The Three Questions with Andy Richter - José Andrés

Episode Date: November 14, 2023

Chef and humanitarian José Andrés joins Andy Richter to discuss his new graphic novel, “Feeding Dangerously,” the one time he had to use the Heimlich maneuver at an NBA game, choosing between acting school and cooking school, bringing Spanish food to Disney World, and much more. 

Hi, everybody. Welcome back to The Three Questions. I'm your host, Andy Richter. Today, I am talking to Jose Andres. Jose is a chef, restaurateur, writer, television personality, and humanitarian. He's the owner of several celebrated restaurants and has won numerous awards from the James Beard Foundation. He's also the founder of World Central Kitchen, a nonprofit devoted to providing meals in the wake of natural disasters. Jose's new graphic novel, Feeding Dangerously, is in stores now, along with his new World Central Kitchen cookbook. Jose joined me via Zoom, and we had a great conversation. He's a heroic guy, and here's my conversation with Jose Andres.

You have a graphic novel coming out. I do. And how did that come to be? Look at that. Wow. Hard cover. That's like a coffee table. It's supposed to be a comic book, not a coffee table book.

That's the only thing I think I requested. They put my name on the cover. Yeah. This is all to Steve Orlando. And TKO. Steve Orlando is, you know, it's like the messy of comic writers.

Yeah, yeah. And he has such an amazing following, and Spider-Man, and he's done so many stories. And we met through the way we meet a lot of people these days, through social media. And he was super nice, and, hey, why don't we do something about you, about Wall Central Kitchen, about what you guys do?

I think he read that I love comics. Yeah. And I love manga. And that's how we began. Then he said, let's do a comic together. And then he did everything. He found TKO, the studios, the publishers, who they donated a big check from the beginning to World Central Kitchen on top of whatever this book raises.

He found Alberto Ponticelli, the amazing drawer, the guy doing all these amazing drawings. What can I say? I cannot complain. And then this cover, which is only 1,000 even. I have a feeling they're all gone by now and it's not even up. Yeah. Which is by the creator of Hellboy.

Oh, wow. So it's a lot of people that put a lot of love in this book. Who was going to tell me that I will be drawn one day by the Hellboy master? Right. So it's been a lot of people that has put a lot of love into this and obviously I've been able to share my stories and the stories of the people because it's a lot of people in this comic book yeah steve orlando and five years later here we have this comic book how does something like that where you can inspire lots of creative people to do something and come together on a project how does that feel versus just something that is 100% your own?

Like, do you have a preference for one or the other? Or is collaborate... I mean, you know, because in a kitchen, you're a collaborator all the time, usually. Unless you're just making breakfast for your kids. Yeah, in the kitchen, obviously, you are collaborating with many individuals, but they are all part of the same team.

Yeah. We are all the team of that part of the same team. Yeah. We are all the team of that restaurant, of that family. Yeah. What gets complicated is when you have to bring different families from different other parts of life to come together. Right. It's slightly more difficult, but usually when it works, it's far away much more powerful, right?

Because by bringing different tribes, different people from different angles and parts, you're going to have a much more richer outcome of whatever you create. Yeah. creating something to solve a problem, or you can create something to tell a story, or you can create something to entertain, or you can create something we never knew we ever needed. But that's how humanity moves, right? So a project like this is fascinating, simple, very clear objective. Let's tell the story of the beginnings of World Central Kitchen, of the many people part of making World Central Kitchen, of the many people part of making World Central Kitchen what it is,

telling people what we do, not through a movie, not through a documentary like the one Ron Howard did with people, but this time through a comic book that has this fascinating way to be reaching an audience

that will be drawn to comic books instead of other mediums of telling a story. So that's why I'm in love with this comic. I think we're going to be reaching, with this story, so many other people. What is your main goal out of something like that? Is it to raise money for World Kitchen or is it to our World Central Kitchen? Or is it to just get people thinking more about the world and to think more in a philanthropic, generous kind of way?

I mean, listen, if I don't lie to you, for me, it was more, oh, I can be part of a comic book yeah of course i mean that's that's gotta be the the big charge yeah yeah it's like you you always have other ways to raise money for this organization yeah or to tell the story use we got this amazing movie of ron how Howard that tells the story. And a lot of people have watched it on Disney. But, you know, more sometimes doesn't mean more is more. More sometimes is, oh, you're working harder for the same thing. This, for me, my main thing is when Steve Orlando comes, he's like, yeah, let's do a comic. Oh, my God, I can't be part of a comic.

It's like when Brian Fuller approached me to help him with Hannibal when he was doing the series for NBC. Right, you were the culinary consultant on that show. The younger years of Hannibal for me was like, oh, my God, I can't. I love history of food. My brain is full of stories that involve centuries and moments and people and recipes, but beyond the recipes

what happened, and for me used to be part of something that you can be influencing the script writers to come up with a smarter or better or deeper or historical conversations that makes that character eating people more normal,

that's fascinating, right? So here we are talking poor creativity. For me, probably one of the best things of, in the same way Washington, D.C., my 30 years in D.C. gave me all this understanding of social issues and politics and policy and how is smart policy with boots on the ground, grassroots efforts, if they work together,

how they can be very beneficial for people, for the citizens of America and of the world. Me coming to LA, which is about to be close to 14, 15 years anniversary to open Bazaar gave me this amazing connection to many of the creative types on TV, on movies, on Hollywood that allow me sometimes expand my reach in how I can be playing food that I love so much with other angles. Working on TV is one, going to a late night show is another, doing a comic is another.

