How I Built This with Guy Raz - How I Built Resilience: Live with José Andrés

Episode Date: April 30, 2020

When chef José Andrés isn't running Michelin-starred restaurants, he's feeding the masses through World Central Kitchen, a nonprofit he founded that brings food to people during humanitarian crises. The COVID-19 crisis has shut down his restaurants indefinitely, but José is busier than ever leading the relief efforts of World Central Kitchen, which has served more than 3 million people to date. José talked to Guy as part of our How I Built Resilience series: weekly online conversations with founders and entrepreneurs about how they're navigating these turbulent times.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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If you want to help us out, you can go to npr.org slash podcast survey. That's one word, podcast survey. It won't take up too much of your time and it will really help support your favorite shows. That's npr.org slash podcast survey. Okay, on to today's bonus episode. So as some of you know, we've started this new series of online video conversations where every week I talk to a founder or an entrepreneur or just a wise person about how they are building resilience into their businesses right now. And in case you miss these conversations when they happen live, we are posting an excerpt right here every Thursday in your podcast feed.

And you can see all of them on our Facebook page, Facebook.com slash how I built this. Just click on videos. Anyway, last week I spoke with six chefs about the impact of COVID-19 on the food industry. And today we're bringing you my conversation with Jose Andres, the founder of World Central Kitchen. Jose, as many of you know, is a Michelin-starred chef known for his many restaurants around the country, including minibar in Washington, D.C., and Bazaar in L.A. Jose is no stranger to giving back. In 2010, after the earthquake in Haiti, he founded World Central Kitchen, which is a nonprofit that provides meals during times of crisis, specifically natural disasters. And in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, World Central Kitchen has been on the ground serving hundreds of.

thousands of meals daily to people all over the world. I spoke with Jose 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, D.C. I've seen some videos. You outside the stadium, literally delivering food, how are you doing that? How are you staying safe when you're doing that work? Well, listen, a lot of people ask me from the beginning why we do what we do. I mean, quite frankly, World Central Kitchen is doing close to 200,000 meals a day. Today, we reach 3 million meals by the end of today.

This is the reality, but we don't do it alone. Our organization that we've proven over and over, that we can go from a small organization to sometimes the main organization in an emergency. In Bahamas, we were the first ones on the ground, and we fed 14 islands, 80,000 meals a day. We were the first ones 10 days before anybody else show up. Here, obviously, America is our home, is where we belong,

and to be able to put the know-how of Wall Central Kitchen and the service of fellow Americans is the best 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 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 fit the field like we do in the good times, but we are committed to feed the many. Can you give us a sense of how World Central Kitchen works? Like, where is the food made and how are you getting it distributed? And, yeah, how does it work? Well, it's a complex system where for obvious reasons,

many restaurants across America are shut down, And what we do is very simple. 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, no even weeks. We've been doing this for months.

We began in Yokohama, feeding 6,000, many of them American people in the Princess cruise ship. We helped the Japanese government. Then we went 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. is 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 across America and we are adding new restaurants almost every day. Wow.

Why we do it? Because who better than to feed Americans than the same chefs that do it in the good times? It's not like restaurants are going to be retiring from what we are able to contribute, but the restaurants are part of the solution. The leaders, the chefs, the owners of the restaurants are in their communities. They know their communities better than anybody. We partner with local organizations that know the neighborhoods very well,

so we may be feeding in the Bronx and Harlem Public Housing Fellows that need our presence because nobody else is there. Or all of the sudden, many NGOs are not receiving funding, many NGOs don't have any more the same luxury of volunteers and systems that we took for granted are shutting down. We forget that NGOs are the third biggest employer in America. And when those NGOs are not up and running, the system breaks. We should be super thankful for the NGOs because really they do an amazing public service. So what we're doing is covering the blind spots. We are in more than 100 cities as we speak in multiple states.

And what we do is what we do plus. We partner. Partnerships. Achips something very simple. A 360-degree response. What we see here is how together we can show Congress and the White House what legislation, what bills they have to pass to make sure that we are not wasting foot by farmers not being able to sell it and throwing in the fields all the private.

production when at the same time we have many cities across America where families are hungry. We're trying to bring smart solutions where everybody wins. So if you are a chef, you can essentially call up World Central Kitchen and say, look, I want to put my kitchen to work. We want to make food in our community for frontline workers or for homeless shelters. And you guys can provide the funding to pay for the food to be produced. Obviously, we cannot be doing this with every single restaurant. I wish. What we're doing is proving concept for Congress. is no reason why in this moment food should be a problem, should be part of the solution. If farmers are throwing food to the fields, let's make sure that USDA makes the right call

by supporting not only the big farmers, but the small farmers, thousands of them across America, making sure that we buy their product, making sure that it's able to reach food banks, but also rich NGOs like ours, churches, school districts, and make sure that we open up the ways we can distribute that food to every single American, to every single family. I saw a video of you, as I mentioned, just outside the baseball stadium in Washington, D.C. What are you producing? Like, what kind of food are you making?

