WEBVTT - José Andrés 0:00:03.760 --> 0:00:06.160 Jose Andres is one of the world's greatest chefs and 0:00:06.200 --> 0:00:09.879 also one of the world's greatest humanitarians. Jose Andre's owns 0:00:09.920 --> 0:00:12.920 and operates thirty restaurants around the country and started the 0:00:12.920 --> 0:00:16.520 World Central Kitchen, which helps feed people in times of crisis. 0:00:17.040 --> 0:00:19.480 On this episode, appear to Pear I sit down with 0:00:19.560 --> 0:00:22.599 Jose in my kitchen to discuss his transition from chef 0:00:22.640 --> 0:00:26.280 to humanitarian, how his organization is feeding people around the world, 0:00:26.600 --> 0:00:29.520 and policies he hopes the Biden administration will adopt to 0:00:29.720 --> 0:00:32.519 end the hunger crisis in America. Jose, thank you very 0:00:32.560 --> 0:00:34.479 much for coming to my house in Bethesda and to 0:00:34.600 --> 0:00:37.440 my kitchen. Thank you for having me. It's an or 0:00:37.560 --> 0:00:40.960 to be here, really, So let's talk about your background 0:00:41.040 --> 0:00:43.839 and what you're doing, which is quite extraordinary. But to 0:00:43.880 --> 0:00:46.800 give people a sense of it, you are Spanish by birth, 0:00:47.800 --> 0:00:50.519 and you came to the United States originally with the 0:00:50.520 --> 0:00:54.000 Spanish Navy, Is that right? Yeah? First time? Well in 0:00:54.080 --> 0:00:58.760 his Spain, the military, he's mandatory. Back in today's was 0:00:58.800 --> 0:01:02.720 a dream of mine to beyond the navy. Uh. They 0:01:02.720 --> 0:01:05.320 put me to cook for the Admiral of Spain. Why 0:01:05.400 --> 0:01:09.400 because I already was young cook with talent. I already 0:01:09.520 --> 0:01:12.600 was champion of Spain of young cooks. Really, you've already 0:01:12.640 --> 0:01:15.000 had a background. Yeah, I began working in kitchens when 0:01:15.000 --> 0:01:18.560 I was fourteen, very much fourteen fifteen. So in the military, 0:01:18.640 --> 0:01:21.480 all of the southern admiral. But I'm like, sir, I 0:01:21.520 --> 0:01:23.640 don't want to cook for you, with all the respect, 0:01:24.040 --> 0:01:26.880 But what are you saying, this is the best position 0:01:26.920 --> 0:01:28.800 in the navy. No, I want to go on a boat. 0:01:29.319 --> 0:01:32.760 This boat I came to America and I traveled around 0:01:32.760 --> 0:01:35.200 the wall was a tall ship, the Juce. He was 0:01:35.280 --> 0:01:39.600 ten velcano, the training ship for the misshipment Foremast. It 0:01:39.760 --> 0:01:42.959 changed my life because on that boat, six months on 0:01:43.080 --> 0:01:47.040 the ocean, I learned the meaning of teamwork. I arrived 0:01:47.080 --> 0:01:51.000 to Pensacola, Florida, and then I arrived to New York. 0:01:51.520 --> 0:01:55.360 Can't you believe that thirty years ago with that ship, 0:01:55.680 --> 0:02:00.520 I dock on the West Side in Manhattan on fairlieth Street. 0:02:01.080 --> 0:02:05.800 Thirty years later, I opened my biggest restaurant, Mercado, Little Spain, 0:02:06.240 --> 0:02:09.760 on thirty Street, hundred fifty meters away from the same 0:02:09.800 --> 0:02:13.919 place I arrived as a young sailor. American dreams. The 0:02:13.919 --> 0:02:17.560 American dream is real. So after you finish your tour 0:02:17.680 --> 0:02:20.959 of duty in the Spanish Navy, you went back to Spain. 0:02:21.400 --> 0:02:24.280 And when did you come to the United States as 0:02:24.400 --> 0:02:28.240 a non navy person. Yeah. I arrived like around. I 0:02:28.280 --> 0:02:32.560 came back like the beginning of to New York to 0:02:32.680 --> 0:02:37.000 be a young cook in a in a Catalan restaurant 0:02:37.560 --> 0:02:40.160 in New York in Manhattan. It was a lot of 0:02:40.240 --> 0:02:44.480 investment that was coming from Spain into the United States. 