Yeah. I mean, you must have grown up, obviously, in a food family. Did you grow up in a political family? Because the intersection of food and politics is such a big part of your life. I'm wondering if that was something that you just soaked in from an early age. Well, I would say that, yeah, my father and my mother, they were excellent cooks. They were nurses. My mom was more Monday through Friday cook. My father was more the weekend.

My mother was more in charge of making things with nothing, especially at the end of the month. Yeah, yeah. Where was nothing left in the fridge and she'd be able to multiply. I mean, you know, I'm a Catholic boy, so multiply fish and loaves. With whatever was remaining, a little piece of roasted chicken that nobody wanted to eat. Yeah. She'll still chop all of that and put it in the bechamel, that flour with milk.

Then she'll roll in breadcrumbs that was the old bread that she'll put in the coffee grinder or whatever. And then she'll fry. And my father cooked it for everybody when he would make the big paella. That Spanish rice dish.

But then, yeah, my father, my mother were, yeah, they had their political views. I remember, I remember being young and my mom going around the little town

just giving little pieces of paper or like a commercial pamphlet. I don't know how you call it in English. Yeah, pamphlets or flyers. Yeah, flyers to vote for this or that party.

But this is, I was very young and this is as far I remember. Yeah, I remember one time she took me to one of the closing speeches of one candidate in Barcelona. But what I really remember is that I was very young. Still not so young. I was already a big boy. Probably was 14. And I stay in young. I was already a big boy, probably was 14. And I stay in Barcelona. We live 30 minutes away after the speech and everything ended

the day before elections. And they hired me with 200 other young people to bring down the stage and the chairs and everything. And I think they pay me five thousand pesetas that this for me was like, oh, my God. Five thousand pesetas. My father at the time for a month work will be making around one hundred thousand. So for you to understand, I made five thousand pesetas. I was like, I'm rich. So anyway, I remember more about going to a political gathering, the money I made helping bring down the stage than whatever. Yeah, the politics at the time.

Well, but I guess maybe more than politics. I also just mean social consciousness. You know, the idea that, you know, charitable giving and donating of your time. I mean, were those things that you're, I mean, they were obviously in the healing business. So, you know. Obviously, I always tell the story was more me watching them perform their task. Because we, it's not like we had a nanny all the time. We were four brothers and my mom was a working mom. And sometimes the hospital was the place that we, my brothers and I, we will be exchanged between my mother and my father.

Right, right, right. Sometimes. But my mother didn't drive, so we would have to get on a bus. My father didn't have the time to come and go and come back because he would be all day in the car. So anyway, this for me was important because probably there, yes, I saw, and I tell this story sometimes of the nurses staying the extra, beyond their duty,

the extra hour to be there with a little boy, reading them a book because their family didn't have time to come to the hospital yet, or, or taking somebody, you know, elderly woman that they will take around the hospital because she had to do some exercise or get some fresh air.

I got the sense that these people were there beyond duty, right? And this, I think this was important for me to see. My mom sent me to, I remember going for a few weeks to the Red Cross to take some volunteering, but more important classes on, you know, what happens if somebody has a heart attack or what happens. Yeah, CPR. The CPR or the Hamlet maneuver. Which, by the way, one day I used the Hamlet maneuver. Oh, really? I did it twice, but one time was really, I think, necessary.

In an NBA game, in an NBA final. Wow. Yeah. Wow. Just somebody in the audience choking on a pretzel or something? No, an entire hot dog coming, an entire hot dog. Did it come flying out in the way that you wanted to? I thought about doing a new competition

that maybe can go into the Olympics of you charge the hot dog deep down your esophagus, and then when you're ready, somebody does the Hamlet maneuver, and let's see who can kick it. It's like a teamwork where you become the cannon. You become, you are the cannon, and I'm the one putting the energy.

And then who? Yeah, it's the gunpowder. And then who throws it the furthest? And then we can do different, we can do it with ketchup, we can do it with mustard, grain mustard. Sure, sure, sure. And you can do it target shooting too,

and not forget distance. Yeah, yeah. Target shooting. Yeah, yeah. So anyway, so yeah, who was going to tell me that learning about the Hemingway manure could help me? So yeah, you asked me about my mom, my dad. Like all our moms and our dads, sometimes they were influential in who we become more

than sometimes we even are aware or remember. Sometimes it takes time to have all those flashbacks to the past, like back to the future or back to the past. Well, I always think of it like, you know, the people that raise you, they're drawing the blueprints of who you are. And when you're in a house, you don't think about the blueprints, but they're there. They're underneath the whole time. We are the product of the people that we had around us all our lives.

And again, people that we don't even remember that they had a mark in us. A conscious mark sometimes. We don't even remember that they had a mark in us. Yeah. A conscious mark sometimes. We weren't aware, but we saw something like penetrated and allow us to become who we became. I sincerely believe I'm more aware now, obviously, when I see somebody that has a powerful, good influence in me, it doesn't happen so often. Because sometimes as you grow older, you kind of build a wall to not allow more people into your life. Because you already have so many that you feel you maximize. somebody is having a good, powerful influence in you, this is why we need to make sure that we keep our windows open.

