Chef Andres is on the ground helping whenever disaster strikes

After earthquakes, as hurricanes blow and drench, when wildfires chew through neighborhoods and volcaes spew dely lava, look for a gregarious chef toting huge and mighty paella pans. His name is Jose Andres, and he might just be changing some rules on how expedient food relief is distributed to victims of disaster when y need it most: w, t days from w.

Chef Jose Andres is on ground

frank-talking Spaniard is a celebrity chef with two James Beard awards, nearly three dozen restaurants and four Michelin stars in his hip pocket. He also founded a nprofit, World Central Kitchen, that has served nearly 10 million meals on front line of emergencies since 2010 earthquake in Haiti and, most recently, in Bahamas.

“I cant have my fancy restaurants and enjoy life and just stay home and watch TV when people are hungry and thirsty,” Andres told Associated Press from New York, fresh from nearly three weeks of distributing food and clean water in Bahamas.

He and his small organization often do it with help of local cooks, via field kitchens using thing more than propane tanks, giant cast iron pans of his homeland and large containers built to keep thousands of hot meals warm for hours at a time.

y did it in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria. y did it in Texas, South Carolina, and Sourn California. y’ve done it in Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Zambia, Peru, Cuba, Uganda, Indonesia, Mozambique, and Cambodia.

Andres and World Central Kitchen me ir way to Bahamas before Hurricane Dorian hit land, enlisting help of Nassau resort Atlantis, Parise Island, that lent its industrial-size kitchen as home base. y provided hot meals, sandwiches, fresh fruit and water in hardest-hit areas to rth from disaster’s onset, island hopping by helicopter as stubborn storm churned for hours.

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“I believe in power of cooks like me coming toger to fix a problem that big NGOs and big governments are highly unprepared to respond to, which is most important moment, one hour after emergency happens,” Andres said Tuesday. “It’s urgency of w.”

While in town for United Nations’ annual garing of world leers, Andres, 50, is doing what he can to spre mess that food relief needs to be free of constraints of bureaucracy and institutional red tape.

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First food responder

Andres met with former President Bill Clinton, like-minded philanthropists, and Caribbean leers this week about his experiences as a “first food responder.” He plans to return to Bahamas as soon as he can.

work of his organization, and many or small n-governmental players like it, isn’t cheap. World Central purchases all its food and gets around using whatever means necessary, wher yacht, seaplane, helicopter or truck. y’re often first to arrive and last to leave.

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A new Climate Disaster Fund

On Friday, World Central anunced a new Climate Disaster Fund with goal of raising $50 million to make its efforts even more nimble and aptable hour by hour, a particular necessity when unforeseen issues arise.

In Bahamas, hotel where y h planned to st food distribution in Abaco was heavily damd, forcing m to cook about 100 miles (160 kilometers) to south in Nassau and fly in food.

majority of World Central’s funding comes from individual dors offering $10 or less. organization has a full-time staff of 25 and a broer circle of reserves, including a network of cooks and or volunteers willing to pack up and he out on a moment’s tice.

But key, said World Central’s executive director Nate Mook, is working with local people in hard-hit communities to help plan and untangle logistics, and to procure equipment and transport as cooking and food distribution ramp up.

“y kw best what needs are,” Mook said. “We hire local chefs and ors to work with us because y kw how best to lever what resources re are on ground.”

World Central doesn’t want to double down on efforts alrey underway. It looks for holes and hes straight to m. As relief turns to clean up and reconstruction, World Central trains local people to continue to help feed ir communities.

In Haiti, organization created a culinary school in Port-au-Prince, complete with a world-class, professional kitchen and a full dining room for hosting events.

Andres, choking up at times as he described devastation in Bahamas, is in it for long haul as he strives to improve way “zero hours” relief is handled.

“We need a major overhaul,” he said. “ future of relief must include NGOs that are highly specialized. It’s about less talking and more doing.”

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