0:02:44.639 --> 0:02:47.240 Was the Olympic Games of Barcelon and two. It was 0:02:47.280 --> 0:02:51.360 a lot of kind of cultural and business collaboration. I 0:02:51.520 --> 0:02:53.920 was one of those guys that came to America to 0:02:54.000 --> 0:02:59.000 become almost like you know, a culinary ambassador to a degree. 0:02:59.360 --> 0:03:01.799 I came to America, I never looked back. So you 0:03:01.840 --> 0:03:05.079 set up your own restaurant eventually, and your first restaurant 0:03:05.080 --> 0:03:08.080 was at a Spanish restaurant. Yeah. I then I was 0:03:08.120 --> 0:03:10.840 in New York. I left New York, I traveled around. 0:03:10.840 --> 0:03:15.120 I went Puero Rico, I went to California, was in Lahoia. Um. 0:03:15.200 --> 0:03:18.359 I really got to know America, different parts of America. 0:03:18.639 --> 0:03:21.640 But then I got to school two businessmen that both 0:03:21.720 --> 0:03:25.320 had two restaurants. Robert to Albare's and Rob Wilder, and 0:03:25.360 --> 0:03:29.720 they say, we're opening a Spanish restaurant in Washington, and 0:03:29.760 --> 0:03:33.480 we would like for you to be our chef. I came, 0:03:33.760 --> 0:03:36.560 I joined another great chef who was a partner, and 0:03:36.560 --> 0:03:39.840 they excepted the chef and cushion. I was twenty three 0:03:40.400 --> 0:03:44.960 was January of nine. Washington has been my home. Science 0:03:44.960 --> 0:03:48.320 then now you have thirty restaurants more or less in 0:03:48.400 --> 0:03:52.000 Las Vegas and other parts of the Los Angeles, Miami. 0:03:52.680 --> 0:03:54.480 But they're not all the same in the words. You 0:03:54.520 --> 0:03:58.000 have restaurants that to Spanish food, different types of food. 0:03:58.040 --> 0:04:01.120 Is that right? Yeah? In a way, what I do 0:04:01.320 --> 0:04:04.560 is I don't open businesses. I always say I tell 0:04:04.600 --> 0:04:08.240 his stories. I'm a cook. I expressed myself through my cooking, 0:04:08.320 --> 0:04:11.040 my plates, and what you see is a collection of 0:04:11.120 --> 0:04:15.600 his stories. I share with people, the stories I learned 0:04:15.920 --> 0:04:18.640 and the stories that other people tell me, one place 0:04:18.680 --> 0:04:21.360 at the time. Then they become restaurants. Now, the most 0:04:21.400 --> 0:04:25.000 famous restaurant you ever wanted to open was in the 0:04:25.160 --> 0:04:29.040 Trump Hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue, and you had worked out 0:04:29.080 --> 0:04:31.599 in arrangement. I guess with Donald Trump before he was 0:04:31.640 --> 0:04:36.200 elected president, and then after he made his opening speech 0:04:36.200 --> 0:04:37.880 when he said he was going to run for president, 0:04:38.360 --> 0:04:42.120 you decided to back out, He sued you. What was 0:04:42.120 --> 0:04:44.800 that all about? And how that get resolved? Well, this 0:04:45.040 --> 0:04:48.840 was the restaurant where it became the building that used 0:04:48.839 --> 0:04:51.520 to be the old Posts post house office, the old 0:04:51.520 --> 0:04:55.800 post office that became the Trump Hotel. Uh. I had 0:04:55.800 --> 0:05:00.120 a dream of opening a restaurant on that building. But 0:05:00.200 --> 0:05:08.040 then when Mr Trump began opening, he's making opinions about immigrants. 