Yeah, openness. It's still fascinating people out there that still, even if you feel you are older, can always keep reaching you nonstop. Yeah. No, I definitely, because I think if you don't work at it you do i always call it you you develop a crust there's a crust that grows over you that if you don't work at it it becomes impenetrable and all the good things about you tend to diminish and all the bad things gets all the fears and all the worries and all the grudges get strong. I have a feeling life is about trophies. Trophies you get. All good things. Trophies of friendship, trophies of experiences, your home, your card, your tangibles, your possessions.

But then it's the intangibles too. But then once you have so many, it's almost like when you're young, you are living life and you almost don't give any value to them, but you began gaining all those profits, all those possessions, all those. But then as you grow older, all of a sudden you are like, oh, my God. Oh, my God, this is mine. It's like the good woman, love the rain. the Rings, you know, precious, you know. And we don't realize and all of a sudden we become protectors of all those things. And then you realize that the best moment of your life is when you are getting all those things.

But the important is you're not getting trophies trophies objects tangibles or intangibles but this use the process of being part of life is the most important part that that you forget that what is really beautiful is not what you gain and what you possess but was the work you put is really what is magical the The experiences you went through, the good moments and sometimes the no pleasant good moments, but they still were part of who you are. And that's the most amazing part of being alive, right? And you realize that life really kind of starts

at the end of your comfort zone. I think when we are younger, we don't mind to be like Thelma and Luis. You're driving through the cliff and let's see what happens. When we're young, we hope we have wings and we move and we... Life starts really at the end of your comfort zone.

But when you don't take that extra risk, it's when, yeah, you become grouchy, you become protector, you don't want to lose anything. This is mine. And I have a feeling that's the moment we really stop living. And so, yeah, I think keeping open

is the best we can be. Keeping ourselves open to others and vice versa, I think that's the best. Even be. Keeping ourselves open to others and vice versa, I think that's the best. Even when we grow older, maybe it becomes more difficult. It does, I think. Yeah.

And you said something too that really to make your goal a process I think is really important because I know for my own life, I thought, well, when I get a showbiz job where I'm making some money, it'll all be good. And it wasn't, you know, and I realized like, I got to this point, this, you know, I wanted to attain this goal and I got there and it was, there was a big feeling of, well, now what? And I realized, no, no, you have to make it a process.

Not I'm going to get on a talk show or I'm going to get, I'm going to win this. I'm going to win an Oscar or I'm going to win a Pulitzer prize or, you know, I'm going to make $10 million. It's got to be a process because otherwise when you hit it, what are you going to do? Just stop, you know? Yeah. For me, it was always one of my dreams was having Michelin stars. The Michelin guy. Those are the Oscars of chefing.

And you hope to get three, but if you get one, it's great. And I grew up, remember, as a young cook in Barcelona, that I will be 15th and I will be walking like a dog back and forth in front of some of those super luxurious, expensive restaurants that, you know, my family couldn't afford to go themselves and even less bringing me in. less bringing me in. But for me, just being in front of the restaurant, when they opened the door, trying to get the smells were coming from the restaurant. Yeah. Just being able to read if they had the menu in the door to understand what they were serving inside there was something fascinating. And I always dream, I will have.

I will have the stars. And, you know, for me, it was great that they got my first two-star Michelin in Washington a few years ago, seven, eight years ago. I was like, oh, my God, I'm 50, 55. I'm 45 when I finally got them. Because I had to open the restaurant. Michelin had to be in the city. I had to be good enough, the team and the menu, too.

But then, yeah, it became great. But then you realize that, okay, now we got two. All right. Now it's worth to get three. But okay, you get three. Okay. Is all the process that goes around that makes it really worth it? No, no, no.

Right. We always talk about it. No, it's not the destination, right? And then get there and have somebody really to enjoy it with. If you get there alone, we keep always saying the same, but it's true. Who do you celebrate it with? Who do you, who do you hack? Who do you, I think that's very important. When you were a child, were you taught to cook or did you just

start cooking and was it a yeah i remember i think one of the first memories i have of something i cook myself on my own initiative will be though you know those cake boxes that you buy the cake box? Sure. Betty Crocker. And you add some eggs or milk or whatever. Yeah. Or oil. I did that.

And that was great. My father and mother would come back and, look at what I made. That was a good beginning. That's where I began. Then, yes, then more from scratch i remember my mom will make uh the yogurt recipe which was like this a sponge cake where all the quantities you know like in america we use cups but this was the yogurt cup so with the yogurt cup you know will be two of flour one of, one of oil. And that's it, papa. Two of eggs. Not how many eggs, but as many eggs as fill in two of the yogurt.

And that's it. And then a lot of pie nuts. And then in the oven. And that was great. I remember learning that recipe from my mom that made it very playful and very easy. And on top, you had to put one yogurt, too. So that was the yogurt olive oil cake. It was so delicious. And even a young boy like me could make it and be successful.

So I think this is important. Yeah. At what point did you really start to take it seriously? And was there ever a point where you're like, Dad, I'm going to make the paella? You know, I did. I did, and I tell this story. I think this story is not really told in the comic book.

