A Spanish-born chef has flown out to the devastated island of Puerto Rico to offer relief to thousands by serving up nearly 20,000 meals a day in communities that have been left without food and electricity.
Chef José Andrés, 48, left his Michelin star Washington, D.C. restaurant to cook in cramped kitchens, in food trucks and on outdoor grills to feed the hungry communities on the island, facing round-the-block lines of people waiting for some much-needed plates of paella, sandwiches and stew.
But when he’s not feeding the needy, he’s wagging his finger at President Trump’s lack of action on the devastated island.
Super chef! Washington, D.C. celebrity cook José Andrés, 48, is feeding tens of thousands a day in the devastated island of Puerto Rico to neighborhoods without food, water or power
Dinner’s up! José gives a thumbs up to the hundreds of volunteers help prepare thousands of sandwiches and trays of rice, chicken, stew, vegetables and paella
Teamwork: Two volunteers put their back into pouring rice in to stewing paella in massive pans on giant outdoor grills to feed dozens of Puerto Rican communities
The small plates chef with restaurants across the US, flew to the island quickly after the hurricane receded with an agenda to feed as many people as possible as a part of a movement called Chefs for Puerto Rico headed by his foundation World Central Kitchen.
Videos the chef posts on Twitter reveal the progress and a chart of the dozens of neighborhoods that he brings food too, many of which are without water or power, and in need of hundreds of meals, a high call he works hard towards.
‘Today we’re going to try to reach probably over 12,000 meals. Everything you see here has been delivered. 400 meals to La Perla…Caguas 600 people,’ he lists his kitchen’s success in one Twitter clip.
‘This is effective and this is working. 12,000 meals alone thanks to great people like these children who are contributing their time…Today we probably made of 25,000 sandwiches,’ he adds in the video and points to a group of children donning gloves and helping their mothers with food trays.
The chef targets a neighborhood at a time, often via food truck to efficiently deliver the hot meals to the communities directly.
Meals on wheels: Chef José gives the local food trucks that have offered their hands and wheels to help transport hundreds of meals, a sign of warm approval for going the extra mile
Stronger together: Various ‘kitchens’ are used for the Chefs for Puerto Rico initiative that consist of restaurants, frying out of food trucks, and cooking paella outdoors (above)
The long haul: Crowds brave the rain in line for sancocho stew whipped up by the chef’s World Central Kitchen group in the Santurce community
And with each step he’s quick to call out the White House for its lack of action – especially when his World Central Kitchen group are making it work with just two kitchens.
In one tweet even even directly messages Donald Trump with relief and food aid solutions.
‘If I was Donald Trump I would activate every Food Truck in the country, create blocks of 10, centralize kitchen, 20,000 meals a day per block,’ he wrote on a method he’s made nearly feasible on his own.
But the trauma of the people and the dire need for help has chef José in tears.
‘I was crying a lot today because I know we can do better. I know that the people of Puerto Rico are amazing people. We need to remember and we need to send this message: the people of Puerto Rico are Americans like you and like me,’ he said to Anderson Cooper on CNN.
‘Don’t forget about that. The people of Puerto Rico are Americans that happen to live on an island,’ he added.
He even directly asked the US to send more military personnel to the 3.4million on the island.
The chef, named one of TIME’s 100 Most Influential People, is no stranger to disaster relief and has a history of bringing his cooking skills to communities that suffer natural disasters including Haiti and Houston.
Side by side: Chef José works alongside San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz to prepare a truck of Hurricane Maria relief supplies on September 30
Getting political: He is certainly not afraid to direct his thoughts to the president and shared this shot yesterday next to Mayor Carmen, who Trump said has ‘poor leadership’
Real talk: The cook shared a plan to rebuild the communities and effectively provide aid, modeled after his current strategy making an impact on the ground
Thankful: Unlike the president, the chef has made an obvious effort to thank his kitchen volunteers for their efforts that have impacted thousands
‘I’ve been in Haiti …I went after the last two hurricanes…and the amount of help that came from America was far way bigger than the amount of help that has come to Puerto Rico from the military. At one point we had 25,000 military in Haiti and we’re not very close to that here in Puerto Rico,’ he said to CNN.
‘So the message is simple, Mr. Trump we want you to lead, but let’s keep doing what we’ve done successfully in the past,’ he added.
José has worked alongside with San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz, who Trump has publicly bashed for ‘poor leadership’ in the hurricane aftermath.
‘If I was Donald Trump I would not attack a leader that has worked non stop for her people,’ he said in another tweet.
A third jab was taken towards the president’s lack of appreciation for the volunteers who have taken to the islands streets to help restore communities on the ground.
While José is busy tracking down neighborhoods in need and whipping up enough food to distribute, he says his group World Central Kitchen will stay on the island until the need goes down.
The celebrity chef is one of many in the public eye cooking up a storm for the president’s poor action in Puerto Rico. Stars including Cardi B, Rihanna and Kim Kardashian have also been extremely vocal online, directly addressing the need for more hurricane relief towards Trump’s social media.