0:05:08.480 --> 0:05:11.360 I thought that the way he was doing it was 0:05:11.440 --> 0:05:15.440 not aligned with my values. I understand everybody can have 0:05:15.600 --> 0:05:18.919 their opinion, but their opinion should be respectful. He began 0:05:18.960 --> 0:05:23.400 showing kind of a love disrespect in the way he 0:05:23.440 --> 0:05:27.039 was talking about my fellow citizens in this case, immigrants, 0:05:27.440 --> 0:05:31.520 undocumented or not, just good people. At the end, I 0:05:31.760 --> 0:05:35.800 guess between the lawyers they arrived to a friendly resolution 0:05:35.839 --> 0:05:38.520 which I cannot talk much more about it. But he 0:05:38.600 --> 0:05:41.000 opened his hotel and I got what I wanted. That 0:05:41.240 --> 0:05:45.120 was not opening my restaurant on that location. Okay, you 0:05:45.160 --> 0:05:47.280 have thirty restaurants, more or less not the one of 0:05:47.320 --> 0:05:50.440 the Trump Hotel. You're pretty successful, you're well known. You're 0:05:50.480 --> 0:05:54.080 also teaching at Harvard in food and other things. Pretty 0:05:54.160 --> 0:05:57.719 nice life. You're gonna build an even bigger business empire, 0:05:58.080 --> 0:06:00.280 and then all of a sudden, there's an earth quake 0:06:00.320 --> 0:06:04.360 in Haiti. So why did you decide to kind of 0:06:04.400 --> 0:06:07.120 walk a little bit away from your restaurant business to 0:06:07.160 --> 0:06:10.239 go feed the people in Haiti. You're not Haitian, nobody 0:06:10.279 --> 0:06:12.320 asked you to do this. What propelled you all of 0:06:12.360 --> 0:06:14.440 a sudden say I'm going to feed the people in Haiti. 0:06:14.520 --> 0:06:17.320 They don't have any food. I almost have to go 0:06:17.400 --> 0:06:19.839 back twenty years ago when I arrived the sea. First, 0:06:20.240 --> 0:06:22.720 I was able to go to an organization called this 0:06:22.839 --> 0:06:27.280 c Central Kitchen, the best fighting hunger organization. I know. 0:06:28.200 --> 0:06:30.320 We don't only take care of people out of the 0:06:30.400 --> 0:06:33.640 streets and ex combats, UH put them in a place 0:06:33.839 --> 0:06:38.040 of of a possible success. We trend them to be cooked. 0:06:38.080 --> 0:06:40.000 In the process, we get food that is about to 0:06:40.040 --> 0:06:43.560 be thrown away. We put everything together. We gave opportunity 0:06:43.600 --> 0:06:46.800 to people. We feed people at the same time. Brilliant idea. 0:06:47.080 --> 0:06:49.120 I saw the power of food to change the lives 0:06:49.279 --> 0:06:53.240 of people, the life of our community. When Haiti happened, 0:06:53.240 --> 0:06:55.080 I was very close to Haiti. I was in the 0:06:55.160 --> 0:06:59.159 Cayman Islands, and it's almost like a connection. I'm enjoying 0:06:59.200 --> 0:07:01.520 a good time with my family on a beautiful island 0:07:01.560 --> 0:07:04.039 on navacation, and all of a sudden, I'm like, men, 0:07:04.240 --> 0:07:07.520 take a look at that disaster. I didn't go immediately, 0:07:08.040 --> 0:07:10.720 but very very much. A few weeks later, I landed 0:07:10.760 --> 0:07:14.760 in Dominican Republic. I drove to Havy with one simple intention. 0:07:15.400 --> 0:07:18.520 First to learn, because to help you must learn how 0:07:18.640 --> 0:07:21.960 help must be provided. But for me, it was the 0:07:22.000 --> 0:07:25.280 beginning of the creation of Wall Central Kitchen. That was 0:07:25.400 --> 0:07:28.600 very simple, to bring together the power of the food 0:07:28.600 --> 0:07:33.280 people of the Wall restaurants, chefs, food people, farmers to 0:07:33.360 --> 0:07:35.600 make sure that we will be able to answer to 0:07:35.760 --> 0:07:41.560 emergencies quickly and fast. Unlike sometimes when