be on the move.

AI assessment note: “I see myself very much like a orchestra director.”

Q If you are a young chef or a young businessman, man or woman trying to get into the food industry today, what advice would you give to a, you know, a, a, a twenty-two-year-old Jose Andres today?

A Well, um, the biggest advice is I wish I, I finish high school. I wish I finish university. I have a seventeen-year-old daughter, Carlota, and we're going through the process, and kind of seems she, she's a green we're going into, she's gonna do business, because you can be anything you want, and you will always work for yourself. I don't care if you wanna be Painting in the middle of the streets of Washington DC. I don't care if you want to be singing with a rose in Fifth Avenue. I don't care what's the crazy business you want to be part of. Make sure that you have the business background. Business is something I wish I learned when I was 15. Uh, I had 30 years of the school of life. Now, I think I'm gonna be putting these next 30 years in putting into practice everything I learned over the last 30.

AI assessment note: “Make sure that you have the business background.”

Q Sort of along those lines, Julie Munoz on Facebook asks, how can you sustain World Central Kitchen? Three million meals is an incredible number. How do you keep it going? I mean, do you have enough funds to keep that going indefinitely?

A Uh, if we ever look at the bank account of World Central Kitchen, before we went to Bahamas, or Puerto Rico, or North Carolina, or Florida, or Indonesia, and we base our response on the money we had in the bank, we wouldn't do one meal yet. We always said, let's go. Let's do it. And hopefully goodwill and good people will come to support us. That's been the case. I think what Sandra Kitchen has earned a lot of credibility over the years by showing up first and sometimes leaving the last and providing smart solutions in very critical situations. And more than ever, I think people are relying on us because we began even when nobody recognized this was going to be a Uh, humanitarian crisis, and we have, uh, a lot of individuals. Obviously, we have big donors. Philanthropy is playing a big role, but then the heart of World Central Kitchen is really the individuals that give us one, two, three, four, five dollars, and with that, we are able to be sustaining what we do around the world, and especially in this moment. How much longer can we go? I don't know. We, we have money. We're gonna keep doing it. Uh, we always tell people, don't worry. Before you send us your money, we already spend it. But I believe we put that money at work. We do more with every dollar than anybody. We make sure that we reach the places that are really neat. Uh, again, I'm not the guy. I'm, I'm just the foun…

AI assessment note: “How much longer can we go? I don't know. We, we have money.”

Q A lot of questions about how people can help. This is from Sheila DeCastro. She thanks you for everything you're doing. She says she'd, she'd love to volunteer with World Central Kitchen, but I am hesitant due to exposure. What are other ways we can help?

A Listen, I have a brother, um, works in New York. He was in the Spanish military. He became a cook. And my brother, even being an amazing and strong guy, he had some asthma issues when he was younger, and we know that respiratory sickness is a big problem. So I told him, don't try to be a hero. It's okay to stay home. So people can do a lot of things from home. Uh, sometimes retweeting a good will Twitter video that you see, or something that you think is positive. Uh, sometimes with a finger and your social media, you can be, uh, spreading good messaging, good stories, uh, good news. And these may seem not like much, but believe me, when people keep spreading the good news that brings all of us together, this is a very powerful way to do it. So if only you are home and you are retweeting, think highly of yourself, because you are helping between millions more doing the same. Spreading that message. If you are staying home, actually you are doing what our leaders, especially the health experts, are telling us to do. Staying home is going to be saving the lives of many, including the doctors and nurses that they are putting their lives and their families at risk. So even staying home may not look much to you, but actually is great because you can be going out probably, but you are deciding to be a team member. And team member means that loving each other is to stay away from each…

AI assessment note: “So people can do a lot of things from home. Uh, sometimes retweeting”

Q been a very difficult, um, period the last few years. Um, the polarization, vitriol, the, the anger, the cruelty, and there's a lot of anxiety out there. A lot of people watching are anxious. I'm anxious sometimes. Um, can you tell me if you're hopeful? Like if you think about, I know the next five years in the United States, like what, what are your reasons for just being hopeful?

