This post originally appeared on OTYCD in February 2018.
Support José Andrés, the chef who cooked and served millions of meals to hurricane-stricken Puerto Ricans and who stood up to Donald Trump.
Andrés is a hell of a chef, period, full stop.
As of November 2017, he holds two Michelin stars. In 2011, the James Beard Foundation gave him its Outstanding Chef award; past winners include Tom Colicchio of Craft, Eric Ripert of Le Bernadin, Grant Achatz of Alinea, Lidia Bastianich of Felidia Ristorante, Wolfgang Puck of Spago Beverly Hills, Jean-George Vongerichten of Jean-Georges, and Thomas Keller of The French Laundry. Andrés is also credited with introducing America to the concept of tapas.
His nonprofit, World Central Kitchen, came to Puerto Rico on September 25, 2017 to help feed residents in the wake of Hurricane Maria.
By mid-October, the team had built a supply network and prepped and delivered more than a million hot meals. Andrés has broadcast his efforts via his Twitter account and through the #chefsforpuertorico hashtag. He had started to curtail WCK’s efforts by late October, but he has continued to shine a light on the realities of post-Maria life in Puerto Rico on his social media accounts.
Before he stepped up in such an extraordinary way in Puerto Rico, he stood up to Donald Trump, at great personal cost to himself.
When Trump announced his candidacy in June 2015 by claiming that Mexican immigrants were drug dealers and rapists, Andrés withdrew from a deal to create a grand new restaurant in the Trump hotel planned for the old Post Office building in Washington, D.C. (Andrés was born in Spain and is a naturalized U.S. citizen.) Trump sued for breach of contract, and the two parties settled in April 2017.
According to the Washington Post, Andrés said at the time of his withdrawal from the Trump Washington D.C. restaurant deal:
“More than half of my team is Hispanic, as are many of our guests,” the chef said in a statement at the time. “And, as a proud Spanish immigrant and recently naturalized American citizen myself, I believe that every human being deserves respect, regardless of immigration status.”
We at OTYCD encourage you to support Andrés and his charitable works however you can.
Andrés’s empire includes 27 restaurants in the U.S. and Mexico, as well as food trucks and catering services. Are any of them near you? Check the link below and pay a visit, and vote with your dollars:
http://www.joseandres.com/en_us/restaurants
Follow Andrés on Twitter:
@chefjoseandres
Like him on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/chefjoseandres/?fref=ts&ref=br_tf
Subscribe to One Thing You Can Do by clicking the button on the upper right of the page. And tell your friends about the blog!
Visit the World Central Kitchen webpage:
https://www.worldcentralkitchen.org
Donate to World Central Kitchen:
https://www.worldcentralkitchen.org/donate
Read about World Central Kitchen’s and #chefsforpuertorico’s work on the island in the wake of Hurricane Maria:
http://time.com/4981655/jose-andres-fema-trump-puerto-rico/
https://www.eater.com/2017/10/25/16545754/jose-andres-puerto-rico-world-central-kitchen
Read about how the chef quit his partnership with Trump after he disparaged Mexicans, and read about the settlement of the resulting lawsuit:
One Thing You Can Do 