other relief organizations 0:07:41.600 --> 0:07:44.600 go in to help people who are in distress, you 0:07:44.640 --> 0:07:47.720 don't just say here's some food, go cook it. You 0:07:47.760 --> 0:07:50.520 actually provide meals themselves. You cook the meals. Is that 0:07:50.640 --> 0:07:53.960 right at the very beginning, when there is destruction, used 0:07:54.000 --> 0:07:56.160 to think that you can get people food is used 0:07:56.240 --> 0:08:01.680 very naive when its destruction means that the homes are destroyed, 0:08:01.680 --> 0:08:04.320 there is no clean water, there is probably no gas, 0:08:05.160 --> 0:08:09.560 people are probably in distress, looking for loved ones. When 0:08:09.680 --> 0:08:13.560 chaos and happens, just you cannot give people use dry 0:08:13.640 --> 0:08:16.040 beans and expect that that's all you can do. At 0:08:16.040 --> 0:08:18.800 the very beginning, it's very important that you move away 0:08:18.840 --> 0:08:21.960 the problem of where the food is coming from, where 0:08:21.960 --> 0:08:25.040 the water is coming from. This is one least less 0:08:25.080 --> 0:08:27.760 problem that they have to handle. So that's what we do. 0:08:27.920 --> 0:08:31.880 We arrive, we see the situation, We start feeling people 0:08:32.440 --> 0:08:37.120 using whatever whatever possibilities we have in the places we go. 0:08:37.280 --> 0:08:40.680 Every situation has a different response. Let's talk about COVID. 0:08:41.120 --> 0:08:44.840 When COVID came, people stopped going out the restaurants. You 0:08:44.880 --> 0:08:47.640 had thirty restaurants. I assume you had to close virtually 0:08:47.640 --> 0:08:49.480 all of them, is that right? For a while, we 0:08:49.559 --> 0:08:51.200 we had to close all of that, but you still 0:08:51.200 --> 0:08:54.080 paid your employees for a while because you were nice 0:08:54.120 --> 0:08:56.360 about it. But it wasn't that kind of expensive to 0:08:56.360 --> 0:08:59.000 paying people who weren't working. I mean, this is a 0:08:59.080 --> 0:09:03.199 decision I early will make again. My partners supported it, 0:09:03.880 --> 0:09:06.200 and then we were very lucky that then something called 0:09:06.240 --> 0:09:09.120 p P peeking. But when we made the decision, we 0:09:09.480 --> 0:09:13.160 kept everybody in peril for four or five six weeks 0:09:13.400 --> 0:09:19.040 and when you're talking about employees, that's a lot of money. 0:09:19.040 --> 0:09:22.559 But we had to do it because remember there were 0:09:22.720 --> 0:09:26.800 very cootic days. Nobody knew what was happening. We had 0:09:26.800 --> 0:09:30.800 to close because it's a virus. When we will be reopening. 0:09:31.240 --> 0:09:35.320 Everything was kind of very complex, and we thought that 0:09:35.400 --> 0:09:37.160 being there next to the people at the beginning was 0:09:37.200 --> 0:09:39.160 the right thing. I will do it ten times over. 0:09:39.320 --> 0:09:42.360 So in this period of COVID, you have been feeding 0:09:42.400 --> 0:09:45.600 people in the United States who have lost their jobs, 0:09:46.080 --> 0:09:48.480 who don't have food. Did you ever think in the 0:09:48.520 --> 0:09:50.520 United States should be in a situation where people are 0:09:50.520 --> 0:09:54.679 standing in food lines and quite the level that we've seen. Um, 0:09:55.240 --> 0:09:59.079 kind of we saw a glimpse when the federal government 0:09:59.120 --> 0:10:02.080 shut down. We don't realize that we had many Americans, 0:10:02.200 --> 0:10:05.640 hundreds of thousands of Americans, millions without a paycheck for 0:10:05.679 --> 0:10:09.200 six weeks. And some people could handle it, but was many, 0:10:09.320 --> 0:10:14.720 especially mothers, single mothers with few children, not pay checked 0:10:14.720 --> 0:10:18.199 from the federal government. Many of them suffered. So we 0:10:18.400 --> 0:10:21.600 already began kind of a system where we were fitting 0:10:21.640 --> 0:10:24.720 over thirty six states and we were doing thousands and 0:10:24.760 --> 0:10:29.559 thousands of mills. These somehow was the training for what happened. 