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When I interviewed @chefjoseandres after he helped cook & deliver 2.2 million meals in Puerto Rico, at one point cranking out 150,000 meals a day, and working so hard he lost 25 pounds, all he wanted to talk about was how much respect he had for Puerto Ricans and those who helped
How people saw his mission: “José Andrés is a hero. He came to Puerto Rico during our darkest hour, rolled up his sleeves, and did what no one else was able or willing to do at the time: he fed the people. And in so doing, he gave everyone hope."
How he sees the work: "They needed someone to say, 'we need to feed this island, we need to do it, we’re not going to wait for someone else,'" he said.
"More than feeding the body, it brings hope, sending the message that maybe tomorrow will be better."
"More than feeding the body, it brings hope, sending the message that maybe tomorrow will be better."
I got the idea to interview Andres at the time not just because he was leaving PR, but because the deserved praise he was getting at the time didn’t extend to FEMA. In a NYT story I noticed their comments were very lukewarm and knew there must be tension buzzfeednews.com/article/adrian…
I interviewed him for an hour & he was loathe to talk about the negatives. But when I told him a FEMA official called him "a businessman looking for stuff to promote his business” who dryly noted “we paid him a lot of money to do that work. It wasn’t volunteer work,” he spoke up.
He laughed in frustration and paused to measure his words.
"For them to say I was a businessman trying to make a buck, whoever said that should be very ashamed of themselves,” he told me.
"For them to say I was a businessman trying to make a buck, whoever said that should be very ashamed of themselves,” he told me.
That’s an important story: That a celebrity chef who could be anywhere but in devastated islands or towns instead takes his company down there to give people hot food and hope, but runs into grinding bureaucracy and is criticized by a government agency.
But since he didn’t really want to talk about that I’ll just leave you with the best story he told me: Andrés was moving slowly through remote, mountainous parts of the island to deliver 150 whole chickens when he came upon National Guard members.
He asked for their help but the guardsmen were on their own mission, to ensure the island's water plant generators were operational. But they said they would come help Andrés team after they were done. While attempting to deliver enormous pots of rice, Andrés slipped into a river
He was able to stop the rice from getting wet, but injuring his knee in the process. As he and his group struggled to cross the river, the National Guard members appeared, like in a damn movie, and helped him when he needed them most.
This is all to say what we already know: José Andrés is the real deal, and the Bahamas and it’s people in pain will get the food — and hope — they need to move forward. Because that’s who he is.
Have to end this with these photos of José Andrés honored at the Oscar’s and him unfurling a Puerto Rican flag on stage. Incredible respect for the people. 