You will see my dad cooking the paella, and I think Steve did a great job going back and forth because it happened that we cooked paellas in Puerto Rico and other places for the masses. And so how he found a connection between those paellas in hurricanes and my early childhood, even the reason I began making the paellas was not really because my father, even I am a very good paella cook thanks to my father but this because paella pens was the only thing we had to feed people in Puerto Rico but but yeah but

Steve was very creative in almost uniting both and I always say the story of the fire that my father never let me cook uh he would always put me in charge of the fire, going to the forest, pick up the wood. And what happened there is like, I was good at it, but I wanted to do more the cooking, like what my father was doing. And one day, kind of, I got upset because he was not letting me cook. And he sent me away.

And when everything finished, I think he got me on the side. Even this is a story, I think, I mean, I have a romantic view today of what happened back then even i don't know if what happened back then was as powerful it's almost like a movie that in the movie everything yeah everything is more powerful and the music and the sure and the gravitas of the moment but my father in a way told me, my son, I understand you got upset, but the most important thing is not the cooking, but it's controlling the fire. Control the fire and you will cook anything you want. And I always thought later in my life that this was not so much maybe a lesson,

technically to a young cook in the making, but that this was like a metaphor of life itself. Find your fire, master your fire, control it, and then you can do anything you want with your life. So for me, that was important. I was doing a lot. I was playing soccer in the little town team. I was a basketball player, which I was not a bad three-point shooter. I love sports.

I love basketball. I was a coach of a team of young girls. I took two exams to get two levels of coaching. For me, it was fascinating to teach younger people. I did a lot of things, but one of the things I was in love with was acting. I played the ghost of Canterville. We even wrote our own play out of the book. Oh, wow.

So I performed as the ghost. I performed as the ghost. I remember we did Gospel, which was like the other Jesus Christ superstar type of and I played Jesus in this town musical that the day we performed

the entire town would come to the local small theater that doubled down as the movie theater and doubled down as whatever happened in the town happened in that place. And for me, that was... What age is this about? This was 9, 10, 11, 12, 13.

Oh, wow. Wow, wow. 14th. And I remember the last play that I never performed, I was getting ready for Echoes of Peter Schiff when I was out. So theater for me was amazing, but that was not doing very well at school. And this is the moment my father, that probably had the vision, said, you know, it's fine, don't hit yourself against the wall.

Why you don't go to a cooking school? You love cooking too. And was this cooking school that they will not take you until you were 18? Because it was a private school that was on the first year. And even I was younger. I was on my 15th going to 16th. So they would take anybody because they needed people. And that was a good beginning for me.

That opened me the doors. I never graduated from that school. They gave me my graduated degree like three years ago before the pandemic. I fell English and accounting and cooking. I did that because the school was new. And for me, it was better learning with boots on the ground. So I will be working in some of the best restaurants in Barcelona all day, weekends included, because for me it was not work. For me it was passion.

It was like I will find any reason to be in any kitchen that will take me because there was always something to learn. Even Sundays, if the restaurants were closed, I will find those popular celebrations around Barcelona where they needed people helping with the food. So for me, U.S. food, like in my house, like when I was at home, I would help in the kitchen or my father on the Sundays feeding everybody. U.S. became this thing that was very passionate, that was a good feeling being around food. So I guess the decision was, I'm going to acting school, which was on the table.

I'm going to cooking school. You know, I don't regret. I don't regret going to cooking school because I really love it. But life has given me the opportunity sometimes to put my early acting career a few times. Sure. When I go to the late night shows or when I did my own TV show. When I do my own TV show, at the end you learn that life, in a way,

is acting all the time, that life is a big performance in a way. And that's to be or not to be for me. Yeah. I have in my notes here, I have that you worked at, and tell me if I'm, El Bouyé? Is that how you say it? El Bouyé under Ferran Adria. And that you were fired.

And I'm sure you've told the story before. Yeah. Yeah, it was kind of, Ferran Adria has been the most forward-thinking chef in the last 100 years. I mean, that was, you know, I like food. I go to lots of restaurants. I know, and that was the one that I always, the best restaurant in the world. That's what I would always hear. That's the best restaurant in the world. That's what I would always hear. That's the best restaurant in the world.

Obviously, we'll be people that we will second guess, rightfully so. Everybody has a view what the best restaurant is for them. But without a doubt, this is the person that pushed the boundaries of cooking. the boundaries of cooking. I mean, you know, he's the Tesla, is what Tesla was to energy. And obviously Edison and others like that, he was for cooking almost 100 years later.

And for me, I was with him very early on in my life when I would go there to work on the summers because the restaurant will only be open in summers. Because it was in the middle of nowhere, north of Spain, by a beautiful beach, where the only house in the entire area was the house that was hosting that restaurant. And there is where Ferran taught us to respect tradition but also we had to break away from the chains of tradition we had to learn from the past but that we were able and allow and we were supposed to as a responsibility to push the boundaries he's the guy that said you know we need to start moving away from the places we go to get inspiration to the markets which is great we need to start moving away from the places we go to get inspiration to the markets, which is great.

