There’s been some Twitter chatter here and there that Chef José Andrés and his World Central Kitchen deserve a Nobel Peace Prize for serving over two million meals in Puerto Rico following Maria, but why shouldn’t it actually happen? According to a New York Times profile, Andrés’s “Chefs for Puerto Rico” was “by all accounts the largest emergency feeding program ever set up by a group of chefs,” a Herculean effort that surpassed the Red Cross and the United States government:
Since he hit the ground five days after the hurricane devastated this island of 3.4 million on Sept. 20, he has built a network of kitchens, supply chains and delivery services that as of Monday had served more than 2.2 million warm meals and sandwiches. No other single agency — not the Red Cross, the Salvation Army nor any government entity — has fed more people freshly cooked food since the hurricane, or done it in such a nurturing way.
Andrés took one of the first commercial flights available to Puerto Rico after Maria, at first financing the food through his own personal credit cards and cash. By its peak, “Chefs for Puerto Rico” had 18 kitchens throughout the island at cost of nearly half a million dollars daily, including a coliseum where he and up to 500 volunteers prepared more than 60,000 meals every day. Some of these meals were taken to out-of-reach, remote areas where people were hurting the most:
Mr. Andrés, who often rolls right over regulations and ignores the word “no,” clashed more than once with FEMA and other large organizations that have a more-seasoned and methodical approach. In meetings and telephone calls, FEMA officials reminded him that he and his people lacked the experience needed to organize a mass emergency feeding operation, he said.
“We are not perfect, but that doesn’t mean the government is perfect,” Mr. Andrés said. “I am doing it without red tape and 100 meetings.”
FEMA has rightly been criticized for its lack of humane response to Puerto Rico and Donald Trump-like pettiness, following FEMA administrator Brock Long admitting in a televised interview that he had “filtered out” San Juan’s mayor. FEMA actually secured $10 million for “Chefs for Puerto Rico” but visibly bristled to the NYT regarding Andrés. “FEMA officials contacted for this article were quick to point out that many other groups and agencies besides World Central Kitchen were feeding Puerto Rico; a spokesman would not publicly discuss Mr. Andrés or his operation.”