Are they sort of box lunches? Is it hot food? All of the bowl food. So we're doing, like, today in Brooklyn. We do farmers markets where people can come and pick up enough vegetables for a week for a family. Or we are doing whole items that people can take home, sandwiches and carroads and vegetables. But also we do hot meals that people can take home, put in the microwave and reheat. In other places, we do hot meals like in Washington, D.C., where we are cooking out of the nationals, baseball stadium.

So we have catering companies that they are helping us produce huge amounts of food. We're going to be delivering 25,000 meals in Baltimore with help of the city and the mayor of Baltimore. All of the buff is not one solution. In the old days, we will open all our kitchens. But now, because we have so many kitchens and we are able to partner with almost every single chef that wants to help, the solution is actually rather easy. We need to make sure that in this upcoming bill, that should be the humanitarian bill, something I'm calling America eats now, that Congress puts not only the money and the resources,

but the right mechanisms to make sure that that money arrives to the places that is needed. Sometimes we approve money, but ends in the wrong places, and the aid doesn't reach anybody. When you talk about food, you talk about water in emergencies, the urgency of now is yesterday. We cannot wait a month from now. We cannot wait six months from now. People need food today. Let's make sure that we are able to achieve that.

You know, it's just amazing to me that you, I remember you telling me your life story on how I built this and working in Puerto Rico and you were in the Spanish Navy cooking for the admiral. And I mean, 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? Well, I mean, I still see myself 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 okay cook. How things change all of the 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 that eat. And believe me, I'm like, whoof, 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 ways, probably, will define our relationship for the years to come because we're going through these together. But for me, I feed 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, is our moment to show that we are not only interested in feeding the field, 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 people doing it on their own. But what we're trying to do is that we are this big brother

that tries to or show examples of how it should be done or use giving others the same kind of willingness to step up, and take care of fellow Americans, we'll be okay if you stay home. No, everybody or every restaurant should open or everyone should be doing it. It's very important that we all together, we do as smart as we can.

Well, with actions, because we have boots on the ground. We don't talk. We prove our concepts. But then we're able to be giving ideas to the USDA, to the White House, to Congress. Why SNAPs is not increase immediately? Why SNAPs is not put in every state

so people can be buying from local restaurants if they're hungry. Why is naps is not increased so they can buy fruits and vegetables? So our farmers, especially the small farmers, don't go bankrupt in this moment. Should be the moment that rural America steps up and they become actually a wealthy rural America, not a rural America that right now they're suffering like everybody else, but they have the key to keep feeding America. Let's make sure that we don't throw money at the problem, but invests into the solutions. Let's put America working in the process of feeding America,

making sure that the humanitarian crisis will not be another problem that we have to solve. Jose, we're getting a lot of questions on social media through Facebook and YouTube and Twitter. 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? Hi, Alison, thank you for your question. Listen, I will 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 going to be changing by the hour. So how restaurants may be?

Right now we need to take care of the health crisis. It's no way that we can keep running our hospitals, the way they're running with no equipment to protect our health workers. We need to fight that coronavirus and make sure that by staying home, it's under control. So no 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 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, they are suffering. They are the people that work in the rich Manhattan, and they're not doing so well. The same we can say about many other cities across America. It's the moment that we need to understand, that we need to be taking care of those workers. I'm a chef, but I'm a business guy. I want every employee to make sure that makes a living that is not only the minimum wage,

but it's a living that empowers them to be part of the American dream. I hope that out of this, we will all think deeper about how we can have an economy that does well, but that's well for everybody, not like that's well for some at the expense of others. This is what I'm learning as I'm going across different cities in America through this pandemic. A lot of questions about how people can help. from Sheila DeCastro, she thanks you for everything you're doing. She says she'd love to volunteer with World Central Kitchen, but I am hesitant due to exposure. What are other ways we can help? Listen, I have a brother 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, you stay home. So people can do a lot of things from home. Sometimes retweeting a goodwill Twitter video that you see or something that you think is positive. Sometimes with a finger and your social media,

you can be spreading good messaging, good stories, 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're home and you're retweeting, think highly of yourself because you are helping between millions more doing the same, spreading that message.

If you're staying home, actually you're 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, it's 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 staying away from each other. So it's many things that you can do. You can be taken care of with a phone call of an elderly person, making sure that person is taking care of. It's so many little things that people can do that if we put them all together in the back, actually it's a very powerful gestures that with all. of them together, we are making a difference every day.

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? If we ever look at the bank account of World Central Kitchen, before we went to Bahamas or Puerto Rico or North Carolina, Lina, 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 Central Rakeech has earned a lot of credibility over the years by showing up first and sometimes leaving the last and providing smart solutions, 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 humanitarian crisis. And we have a lot of individuals. Obviously, we have big donors, philanthropies playing a big role. But then the heart of Wall Center 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 have money. We're going to keep doing it.