We need to keep going to talk to the cheesemakers or to the winemakers. But that was okay. We went to Harvard to speak to the scientists and learn and understand better physics so we could understand better what was happening every time we cooked. It was good to go to work with an artist like Dale Chihuly in Seattle to learn how his glass technique could be applied to our techniques in the kitchen or use the way a painter will position colors

that could allow us to do something else in the plate beyond the normal traditional plating we were doing. It's the guy that said, you know, move away from what we are and to get inspired, we're going to have to open our profession to other professions so we can establish a two-way street and reaching in a way each other. When he really kind of became that innovator and the world became known? Was it, I mean, I don't know about nationalism in the culinary world, but was the fact that he was a Spaniard, was that shocking? Like, did people think, oh, no, only the French can be the top?

Well, obviously, for Europe and for Occident, France was everything, because it was, I mean, France was everything because it was. I mean, France over the last couple of hundred years was the powerhouse. When you were saying you were learning cooking means you were learning French cooking. And in a way, France became like the center of the universe. Even at the same time was, you know, the world is a very big place. Now, when you learn about Mexican cooking or Chinese cooking, you are like, what the heck, what we were thinking.

But at the time, everything was France. And Spain was looking to France like every other country in Europe or even France. Yeah. But it always takes that moment that is one moment that people start looking inside, right? But obviously the contributions of France was huge. But yes, it was a shocking moment for the world when now France is not anymore. I mean, remember, it was the times of Paul Bocuse and Truagrave and then later on Maximin

and so many others, and then Dukas. Yeah, France was, wow, France was France. But that these guys, almost with a crazy look, that was just pushing the boundaries, saying it's a new way. The other way is not bad. The other way is great,

but we are showing you another way, a new way. No better words use a new way. This was a shocking moment. I mean, I remember in France that Le Figaro put him on the weekend magazine on the cover and almost saying, you know, the new revolution is not anymore. In France with the Nouvelle Cuisine now is happening in this restaurant in Spain. This was very shocking, even in France and in the culinary world. So, yeah, I was very happy. It was part of that.

He's my friend. He's a mentor. He's my friend. We spent a lot of time together. And the question you asked me at the beginning, if was fired was not really kind of that even i remember one day explaining this and became kind of news but was imagine the days he was 24 i was still 16 17 18 19 something like that and um and i'm waiting for him in a bar. It's raining. He's not coming. I go out to call with a little quarter I had just to find.

Yeah, yeah. And then when I come back, I'm waiting. When I come back, he's there in the bar. I'm like, I've been here all day waiting for you. I'm like, you've not been waiting all day for me. I've been waiting for you all day here. And I don't know what happened, but, you know, life always has a way. And he left.

And that night I got the offer to go to New York to open a restaurant. And two days later, I'm in New York with a visa and everything. And I call him from New York and I tell him, hey, you know one thing? I don't think I'm coming toward this early spring. Like, why? What happened? I'm in New York. And when are you coming back?

I don't know. I'm like, okay. All right. It's good. Stay there and learn and learn what you have to do, what they're doing in America. And then we'll talk later.

And here I am 30 years later. I mean, because there's plenty of people. There's plenty of cooks. And then there's lots of chefs. There's less chefs. Plenty of cooks, less chefs. But I mean, you really have, you've made the world your restaurant. And I mean, so there's got to be a tremendous amount of ambition in you that it doesn't exist in other people that say, I want to be a good chef.

I want to, you know, I want to cook good food. And where do you think that comes from in you? Why do you think that you had such or did it just kind of evolve? Like, did you not have these grand sights set did it just kind of evolve? Like, did you not have these grand sights set and it just kind of happened? Well, that's a great question. It's like sometimes I don't think we all ask ourselves the right questions to understand who we are or what we do.

But that's a good question. I think, yeah, it's when, you know, life just forms in front of us as we go. I mean, for me, reading Johannes Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath or The Pearl, those were books that had influence on me. There was poverty in Central America, but there was poverty in America too. I love Johannes Steinbeck. For me, he was very important in my early young life.

For me, reading, learning about Clara Barton, the woman that was working in the flying hospitals in the Civil War, who created the Missing Soldiers Office and who became the founder of the American Red Cross. For me, those moments were magical. For me, I had dreams of... I remember I wanted to come to America because I was fascinated with America, with the NBA,

where I would wake up and leave my home and get in trouble with my mom at 1, 2 a.m. in the morning on the first bar that was showcasing black and white NBA games, finals. For me, America, the Westerns, John Wayne, I love. I mean, Tarzan when I was young. For America, for me, Disney. I had the dream one day, oh my God, one day when I came to America earlier, I will have a restaurant in Disney World.

Well, now I have a restaurant in Disney, in Orlando. Because I wanted to have a Spanish food in Disney because I learned there was no Spanish restaurants over 30 years ago. I'm like, I want to have one day. It happened. Um, I wanted to be learned more about how we can make food a way to make our cities in America better. I joined this organization, DC Central Kitchen, as a young cook, sharing with them my expertise, but in the process, them sharing with me

how the world can be a better place through food. And I became the chairman of that organization. But in the process, I was learning more than anything I was given. And there I learned how you could fight hunger in Washington and in a way be a medium to influence how our politicians come up with bills that can have a direct effect on the ground.

Obviously for me, having restaurants was never about having a big company of 30, 40 restaurants. For me, in the same way a writer does a book or a late night show, has the daily routine that has people helping him deliver it, a way for me to express as a cook is opening restaurants

because I'm telling the stories I want to share. And I could do the same in my house and invite six people one day and that's it. But the restaurant makes you work hard because it's like an opera. It's like you're doing a play. You are putting into a restaurant everything you know and what all your team knows.

