Las Vegas Review-Journal (Sunday)
One of Las Vegas’ finest chefs is also one of America’s greatest heroes
At a time when our nation’s leadership and federal government were at their worst, chef José Andrés showed the world what the American people look like at their absolute best. Here’s the picture: the operator of more than two dozen luxury restaurants in Las Vegas, Miami, Los Angeles and elsewhere drops everything and wrangles a flight to Puerto Rico in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Maria last year. Once there, he sets up a small kitchen to serve more than 21,000 meals to hurricane victims, then quickly expands to a dozen kitchens that deliver 100,000 meals a day all over the island.
In his first month on the island, Andrés provides more than 2 million meals. In doing so, he provides nutrition not just for the body but for the soul.
“A plate of food is much more than food,” Andrés writes in his new memoir, “We Fed an Island: The True Story of Rebuilding Puerto Rico, One Meal at a Time.” “It sends a message that someone far away cares about you; that maybe somewhere, something good is happening. It’s the hope that America will become America again.”
Thanks to his efforts, Andrés last week became a richly deserving nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize.
The example he set in Puerto Rico couldn’t have been more inspirational, especially considering how shamefully the White House and the federal government have responded to the crisis.
The contrast between Andrés and government officials in the days after the hurricane couldn’t have been more pronounced. While Andrés cooked batches of sancocho — a comforting stew — and waded through floodwater to make deliveries, the federal response was agonizingly slow in getting started.
Today, the response remains a national disgrace.
As of September, a year after the killer storm came ashore, 45,000 homes were still without roofs as owners waited for government aid. And while water and electricity had been restored to 99 percent of the island after months of outages, many municipalities were still lagging behind in rebuilding infrastructure like piers and walkways.
On the tiny island of Vieques off the southeastern coast, some residents are still living in tents on the beach because their houses remain uninhabitable. As one Vieques resident told The Atlantic in September, the population there still has “great needs for housing, health services, sustainable energy, jobs, ferry service and mental health services.”
That being the case, Andrés’ act of charity was especially praiseworthy.
It also wasn’t a one-time occurrence. Andrés helped contribute to relief operations following the 2010 earthquake in Haiti and Superstorm Sandy in 2012 before founding the World Central Kitchen, which this year served 300,000 meals to victims of Hurricane Florence in North Carolina and 45,000 meals in the Florida Panhandle in the first days after Hurricane Michael.
In his memoir, Andrés writes passionately about the need for reforms in how the government and nonprofit relief organizations respond to disasters. He describes contending with profiteering, turf wars and paralyzing bureaucracy in his efforts to help victims.
In short, Andrés’ book is a call to action. For speaking out, we commend him.
We also applaud him for being an extraordinary representative of the Las Vegas business community. Andrés’ establishments include Jaleo restaurant at the Cosmopolitan and Bazaar Meat by Jose Andrés at SLS Las Vegas.
It’s an honor for Las Vegas to be associated with Andrés. In Puerto Rico and elsewhere, he’s shown that American values are burning as brightly as ever.