0:10:30.679 --> 0:10:32.839 I never reminded that we will have something like this, 0:10:33.480 --> 0:10:37.720 but we knew that America, as great of a country 0:10:38.160 --> 0:10:40.600 we have, it's a lot of people that they are 0:10:40.600 --> 0:10:44.360 living under the poverty line. And when something like this happening, 0:10:44.480 --> 0:10:49.000 when people losing their jobs, an emergency situation like the 0:10:49.040 --> 0:10:52.040 one we were facing, that hunger was going to be 0:10:52.960 --> 0:10:57.200 open for everybody to see. Well, despite your efforts, which 0:10:57.240 --> 0:11:00.240 have been heroic, many Americans are going to sleep at 0:11:00.320 --> 0:11:02.800 night hungry. And I think there are large numbers of 0:11:03.000 --> 0:11:05.400 tens and tens of millions of Americans. So is that 0:11:05.520 --> 0:11:08.840 because the government isn't getting food to people in addition 0:11:08.880 --> 0:11:10.680 to what you're doing, or people just don't have the money, 0:11:10.720 --> 0:11:13.560 or what is the basic problem? Well, what's in the kitchen? 0:11:13.600 --> 0:11:15.560 We are used the tip of the iceberg is many 0:11:15.600 --> 0:11:18.560 great organizations doing good work. But what happens is we 0:11:18.600 --> 0:11:23.240 don't have anybody that really is trying to coordinate everything. 0:11:23.520 --> 0:11:27.000 We saw in these pandemic hospitals without food because everything 0:11:27.080 --> 0:11:29.480 was shut down. People were not going to work, cooks 0:11:29.480 --> 0:11:31.320 were not going to the kitchens. All of the sudden, 0:11:31.360 --> 0:11:35.080 you had hospitals that nobody was feeding. Organizations like World 0:11:35.080 --> 0:11:38.280 Center a kitchen. We had to activate that emergency. But 0:11:38.360 --> 0:11:42.920 then we saw millions of Americans losing their jobs, many 0:11:42.960 --> 0:11:46.640 of them are undocumented. We I'm not gonna get political 0:11:46.760 --> 0:11:49.800 if we should be taking care of them documented or not, 0:11:50.280 --> 0:11:53.000 but this is the reality that we had millions of 0:11:53.040 --> 0:11:57.480 America undocumented work in the fields, so you and I 0:11:57.520 --> 0:12:01.040 we could have festivals in the supermarket, working on delivery, 0:12:01.080 --> 0:12:03.400 so you and I we could beginning food deliver home. 0:12:03.840 --> 0:12:08.199 We hadn't documented that they've been moving America through this pandemics. 0:12:08.200 --> 0:12:11.600 So is very clear to me that we must be 0:12:11.679 --> 0:12:16.440 taking care of everybody. The federal government has possibilities to 0:12:16.600 --> 0:12:20.280 have a better way to keep everybody fed. The last 0:12:21.880 --> 0:12:25.240 big meaningful conversation about how to fit America happened in 0:12:25.320 --> 0:12:29.319 nineteen nine under the Nixon administration, which was the White 0:12:29.320 --> 0:12:33.520 House Summit of sixty nine, fifty years ago. Over fifty 0:12:33.559 --> 0:12:36.480 years ago is what overdue that we have another food 0:12:36.480 --> 0:12:39.400 Summit at the White House where we bring the ideas 0:12:39.440 --> 0:12:42.959 that have worked in the past, new ideas that they 0:12:43.000 --> 0:12:46.520 need to be coming forward and improving, others that need 0:12:46.640 --> 0:12:49.360 some tweaking. We have the power to do it. I 0:12:49.400 --> 0:12:53.280 hope that in Disney administration and Republicans and Democrats together 0:12:53.360 --> 0:12:55.920 will come to allow those new ideas to come and flourish. 