And that's why I didn't want to stay all my life only on Spanish cooking. Even sometimes I regret it because for me it would be easier. Because even the more I know about cooking, the more I know I know nothing. So if only I stay in Spain, in my country, the country on paper I'm an expert, still I realize I know nothing. But what did I got into Greek and Turkish? What did I got into Peruvian and Chinese?

Why did I got into an American historical restaurant? Because I had this huge need of learning. And for me, opening my restaurants was this way to pushing myself and my teams to learn. Then you regret it. Now, sometimes I'm like, Oh, my God, what a headache. Like, who I am, who I am. And I realized that I'm, in a way, I'm becoming this melting pot that I always loved so much from America. And that was one of the reasons I was always so proud to have been here more than half of my adult life, three American-born daughters. adult life, three American-born daughters. But for me, I have a richer understanding of the world I live in because food has been a medium for me to get to know not only the dishes and ingredients,

but the people behind and the story that made those dishes possible. And this is a fascinating way to see the world. There's many ways to see the world, but food is a powerful way to understand the world we live in. Yeah. Did you have mixed feelings about becoming well-known in Spain because you had gone to America? You know, like having had left home before home really started to recognize you?

Did that cause any? Well, you feel like very lucky, right? Like the world is full of people, seven, eight billion people, and a few hundred are recognized almost by everybody. And then it's the rest of us, right? y algunos cientos son reconocidos por casi todos. Y luego estamos nosotros. Pero obviamente, me acuerdo cuando fue la primera vez que me pusieron en un revista en España. Los cientos de españoles que formaron la historia.

Y yo tenía 23, 24. And the only thing I did, I opened a Spanish restaurant in Washington that became very popular. That's it. But it's kind of funny that that reporter who became a good friend will write something like that, almost, right? And then things keep happening.

And then I got, you know, I began getting on some radio shows. And then before you know, I got this TV show in my country that became popular, primetime, daily show. I would have guests. It was a very nightly kind of show. Cooking, you would learn, but in a very fun environment. It'd be some comedy because I'll have some comedians coming, like if they were my neighbors and they were knocking on the door asking for things.

It was a good way to break from the traditional cooking show I'm going to teach you. And this was a great opportunity for me because there was huge. I leave, uh, yeah, no, it's not like anybody's going to recognize me in the, in the airport and I, and the TV show goes, goes on, becomes an instant hit with 23% share, imagine that. Wow. And all of a sudden I'm coming back and I keep looking behind me because people are looking and I'm like yeah who is here what what what what soccer player is behind

me uh yeah yeah or is the one I always felt when people started doing that is my flyover yeah yeah and and it's funny because that was gradual. My life has never been huge. But that one was like, wow. A lot of the sudden, you know, like, my daughter's young and I'm in the beach and I need to be careful because everybody's coming. And with good appreciation. With me, it has never been about, give me your signature, Jose. has never been about, give me your signature, Jose. For me, it was people use,

hey, you gave my grandmother in the hospital a lot of laughs before she passed away to a better life. Or my brothers love the way you say you move your head. They laugh every time you do it. And all of a sudden, everybody had the story. Or this recipe you made, that you said was gone. My grandmother is still making it. Or, wow. And all of a sudden, it was not about becoming known or some fame by people.

But it's like I was able to get into these other worlds of people that they just wanted to share with me more information. So for me, TV was not about fame. TV in that way was, wow, I'm even connecting with the universe surrounds me, which is the people in very powerful ways. Yeah. Do you think if you had opened a restaurant somewhere other than D.C., you would be as engaged with, you know, I mean, to say politics, it seems limiting, but more like just current events. you know, I mean, it's to say politics. Yeah. It seems limitings, but more like just current events and with world happenings.

Do you think that if you'd opened a restaurant in Dallas, that you would still have to have this same awareness? You'd never know. Because you only live once. And you don't know the ripple effect of every move we make. But obviously, every time you make a move, it's a ripple effect, right? You land in the middle of the lake and it's a ripple effect that creates those waves above the surface. But Washington, D.C. was a place I wanted to go precisely because I was fascinated with the image of the Congress and the White House.

I can tell you that. When I came, Washington didn't look on the surface as a powerful culinary city. What happened was a powerful culinary city. What happened, the world was not aware. America was not aware, but had amazing chefs. Jean-Louis Paladin and others. But on the politics side, I can tell you the first time I met the senator. I remember Patrick Moynihan in the first weekend or two of opening my first restaurant, Alejo,

that show up on a Sunday morning, the beloved senator from New York. And I didn't know who he was. Everybody in the restaurant. The restaurant was empty. It was the only guy because downtown D.C. back in 93 was very empty. And, you know, I got to know him and spend time with him. And his wife, Liz, would come. That was, for me, it was fascinating.