A My reason to being hopeful are obvious. Near where my restaurant opened, uh, the National Archives. There we had the documents of the creation of our nation, and there are three beautiful words. We, the people. I do believe that we've reached a moment that seems that those people that don't think like you are your enemy, and we all are going to have to ask ourselves, who are those Forces. I would say even negative forces that are creating that environment. Forces that somehow they don't believe in respect. Forces that somehow think that whatever is good for them must not be good for others. And I don't believe that's what America stands for, and I know because I've been in every single corner in America in the last years in many emergencies, and there I don't see Republicans, there I don't see Democrats, there are, I only see Americans with the people coming together and joining forces To provide comfort, relief, and aid to fellow Americans. I think it's the moment that we need to stand up to the meaning of we, the people, and our American flag. A flag that I never thought of the stars as states, but me, early on, when I was young, I thought that the stars symbolized the beautiful sky and night with all these stars where everything in America was possible, and that you could dream as big as you wanted. I felt very stupid when I realized was the stars for the states, and when I …

AI assessment note: “there I only see Americans with the people coming together and joining forces”

Q working in Puerto Rico, and you were in the Spanish Navy cooking for the, the Admiral, and I mean, you, you became a world famous chef, and now you are probably better known as an activist, a humanitarian activist, like, I mean, it's kind of crazy. Did you ever imagine that just you, your life would kind of go in a completely, kind of a, just a totally different direction?

A Well, I mean, I still see myself as, as a cook. Before this pandemic began, you know, I wanted to be one of the best chefs in the world. Now, I'm only trying to be recognized by my daughters that I'm an actually ok cook. How things change all of a sudden. Now my main objective is convince my three daughters and my wife that every meal I make It's great. And actually I'm highly unsuccessful because they are very critical of daddy. And believe me, I'm like, woof, forget Michelin stars and forget trying to be one of the best chefs ever. It's much more harder trying to convince my three daughters how good of a cook I am. Forget the name chef anymore. So this is humbling in many ways. And I'm enjoying every single second. I'm expanding with them in, in ways, probably Uh, will define our relationship for the years to come because we're going through this together. But for me, I feel the feel is the reality. In my Michelin star restaurant mini bar, we feed 16 people every day only in a very expensive restaurant. Only a few hundred people every year can eat in that restaurant. But our talent, the talent that every single food person has is the opportunity. It's our moment to show that we are not only interested in feeding the few, but we must be here to feed the many. This is what I'm so proud of my profession. Every single man and woman are there. Some people doing it with us, some pe…

AI assessment note: “How things change all of a sudden. Now my main objective is convince my three daughters”

Q Can you give us a sense of how World Central Kitchen works? Like where is the food made and, um, and how are you getting it distributed? And yeah, how does it work?

A Well, it's a complex, uh, system where, uh, for obvious reasons, many restaurants across America Are shut down. And what we do is very simple. We, we, in other times, we don't even have restaurants because after the hurricane, many restaurants are shut down completely, destroyed, no electricity, no gas, chaos. This is a different type of emergency. We have every single restaurant, every single chef ready to join us. So sometimes we don't even need to call them because Or they call us, or on their own, they start. Obviously, we become a good influence because we've been doing this already for, you know, even weeks. We've been doing this for months. Uh, we began in Yokohama feeding 6000, many of them American people, uh, in the Princess cruise ship. Uh, we helped the Japanese government. Then we went to California to help the Governor Newsom to do the same in Oakland. We knew that this was about to happen. We call it from the beginning. This is going to become a health crisis. Obviously everybody's going to talk about the economic crisis, but above all, this may become a big humanitarian crisis, not only in America, but around the world. Humanitarian crisis because lack of food. So how we do it? We are trying to put restaurants to join. We have more than 500 restaurants that Across America, and we are adding new restaurants almost every day.

