Charity chef José Andrés honored by Zelensky in Ukraine

The famous Spanish chef José Andrés, known for his help to vulnerable people around the world, was honored with a plaque in the Walk of the Brave in Kyiv. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky personally unveiled the plaque with Andrés in November 2022.

A few days earlier, the cook had visited the liberated city of Cherson, as seen in this photo. "We feel that you have been with us since the very beginning of this tragedy," Zelensky said, as cited by the Odessa Journal. "Thank you very much for standing with Ukrainians." Zelensky also honored the Spanish chef with the Ukrainian Order of Merit of the II degree.

Over the years, José Andrés has become an internationally recognized chef. And this is not only due to his culinary skills but also to the philanthropic work he carries out around the world.

Andrés has double nationality: Spanish and American. He gradually forged his career as a cook in Spain and then took the big leap to consolidate it in the United States. There, he achieved world fame, rubbing shoulders with all kinds of famous people and state leaders.

His beginnings in the world of cooking date back to when, at the age of 15, he began his studies in Barcelona. José Andrés learned the trade from a Spanish top chef, Ferran Adrià, who at that time was running the famous El Bulli restaurant.

The leap to the United States was quick. At age 21, he completed his studies and accepted a job offer in New York. The restaurant was called 'Paradis Barcelona.'

His first steps before becoming the face of Spanish cuisine in the United States were in other restaurants of the Big Apple, such as 'El Cid' and 'El Dorado Petit', as well as 'Paradis Barcelona'. Andrés then moved to the capital, Washington DC, where he would settle permanently.

His work as a chef extends to no less than thirty establishments with more than 3,000 employees. In his first restaurant 'Jaleo' he became the pioneer of the tapas culture in the United States. However, he also worked with Greek-Turkish (Zaytinya), Hispanic-American (Café Atlántico), and Mexican cuisine (Oyamel). His Minibar by José Andrés has two Michelin stars and is a meeting place for influential figures of American society.

Despite living in the US, José Andrés continued to work in Spanish media and cuisine. From 2005 and 2007 he directed and presented a weekly cooking program on TVE's La 1: 'Let's cook with José Andrés'.

In 2019, he joined two other illustrious figures of Spanish cuisine, the Adrià brothers to open the 'Little Spain Market' in New York, a 3,200-square-meter food hall where you can taste typical dishes of Spanish cuisine. It is a success among New Yorkers and tourists.

Apart from his businesses, Andrés also has a very solidary side. It materialized in 'World Central Kitchen', an NGO dedicated to bringing and making food for people in places affected by natural disasters and wars. An example is Haiti, in this photo from 2014, and another is Ukraine in 2022.

'World Central Kitchen' (WCK) came into being in 2010 after the devastating earthquake in Haiti. From then on, the organization has been in countries such as Peru, the Dominican Republic, Cuba, Nicaragua, the Bahamas, Zambia, Uganda, Spain, and the United States.

In the image, Andrés shows the work of WCK to Nancy Pelosi of the US House of Representatives.

The organization kept working during the Covid-19 pandemic. In 2020, Andrés converted eight of his restaurants in New York and the rest of the US into soup kitchens. He helped feed health personnel in San Francisco, brought food to the Grand Princess cruise ship that was quarantined near San Francisco, and partnered with the Washington Nationals baseball team to use their stadium as a distribution center for free food.

In 2022, 'World Central Kitchen' has done a lot of work in Ukraine. From the beginning of the Russian invasion, the organization went to the beleaguered country and its neighbors to distribute food. WCK gave out 300,000 daily food rations to the refugees as well as to the victims of bombings in the county. The organization even had four of its collaborators injured by a missile attack in Kharkiv.

José Andrés was nominated for the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize for his commitment to those affected by natural disasters and in humanitarian missions.

His professional successes and charitable work have earned José Andrés the respect of former US president Barack Obama. At a reception for the chef, Obama declared that "Michelle loves him and so do I. He's simply a great, great friend and a great citizen."

Amazon tycoon Jeff Bezos has also publicly shown his affection for José Andrés. He gave him 100 million dollars as part of his 'Courage and Civility Award' for the use of his organization.

Andés has also generated the occasional enemy on American soil. He publicly confronted Donald Trump for calling Mexican immigrants "criminals" in 2015 and even refused to open a restaurant at the Trump International luxury hotel in Washington DC.

According to People magazine, Andrés didn't think the business was "viable" when Trump's remarks offended so many of his workers and customers. "I did what I had to do. I was put in that situation," he said. Trump sued to chef for breaking the contract.

And there is more controversy. José Andrés is not afraid to speak his mind to powerful people. In May 2022, he responded to Elon Musk's tweets against the Democratic Party. Making a call for harmony, he wrote:
"I think someone has taken over your tweeter account [sic]... we need to build longer tables, with democrats and republicans of good will coming together to keep building our democracy! But to finger point Democrats for hate... well, obviously you’ve been hacked!"

He also responded when tennis players such as Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, and Andy Murray complained that removing Russian tennis players from the Wimbledon tournament due to the conflict with Ukraine was "unfair." Andrés wrote on Twitter: "when you know that children+women+elderly they’ve been shot in the head for going out for bread to eat. Girls raped. Millions of Ukrainians displaced! don’t slam ⁦@Wimbledon slam Russia."

A recent controversy centered on Andrés himself. Workers in his 'Mercado Little Spain' declared that the famous chef had not paid the salary as stipulated in the state of New York, particularly when it came to overtime.

"José Andrés is known in the world for his humanitarian efforts," a written complaint obtained by EFE states. "Unfortunately, Andrés has invested more effort in feeding people around the world than his own employees in Mercado Little Spain ..., which systematically pays salaries below the established minimum."

In media such as The Washington Post, Andrés blamed the low payment on a payroll software "glitch." In recent years, however, he has presented himself as an opponent of a steady minimum wage for restaurant workers.

For example, he opposed the Washington DC law proposal I-82 to phase out the tipped minimum wage, claiming that servers make enough money through tips and don't need a guaranteed monthly salary. DC voters supported this proposal during the November 2022 elections, thus forcing business owners like Andrés to change their ways.

In 2018, José Andrés appeared on the cover of Time magazine and was recognized among 'The 100 most influential people of the year' - something that had also happened in 2012. The annual turnover of his hotel empire reached 130 million dollars.

In 2021, he was indicated by Wealthy Gorilla, a website dedicated to entrepreneurship and personal motivation, as the twelfth richest chef in the world.

Disney+ released a National Geographic documentary about José Andrés in 2022. 'We Feed People' was directed by the famous Ron Howard and tells the story of the 12 years of 'World Central Kitchen.'

Surely, Andrés will continue to draw attention around the world as the star chef he is.