Or Senator Thompson of Tennessee. And he would also come. That was, for me, it was fascinating. Or Senator Thompson of Tennessee, and then he will also come, and then others. So for me, I remember seeing the first hunger caucus from the Senate that didn't happen in the Hill, that they came to this NGO I mentioned before, DC Central Kitchen. And there was amazing because this is where I began seeing the power of doing policy work away from the places that on paper handle that policy. I remember with Secretary Glickman,

under President Clinton, the Secretary of Agriculture, that he came to my restaurant where I was donating food to an NGO and where they passed one bill called the Good Samaritan Bill that allow individuals and companies to donate food in goodwill and not being sued by third parties. Things that could help move the needle and help with fight hunger in this country and

beyond. So for me, those early moments were very important. And with that, I would say that if I didn't come to Washington, D.C., probably I would not be engaged. I agree with you. We shouldn't be calling it politics because the word politics at this day seems is fighting. And I think politics has to reinvent itself. reinvent itself. I think what will happen is that we got many politicians

highly comfortable that if they are in a war against those that don't think like them, even they are not very good in telling you what they think about, for them it's easier to fight than building something. To see what

they're against rather than what they're for. For them it's easy the confrontation versus the creation. And this is why the word politics is something sometimes I'm not super happy to use. Because at the end, what we need is use leaders that we elect, that they are working for us. We're not working for them. They are working for us. We're not working for them. They are working for us. And that we put them in power to represent all of us. And the power we give them is not to wage war.

The power we give them is to create a better union. And I think we all need to remember that. And we all need to be more inclusive. We all need to make sure that we don need to be more inclusive. We all need to be, we all need to make sure that we don't become the monsters we criticize. We have to listen to everybody if they listen to us and we need to respect everybody if they respect us. If they don't respect us, the problem we have, the ones that we believe in respect and dignity, is that we have to work harder to convince those that they take the easy road where insults and degrading and others feels like the easy way forward. Building longer tables, building connections to others that are not like us or don't think like us is the hardest part.

being the bat of democracy and that we start having people that want to come together to solve the problems that every citizen faces, putting aside your Republican or Democrat or whatever you are. We need to have problem solvers in the places of power, not problem creators. Yeah, that's a very simple rule. Are you a problem solver a problem maker and it's a good it's a good dividing line in life and i there have been people in my life who i just have decided you're a problem maker i don't think i want i don't think i want any more time we need to do it sure yeah are you a problem maker a a problem solver? We want problem solvers, not problem makers. And sometimes it feels that way when we talk about politics.

Yeah. We need to find those leaders, even to have a voice that is pragmatic, anonymous, seems so difficult sometimes. Because when you try to be that, you're going to have people that they jump over you. Sometimes, because when you try to be that, you're going to have people that they jump over, you know, I mean, listen, we have some of the some of the putters states in America. They've been under Republican governors for many years. Yes. But but then the Republicans are used complaining about the big cities that they are in the hands of Democrats. Well, the hands of Democrats also had many possibilities to be fixing problems in cities with the power they have.

So we will not have so many homeless. But not by kicking them out, but finding ways that we can end homelessness and other issues. So you see, what I'm only saying is not perfect party and not perfect world because if it's a perfect place, even right now I will be with one party that I believe is more the party of good conscience and trying to solve problems. But in general, it's very difficult just to say, well, it's okay, finger point at them,

but also you need to look yourself in the mirror. Because if it's a perfect city, a perfect state, or a perfect country in the world, please tell me what it is because I want to go. It's not the perfect place. It's the place that people work together to try to make better every day. That's, to me, the perfect place. It's the place that people work together to try to make better every day. That's, to me, the best place.

But sometimes it seems very difficult to find that place. It's like an utopia. But I believe in utopias. I do believe we can find a place that just people want the best for each other. What is good for you must be good for me. What is good for my tribe is good for your tribe. And you're going to respect me and I'm going to respect you. And we're going to work together and share longer tables.

I do believe it's possible. This actually happens around us all the time. What happens, what is on the news or on TV is the moments that we are all hitting each other, all fighting each other, or shitting on each other. And that's what happens that then creates this kind of thing that the wall is falling apart. When more often than not, when I see certain moments

when I'm walking in the streets of any city in America or around the world, is that this is a world that is trying to fix itself, even against all odds, because humans, we're trying to destroy it. But the world, the people, the normal people, the ones that are not in power, they want to live in good places and helping each other and lending a hand to each other. That's the world I see. It's only like we have a few people out there that they are trying to say, mayhem is the way. Why? Because I don't know how to build.

So let me create mayhem because I seem to be doing very well on this crazy wall. Yeah. I make money on mayhem. So yeah, let's keep that. I also think too, you look at it in any relationship you look at it in a marriage or in a family the tension that is created between two separate entities and i don't necessarily consider them opposing if you can take that tension and you can make something productive out of it that's the best possible way to make progress. But you can take that tension and just make it, make everything stop.

And then you succeed at nothing. And to say, but I think that the two, you definitely need people. There can be something good out of opposing viewpoints. There can, you know, you sort it out, you compromise and you come up with the truth. Or at least the truth that will lead people forward. Obviously, when people play within the rules, right? We see what's going on with this individual called President Donald Trump. I mean, this is a person that really very much wants to break down the fundamentals of a nation.

A nation that's far away from perfect, fundamentals of a nation. Yeah. A nation that far away from perfect, like every other nation, has had an amazing growth over the centuries since its creation. And that is trying to be better every day. Even sometimes you do three steps forward and two steps and two steps back. But this part of growing, of learning, of trying to include everybody, of trying to make it more we the people. The true meaning of we the people that is not we the people, the ones that are like us, is we the people, all of us. The ones that are like us is we the people, all of us. And it takes time and it takes leaders that in good faith work towards building that we the people.

