Chef Jose Andres praises the ‘importance of volunteers’ in Ron Howard’s book We Feed People

José Andrés in Haiti after the 2021 earthquake, from Ron Howard’s new documentary We Feed the People. Photo: Clara Wetzel/National Geographic

For people who remember past incarnations of José Andrés—as a young Spanish chef with a huge figure who encouraged “Made in Spain” cookbooks and TV series Americans to try making tapas at home, or as the Midas-touch entrepreneur behind more than 25 popular American restaurants— His transformation over the past decade into one of the world’s leading humanitarians may seem surprising.

However, as Ron Howard’s inspiring new documentary “We Feed People” (airing on Disney+ starting Friday, May 27) reveals, Andrés’ drive to help those in need was instilled in him many years before the world recognized him as a social man. In Sitra Goods, he supplies meals in disaster areas “one dish at a time” with the relief organization World Central Kitchen.

Andres learned to be in service early in his life, long before President Barack Obama awarded him the 2015 National Humanities Medal, and decades before he made his first trip to Haiti after the devastating 2010 earthquake and discovered he had the gift of “seeing Opportunities where others see chaos.”

Andres’ parents were nurses who worked at the same Barcelona hospital. In We Feed People, he describes spending time in those halls as a child observing nurses’ “little gestures of sympathy” toward patients and their commitment to “go the extra mile” to ease someone’s suffering.

So, even as an ambitious 24-year-old immigrant chef in Washington (he became a naturalized US citizen in 2013), Andres volunteers at Robert Egger’s flagship DC Central Kitchen, turning food waste collected from the city’s restaurants into meals to feed the homeless.

Jose Andres disembarks in a helicopter to deliver food to a devastated neighborhood in Haiti, from Ron Howard’s new documentary We Feed the People. Photo: Sebastian Lindstrom/National Geographic

“Cooking, feeding people, serving — these are the things that I know how to do very well,” Andres said during a video call with The Chronicle of New York. “I am very impatient with the little things, but very patient with the bigger things in the long run,” such as diverting incompetent bureaucracies that have historically kept critical aid access to those who need it most. (The film shows him on the phone with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi arguing that “food is a national security issue.”)

During the interview, Andres sat next to Howard, who has directed more than 30 films, including the Academy Award-winning dramas “A Beautiful Mind” and “Apollo 13,” as well as his 2020 documentary “Rebuilding Paradise” about the fallout from the deadly events. 2018 Campfire Northern California.

The director recalled hearing Andres speaking at a conference seven years ago and was impressed by the chef’s charismatic enthusiasm and the astonishing efficiency of his packing efforts.

We Feed The People, shown at this year’s San Francisco International Film Festival, highlights not only Andres’ incredible drive to get food to people after disasters, but also how well in-flight adapts to unforeseen circumstances — such as abandoning A delivery truck full of hot meals for North Carolina residents stranded after Hurricane Florence’s floodwaters nearly overturned — and perhaps most importantly, how to learn as it goes.

Director Ron Howard prepares to interview Chef Jose Andres remotely for We Feed The People. Photo: Adnelly Marichal / National Geographic

Howard Andres first saw him in action in Butte County while filming Rebuilding Heaven. “Seeing him on the ground was the last catalyst,” Howard said, for his decision to make a movie about him, including the personal toll of someone not slowing down until close to breaking up, as he does in a movie on the phone with his wife. (His three daughters who work remotely have admitted checking Twitter to find out where their father is.)

“We made ‘Rebuild Heaven’, we followed some individuals and families trying to get through the fallout and tragedy of the fire, and the people who got involved (serving and distributing meals), they did better,” Howard said. “World Central Kitchen activates something in people who are not only facing an emergency, but speeding their recovery through participation.”

Andres echoed the same sentiments about what he learned about the nature of mutual service, sometimes surprising, after 12 years as a roving aid worker. Andres said, “I remember being there (in Butte County) with my daughters on Thanksgiving, making tens of thousands of Thanksgiving meals. But for me, it was the most powerful moment when all the firefighters who were on a holiday finally came to serve themselves to the people who Save. When you see people like this, it’s humbling. You can feel guilty making a movie that portrays me as a savior.”

Despite his charisma and being a natural in the spotlight, Howard’s movie has a bigger job to do than portray Andres as a hero. “It’s really about the importance of volunteers and volunteer work,” Howard said, and what immediate, and emotional, aid really is.

An early scene tells the powerful lesson Andrés learned during his first relief trip to Haiti, when he learned to make beans from local women using their traditional methods, rather than his own. “To this day, we make sure that what we cook is what the locals want to eat,” he says in the film.

This scene is paired with footage of President Donald Trump throwing paper towels at Puerto Ricans in 2017, while drone footage shows pleas “we need water and food” written in the streets.

Jose Andres uses arrows to point to World Central Kitchen distribution points on a map of Great Abaco Island in the Bahamas, in the new documentary “We Feed People” directed by Ron Howard. Photo: Emily Caldwell/National Geographic

We Feed The People reminds viewers that, whether in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria, or in the wake of volcanic eruptions in Guatemala or in the Navajo region during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, there is no shortage of opportunity for Andres, WCK CEO Nate Mok and his tribe. Committed volunteers to stimulate relief efforts.

“We serve close to 400,000 meals a day,” Andres said, getting more lively and chatty as he touted WCK’s accomplishments. We are in 110 cities, 800 shelters and 40 border crossings. We were the first people in Bucha (Ukraine) after the start of the war.”

“Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24,” Andres said. We were there serving meals on the twenty-fifth.”

“We Feed People” (unrated) is available to stream on Disney+ starting Friday, May 27.

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