0:12:56.080 --> 0:12:58.000 Now you've argued, I think that there should be a 0:12:58.000 --> 0:13:01.640 food ZAR and that Department of Agriculture should be maybe 0:13:01.640 --> 0:13:05.360 renamed Department of Food and Agriculture. Right now, who's in 0:13:05.440 --> 0:13:11.840 charge of food in the United States? Quite frankly, technically nobody, 0:13:12.120 --> 0:13:14.240 uh And I know some people would say, Jose, come on, 0:13:14.320 --> 0:13:17.280 I'm here, Jose, I'm here. We need the person next 0:13:17.320 --> 0:13:23.520 to the president that has the big political support and 0:13:23.600 --> 0:13:29.000 the office we need. After September eleven, the the National 0:13:29.080 --> 0:13:32.840 Director of Intelligence Office was created to make sure that 0:13:32.960 --> 0:13:36.760 all the agencies and all the intelligence people will come 0:13:36.800 --> 0:13:39.840 together so we can be good defending America from a 0:13:39.880 --> 0:13:43.480 possible terrorist attack. I do believe it's time that we 0:13:43.520 --> 0:13:47.199 will create also the Office of the National Director of 0:13:47.280 --> 0:13:50.680 Food and Nutrition at the White House, almost with a 0:13:50.720 --> 0:13:54.000 seat on the National Security Council next to the President, 0:13:54.040 --> 0:13:57.199 and making sure that we bring the resources of every 0:13:57.440 --> 0:14:00.319 single department. Foot is more than the U S. The 0:14:00.400 --> 0:14:03.640 A even is the obvious one, but food is also 0:14:04.080 --> 0:14:07.640 the Department of Housing. We can end food desserts in 0:14:07.720 --> 0:14:11.959 every houseing project that the US Housing Department have is 0:14:12.000 --> 0:14:16.280 transportation because food also needs to have good mechanemic sims 0:14:16.320 --> 0:14:20.280 to bring food to the poor rural areas all across America. 0:14:20.600 --> 0:14:26.080 Food is also homeland security, It's food, dis immigration reform, food. 0:14:26.200 --> 0:14:29.080 It's so many things at once that that's why we 0:14:29.120 --> 0:14:32.560 need to take food once and for all. Seriously, So 0:14:32.920 --> 0:14:38.560 you campaign for um Joe Biden President Biden, Um, would 0:14:38.560 --> 0:14:40.360 you've been interested in this job? Or you still got 0:14:40.360 --> 0:14:42.640 your restaurants in World Central Kitchen? So you're not gonna 0:14:42.680 --> 0:14:44.920 do something like that in the White House yourself? It 0:14:45.040 --> 0:14:49.560 was there nobody else. Maybe I could be a good 0:14:50.240 --> 0:14:52.800 a good leader on that front, only because I'm a 0:14:52.800 --> 0:14:56.120 hard worker. I'm creative enough, and I know who to 0:14:56.160 --> 0:14:59.000 bring people together. But me, quite frankly, I'm a guy 0:14:59.040 --> 0:15:02.000 that likes to be with wots on the ground. I 0:15:02.160 --> 0:15:05.640 like to see what's happening. So, uh it is me 0:15:05.800 --> 0:15:08.440 one day, who knows I'm fifty one. Now. What I 0:15:08.480 --> 0:15:10.360 want now is to make sure the number one we 0:15:10.520 --> 0:15:13.200 recognize that we need that person, that we recognize we 0:15:13.240 --> 0:15:16.240 need that