Not only in America, but around the world. Take a look at what's going on in the world right now with Palestine and Israel and beyond. But anywhere you go, it's more of the same. I mean, people don't know that in Armenia now, Armenia and Serbia, they are fighting. And there is Muslims kicking out Christians. And here, religion seems are always part of it. But then when there's no religion, it's the color of your skin. God, how humanity has been able still to impose its will on planet earth. Why elephants didn't took over us or dolphins?

I wish, but this is what I keep learning that when I go to disasters and especially now that with this organization, World Central Kitchen, we are right now technically like in three war zones with Ukraine, Armenia, and then all the part of Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, Egypt, Jordan. In the worst moments of humanity, very often I see the best of humanity come out, come together. And that's the people. And that's the vast majority of the people.

But we don't see it. We don't see those amazing acts of goodness and of empathy that happens all around us all the time. But this never makes it into the news. Oh, somebody being nice to somebody else. Oh, no kidding? That's no news. But it's a lot of that.

But unfortunately, we keep being led by leaders that more often than not, usually men.9 of the situations that at the end they are always taking us to the confrontation they are always taking us to the war and then it's all of us that we seem we have to be always taking sides uh because if you are with seems the world is putting us in these positions if you are with somebody it seems the world is putting us in these positions, if you are with somebody, it means you are against somebody else. And humans, we are always putting ourselves without controlling in those positions.

And what happens if I have friends on both sides of the equation? And what happens is everybody has their power of reason because of that. And what happens is everybody has the power of reason because that happened. And what happens if you, I don't try to build longer tables, so to bring them together and to say, yeah, listen, we can keep, I mean, if we have two children arguing in any school in America, of us, whatever, eventually they keep arguing, they will expel them out of the school, right?

Yeah. And those are children. Yeah, they keep arguing, they will expel them out of the school, right? Yeah. And those are children. Yeah, yeah. If we bring this to the really important things that are killing people, we need to put the bad people out.

That's always first. But then we need to make sure that the rest, we use some common sense and we realize that killing each other and hating each other

and thinking that the only way I can survive is without you being in the world and vice versa. I don't think this has proven to be very good long term for humanity in any issue, in any confrontation. Ukrainians with the invasion of Russia, the situation after Hamas attack Israel, and then how Israel is defending itself into Palestine. We can go as Sarbayyan with Armenia. We can keep going. It's conflicts. It's so many conflicts. It's so many conflicts. And I think that the world is ready for this moment that

I think is young people that have to raise up with bigger, louder voices. And we don't wait for those young people to become leaders when they become 60. We need those young people to become leaders when they are 25 or 30 and raise their voice and to say, okay, we may not have experience, but experience sometimes is not truly very efficient to the people that have experience. Therefore,

let me bring a new voice, a new way that may seem unconventional, but where you're making people hate each other all the time cannot be the way to move a country forward and to move the world forward. And I hope that will be the big revolution we will have with the social media and the TikToks.

Yes, with an artificial intelligence, we are all very worried what will happen. But I can believe that many good things can come out of it where actually somebody that we would never expect to be a leader in a difficult time may surprise us and all of a sudden we will have the young of the world once and for all imposing their view on climate change

that is real, is not going down. Republicans or Democrats in America, I don't care what you guys think and who you read your news. Climate change is real. It's here. And before we know, it's going to be affecting all of us. And we don't have a way to leave Earth anytime soon. But what I'm only trying to say, let's better start thinking how we can be giving voice to younger generations because the decisions they make

will have an impact 50 years from now. If the grownups, 50s, 60s, are the ones making the decisions, you know, it's going to be very hard. Even with that, I don't mean that in this election and with President Biden. Not because he's a Democrat or not, but because he's a person that has shown empathy, has shown how he can bring a country forward after coming from a very difficult situation. coming out of COVID, the economy is doing well, the world keeps moving forward. There are many problems in the world, but at the same time, it's not all of his making in a way. I'd rather have

a person with experience like Joe Biden guiding us for more years in a moment that in this case, yes, being wise is smart and having experience. But after him, I think the bigger revolution, we need to start having more young voices helping us bring people together in ways we've never seen before. Yes. Well, José Andrés, thank you so much for your time. I want to remind people,

the graphic novel Feeding Dangerously is being released on uh november 11th uh and the world central kitchen cookbook uh was released in september and it's got recipes and stories that uh you know will will give you a better understanding of the world. And, and, and I think really is a good, a good, uh, sort of synthesis of, of everything you do from making wonderful food to, uh, keeping people fed.

Look, and I really appreciate you and I appreciate your time. So, all right. Well, thank you so much. Thank you. Tim Coco,

the three questions with Andy Richter. That's me. All right. I'll be back next week. Bye, everyone. The Three Questions with Andy Richter is a Team Coco production. It is produced by Sean Doherty and engineered by Rich Garcia. Additional engineering support by Eduardo Perez and Joanna Samuel. Executive produced by Nick Liao, Adam Sachs, and Jeff Ross. Talent booking by Paula Davis, Gina Batista, with assistance from Maddie Ogden. Research by Alyssa Grahl.

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