AI assessment note: “We have more than 500 restaurants that Across America, and we are adding new”

Q Jose, we're getting a lot of questions on social media through Facebook and YouTube and Twitter. Um, this one is from Alison Biggs and she asks, how do you think the restaurant and food industry in general is going to be changed?

A Hi, Alison. Thank you for your question. Listen, I would love to tell you I have every answer. What I can tell you is one thing. Planning is not good enough anymore in this DNA, because if you plan too much, chances are that things will not go as you plan. And then what do you do? That's why I'm telling everybody that they need to have the new game. The new game is adaptation. Adapt yourself to every moment, every hour, every day, every circumstance, because things are very Fluid. Things are gonna be changing by the hour. So, how restaurants may be. Right now, we need to take care of the health crisis. There's no way that we can keep running our hospitals the way they're running with no equipment to protect our, our health workers. We need to fight that coronavirus and make sure that by staying home, it's under control, so nurses and doctors and hospitals are not overwhelmed, like we've seen in many countries around the world. But restaurants, as soon as we believe that the mayors, the, the governors are saying, let's reopen, all we have an opportunity to reinvent ourselves. I've been in North Manhattan, I've been in the Bronx, in Harlem, in Queens, in Corona, the men and women there are suffering. Uh, they are the people that work in the rich Manhattan, and they are not doing so well. The same we can say about many other cities across America is the moment that we need to unde…

AI assessment note: “The new game is adaptation. Adapt yourself to every moment, every hour”

Q But, but when you were a teenager in Spain, just, just like learning to cook, Did you imagine you could ever get to this point?

A Hmm. I don't think I ever train more than making sure that the next plate I put forward in front of somebody is the best it can be. Quite frankly, I always say I don't open restaurants. I tell stories. Sometimes I wish that I only had one restaurant and only one, and I will be there every day and every hour, but I know that I will be so bored. So I created a company around me that will fulfill my personal needs. But to this day, I still consider myself that I am only as good as the last plate I serve. Even if you do radio, you do the radio show once, you hope it's good, you fix it, but the radio show is gonna be there forever and ever for anybody to listen to it. But food is very ephemeral.

AI assessment note: “I don't think I ever train more than making sure that the next plate”

Q at his home in Maryland, where he's cooking with his family, delivering meals, and feeding the masses by borrowing some bigger kitchens, like the kitchens at the stadium where the Washington Nationals play baseball. In Washington DC. I've seen some videos, um, you outside the stadium and literally delivering food. Um, how are you doing that? Are you, how are you staying safe when, when, when you're doing that work?

A Well, listen, um, A lot of people ask me from the beginning why we do what we do. I mean, quite frankly, uh, World Central Kitchen is doing close to over 200,000 meals a day. Today we reach, uh, three million meals by the end of today. Uh, this is the reality, but we don't do it alone. We are an organization that we've proven over and over that we can go from a small organization to sometimes the main organization. In a, in an emergency. In Bahamas, we were the first ones on the ground, uh, and we fed 14 islands, 80,000 meals a day. We were the first ones 10 days before anybody else showed up. Here, obviously, America is our home, is where we belong, and to be able to put the know-how of Wall Central Kitchen at the service of fellow Americans is, is the best, um, moment in that In the way of, we wish we were out of business and we had to do it, but we feel like if our nurses and doctors are putting their lives under families at risk, taking care of fighting this virus, one hospital at the time, one patient at the time, the least, uh, cooks like me we can do is to put our know-how in providing relief sometimes to hospitals, sometimes to elderly homes, sometimes to homeless, sometimes to school districts, low income families, Because that's what we do. Chefs like me and many chefs across America right now, we don't only feed the few like we do in the good times, but we are commit…

AI assessment note: “A lot of people ask me from the beginning why we do what we do.”