position, and that Actually I'm very happy with 0:15:16.320 --> 0:15:20.560 Secretary Bill set because we need somebody with expertise. Obviously, 0:15:20.640 --> 0:15:25.720 having a governor of a rural uh estate, Having somebody 0:15:25.760 --> 0:15:29.200 that has done ideas as Secretary of Agriculture is going 0:15:29.240 --> 0:15:32.440 to help enormously to put the USDA forward. And I 0:15:32.520 --> 0:15:35.240 know he's coming to the position with both ideas. But 0:15:35.280 --> 0:15:38.480 I keep saying, we need the White White House Food Summit, 0:15:38.800 --> 0:15:42.280 and we need this new director National Director of Food 0:15:42.320 --> 0:15:45.360 the Nutrition. This is imperative. If we don't do this, 0:15:46.480 --> 0:15:49.520 we're gonna miss a lot of opportunities to maximize the 0:15:49.560 --> 0:15:54.040 potential of the many agencies coming working together. So when 0:15:54.080 --> 0:15:56.800 you're a chef, you're cooking elaborate me as for people. 0:15:57.640 --> 0:16:00.480 They then consume it in five or ten minutes. Uh. 0:16:00.520 --> 0:16:02.840 Do you get pleasure at making people happy? Or do 0:16:02.840 --> 0:16:04.440 you say I work so hard on this and now 0:16:04.440 --> 0:16:07.200 it's gone in five or ten minutes. Well, sometimes I 0:16:07.320 --> 0:16:11.000 create dishes that they are used experiencing one second. Sometimes 0:16:11.080 --> 0:16:13.400 a second is all it needs, you know. Sometimes one 0:16:13.400 --> 0:16:16.080 of the most amazing things if you get freshes now 0:16:17.120 --> 0:16:19.800 and you go out with a spoon and you grab 0:16:19.880 --> 0:16:22.960 the top of the snow fresh you get a little 0:16:22.960 --> 0:16:24.840 bit of honey on maple syrup and you put a 0:16:24.840 --> 0:16:27.720 touch on top, a little bit of salt, and you 0:16:27.840 --> 0:16:31.320 bring that snow that you came down and you put 0:16:31.320 --> 0:16:34.360 in your mouth. Your life is gonna change forever because 0:16:34.400 --> 0:16:38.320 that's gonna be the best or bad, the best that 0:16:38.440 --> 0:16:42.720 you've ever eaten. So it's very important to understand those moments. 0:16:42.880 --> 0:16:44.960 So when you go home after a hard day at work, 0:16:45.080 --> 0:16:47.600 world's central kitchen or your restaurants, do you say to 0:16:47.640 --> 0:16:49.720 your wife, could you cook a meal for me? Or 0:16:49.720 --> 0:16:51.960 do you do all the cooking at home as well? No? 0:16:52.160 --> 0:16:54.160 She my wife has a lot of cooking at home, 0:16:54.280 --> 0:16:58.440 and my daughter's obviously she has more the traditional recipes 0:16:58.480 --> 0:17:01.560 that we always cook, like lenty or cheek peace with spinish. 0:17:02.000 --> 0:17:05.280 Those are dishes that are always in my home and 0:17:05.359 --> 0:17:08.320 my daughter's love. But you don't say, honey, this isn't 0:17:08.400 --> 0:17:10.639 quite as good as I would have cooked it, or 0:17:10.720 --> 0:17:12.080 let me tell you how to cook this better. You 0:17:12.200 --> 0:17:14.280 never say that when my wife cooks is always the 0:17:14.280 --> 0:17:17.560 best meal. Okay. So if you were in a desert 0:17:17.600 --> 0:17:21.040 island and you can only have one meal, what would 0:17:21.080 --> 0:17:23.480 you want to eat? What is your favorite food eat? 0:17:25.400 --> 0:17:30.040 If I was in an one meal these uh, probably, 0:17:30.720 --> 0:17:36.240 without doubt, without doubt, I will say, give me an egg, 0:17:36.920 --> 0:17:41.359 an egg I love ex okay, I love fry egg. 0:17:42.600 --> 0:17:45.160 Is the most complex thing in the history of mankind 