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. Again, I'm not the guy. I'm used the founder. I only want to be one more guy with the boots on the ground, going city to city, being there giving food to homeless or hospitals and in the process learning with boots on the ground what's happening. So when I speak to Congress, when I speak to other leaders, I can speak, not with theory,

but with no deleture what's going on. And that's why we gain the trust of people because we showed them in real time, not because we want to show off, but because people genuinely care and want to know that we are bringing hope one plate of food at the time. Jose, this is a question from Magda Rodriguez Hunt, and Magda asks, what is it that drives your passion? Is there a story that explains why you chose to put so much of your energy and effort into this work? I don't think it's been just one thing. I think it's been a lot of things.

Maybe when I opened Haleo on Seventh-Anne, downtown Washington, D.C., that my restaurant, Haleo is a lot of, across the street from a red brick building. It says the missing soldiers office. This was the building where Clara Barton herself had her headquarters. Clara Barton 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. My brothers and I 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. But 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, is obvious. When I joined Robert Eager in 1993, the year I arrived Washington, D.C., Robert Eger being one of the best foot fighters in the history of America, he told me that charity seems is always about the redemption of the giver, when charity should be about the liberation of the giver. the receiver. Since then, I joined him and he was my Obie Wonka and I tried to learn about applying that simple but powerful concept to make sure that we don't do it just to feel good, but we do it in a smart way to give not only hope, but a path forward to many people.

Why do I do it? Because I receive so much on my life. I'm only as good as the people that invested time on me and Nadege. Every one of us, we own who we are to others. Sometimes we don't even recognize them enough, but we are the byproduct of a lot of people that made us who we are. We receive more than we can't ever give back. For me as a cook, I don't know any other way to get back,

but to give back food in moments of this repair in emergencies. Why I do it? because I know that if I was in the bad situation, somebody else will be doing it for me. The least I can do, the least my profession can do, is to be there to bring relief and bring food in the most difficult moments. Jose, for a lot of people in the United States, this has been a very difficult period the last few years. The polarization, vitriol, the anger, the cruelty, and there's a lot of anxiety out there, a lot of people watching are anxious.

I'm anxious sometimes. Can you tell me if you're hopeful? Like, if you think about, I don't know, the next five years in the United States, what are your reasons for just being hopeful? My reason to being hopeful are obvious. Near where my restaurant opened, the National Archives. There we have the documents of the creation of our nation.

And there are three beautiful words, we that 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. 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. flag that I never thought of the stars as the 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 it was stars for the states. And when I thought it was stars for everything is possible. So with the people, we're going to make it happen. And we're going to do it by only change. Changing, changing in the understanding that even those that don't think like us should be our Destiny to try to convince them that maybe it's other ways, but also to listening to others that have a different point of view of ours

because maybe it's certain things that they are right too. We need to start embracing those that don't think like us if it's done with respect and if you feel they are also listening back at you because Because then we will reach this perfect, beautiful middle point where we all respect each other. We are all able to live with the thoughts of others and where we see them as people will enrich who we are and our point of view. So we, the people, the American flag, a flag that symbolizes every one of us, will be this kind of new beginning, new moment where we are going to be weaponizing empathy. that it'll be no more time for people that want to divide us. It'll be no more time to people that will not respect others. It'll be the moment that we will respect each other and we're the new American dream.

And the new dream for the world will be, I will fight hard for me, for my family, and for the people I know. But the new American dream will be to also work as hard to provide for the people you don't know, to provide the same your dreaming for yourself, for others. That's what should be happening in the next. next few years. And I do believe America in the world will show that humanity is a beautiful place and that together with the people we can make it happen. All right, we're going to listen to

Jose and Weaponize Empathy. Jose Andres, you're so inspiring. You're just such a kind person. Thank you for what you do for everybody and for inspiring all of us to be better. And let's weaponize empathy. Boom. Thank you. Thank you to you for bringing me to you, Sean. That's an excerpt for my conversation with Jose Andres, the founder of World Central Kitchen. To see our full interview or any of our other video interviews, you can go to Facebook.com slash how I built this or the NPR YouTube channel. We'll be putting these episodes in your feed every Thursday and hosting the conversations in real time every week at noon, Easter, 9 Pacific on Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook. And if you want to find out more about these conversations or other virtual NPR events, you can go to nprpresents.org.

And just a reminder, you can help out NPR by taking a short, search. about what podcasts you're listening to at NPR.org slash podcast survey. It takes less than 10 minutes and it helps support the shows you love. That's npr.org slash podcast survey. Thanks for listening. Stay safe and we will see you right here next week. I'm Guy Raz and you've been listening to How I Built This from NPR.