- Chef José Andrés is a Michelin-star chef and humanitarian who feeds people in crisis.
- He is currently stationed at the border of Poland and
Ukraine feeding Ukrainianrefugees .
Over 660,000 people have fled Ukraine over the past six days and crossed into countries such as Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Hungary, and Moldova, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Michelin-star chef José Andrés is on a mission to feed as many of them as he can.
Since founding World Central Kitchen after the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, Andrés and his team can reliably be found distributing meals at disaster sites. He served over 3.4 million meals after Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico in 2017, fed 11,400 furloughed workers in one day out of a pop-up kitchen in Washington, DC, during the 2019 government shutdown, and distributed 840,000 meals to hospital workers in India during a surge of COVID-19 infections over the summer.
The chef is stationed at the border of Poland and Ukraine, feeding Ukrainian refugees fleeing violence
—José Andrés (@chefjoseandres) February 28, 2022
World Central Kitchen served 4,000 meals over 18 hours to refugees in Medyka, Poland, on Saturday, the organization wrote on Twitter.
—World Central Kitchen (@WCKitchen) February 27, 2022
World Central Kitchen has also begun expanding its efforts to Moldova and Romania, where Ukrainian refugees are being welcomed with meals like chicken soup, pilaf with sausage, and baked chicken over pasta.
—World Central Kitchen (@WCKitchen) March 1, 2022
UNHCR field staff have reported wait times of up to 60 hours to enter Poland and 20 hours to enter Romania. In an emotional video posted to Twitter on Tuesday, Andrés described seeing women and children walking to safety in freezing temperatures as the men turned back at the border to join Ukraine's defense forces.
"Why do we put young men and women in this situation? We didn't learn enough from the horrors of the past," he said. "People, we need to speak up against leaders that are breaking us apart."
—José Andrés (@chefjoseandres) March 1, 2022
Andrés has two Michelin stars for one of his restaurants, minibar by José Andrés in Washington, DC. In total, his restaurant group has more than two dozen restaurants across the US.