0:17:45.800 --> 0:17:50.320 to fry an egg properly. Those people that will control 0:17:50.440 --> 0:17:53.720 the power to fry an egg, it's just people that 0:17:53.880 --> 0:17:58.040 they can't retire from anything else on life because it's 0:17:58.040 --> 0:18:00.960 the ultimate thing in life to now how to properly 0:18:01.520 --> 0:18:06.040 fry an egg. So around the world there is a 0:18:06.119 --> 0:18:09.320 rating system of great restaurants, a Michelin Guide. Do you 0:18:09.359 --> 0:18:11.879 pay attention to that kind of thing? Is that important 0:18:11.880 --> 0:18:13.760 to you Mischiling Guide stars? Or is that not that 0:18:13.840 --> 0:18:16.040 big of deal. When I was fourteen fifteen years old 0:18:16.119 --> 0:18:20.800 in Barcelona, I will walk outside one to three Michelling 0:18:20.960 --> 0:18:24.639 Star restaurants only so I could have the opportunity to 0:18:24.800 --> 0:18:27.480 have a glimpse inside, because my family will not take 0:18:27.520 --> 0:18:30.760 them me. There were expensive restaurants. I still remember that 0:18:30.840 --> 0:18:33.040 my heart was kind of bumping the first time I 0:18:33.119 --> 0:18:36.719 came into a Michelling and Star restaurant in the kitchen 0:18:36.880 --> 0:18:42.000 no even to eat, so in my myself. Thirty five 0:18:42.160 --> 0:18:45.960 plast years later, obviously I have two restaurants with two 0:18:46.200 --> 0:18:50.440 two Michelling Stars. Uh in l A and Miami, even 0:18:50.480 --> 0:18:53.359 De l A one is already closed. And the biggest 0:18:53.440 --> 0:18:55.440 joy of my life was the day we got those 0:18:55.480 --> 0:18:57.960 two star. Michelling Whill I wore hard to try to 0:18:58.000 --> 0:19:02.280 get in the future a third star. Sure, it's what 0:19:02.400 --> 0:19:05.080 you live in life for right it's Michelin has been 0:19:05.119 --> 0:19:07.680 here forever, is one of the big guys. I don't 0:19:07.720 --> 0:19:09.439 do it so much for Michelin. I do it for 0:19:09.480 --> 0:19:11.560 my team. I do it for me. I do it 0:19:11.560 --> 0:19:13.480 for the people. I do it for the pride. But 0:19:14.440 --> 0:19:16.639 do I would work in the future to try to 0:19:16.680 --> 0:19:20.320 achieve through star Michelin? You bet I will for your 0:19:20.400 --> 0:19:23.440 humanitarian efforts. You've been nominated for the Nobel Peace Price, 0:19:24.080 --> 0:19:26.040 So I don't know, they said. But I don't know. 0:19:26.080 --> 0:19:28.080 But is that something you care about or you're more 0:19:28.080 --> 0:19:30.920 focused a lot of stuff? I mean quite frankly, all 0:19:30.960 --> 0:19:35.199 those things are are good for the forrest gum movies 0:19:35.560 --> 0:19:38.080 of my life. But at the end, what I care. 0:19:39.320 --> 0:19:41.479 I have hard time now knowing when there is an 0:19:41.520 --> 0:19:45.440 emergency and I'm not there right now next to be 0:19:45.640 --> 0:19:49.320 with my family. My heart really is at his best, 0:19:49.440 --> 0:19:53.359 and I feel good with myself when I'm in a 0:19:53.440 --> 0:19:55.960 Maria in an emergency, knowing that we are bringing relief 0:19:56.040 --> 0:19:58.359 to others as I thank you very much for coming 0:19:58.359 --> 0:20:00.880 to my kitchen. I've been your kitchen many times. Mine 0:20:00.960 --> 0:20:03.480 is not quite as good as yours, but it's the 0:20:03.480 --> 0:20:07.280 best I have. Thank you very much. Thanks for listening 0:20:07.640 --> 0:20:09.800 to hear more of my interviews. You can subscribe and 0:20:09.840 --> 0:20:13.960 download my podcast on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you listen.