José Andrés is perhaps the most influential Spaniard in the world right now. After the Israeli drone strike that killed seven people who worked for his non-profit World Central Kitchen (WCK) in Gaza earlier this month, Andrés’s criticism of Israel has carried more weight and garnered more attention than any statement from a Spanish or other European political figure could.
It may seem strange that a chef raised in a former mining town in northern Spain who moved to New York as a 21-year-old with little money appears to wield such clout. But Andrés is no ordinary celebrity chef.
For a start he is an engaging storyteller. I met him years ago when he was giving a talk to a small group of fellows at Harvard, where he also taught a masterclass about science and cooking and it was mesmerising to listen to him share his experiences of growing up in Asturias, then working as a cook for the navy on a transatlantic ship, before building a gastronomic empire in the US and launching WCK to feed people in disaster zones. He talks a lot, is humble and funny, and is always eager to treat anyone to a meal in one of his restaurants.
Andrés is also skilled networker. Over the decades he has lived in the US (he became a US citizen in 2013), he has become a friend to the rich and powerful. He owns several award-winning restaurants serving Spanish, Mexican and Chinese cuisine in Washington DC, where Barack Obama would take his wife Michelle for a date, and a food market in New York called Little Spain. He often cooks with The Late Show’s Stephen Colbert, and has produced several television shows. His portrait hangs at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington. In 2019, he was nominated for the Nobel peace prize and has twice appeared in Time magazine’s list of the 100 most influential people in the world. Politico journalist Michael Schaffer recently called Andrés “a thought leader, humanitarian icon, and secular saint for the nation’s capital”.
He set up WCK in the aftermath of the 2010 Haiti earthquake. Since then the NGO has responded to floods, hurricanes and conflict-related catastrophes in Texas, Florida, Puerto Rico, Guatemala, Pakistan, Turkey, and Syria. In the early days of the pandemic, Andrés delivered meals to low-income neighbourhoods in New York. His largest mission has been in Ukraine.
He has generally tried to steer clear of politics, and has been embraced rather as a rare symbol of unity who talks about the power of food to build bonds across cultural and partisan barriers. WCK has never been just about delivering emergency food aid: the goal is to cook a fresh, decent meal with local ingredients and local staff: “… a thoughtful, freshly prepared meal is a reminder that you are not alone, someone is thinking about you, and someone cares. Food has the power to be the hope we need to pick ourselves back up in the darkest times,” his charity mission statement reads.
Yet Andrés confronted Donald Trump for his anti-immigration rhetoric, leading to the breakdown of a 2015 deal for a restaurant in one of Trump’s hotels and a court battle that ended in settlement.
Andrés has also been described as “charismatic, impulsive, blunt and driven” – characteristics that no doubt help him to mobilise funding and chefs quickly, but which have left him open to criticism as the organisation has grown and taken more risks. In 2023, a manager was dismissed after allegations of sexual harassment, and some workers have complained about lack of security training.
Since 7 October, his NGO has been serving meals to families of hostages and other victims of the Hamas attack in Israel. More recently, using a maritime aid corridor, WCK has been able to provide millions of meals in Gaza, organising 68 local kitchens to cook mujadara, a Middle Eastern dish made of rice, lentils and caramelised onions.
Andrés was outspoken in supporting Israel’s right to self-defence soon after the 7 October attack and before the start of the Gaza invasion. Six months later, his tone has changed. After the lethal Israeli attack on his staff, he angrily accused Benjamin Netanyahu of targeting humanitarian workers and civilians and waging a “war against humanity itself”.
His reaction in interviews and a New York Times opinion piece, prompted a speedier and more tangible reaction than months of street protests throughout the world or any of the UN resolutions so far have managed.
Joe Biden, who describes Andrés as a “friend” called him immediately after the attack, threatened to review US support unless Netanyahu took “immediate” and “measurable” actions to protect civilians and work towards a ceasefire. There have been calls for an end to arms sales to Israel even from within the UK Conservative party, while there is also renewed scrutiny in the US of its military cooperation with Israel. The Spanish government said it was considering diplomatic actions against Israel.
More than 30,000 Palestinians have been killed since October. More than 200 humanitarian workers have been killed, most of them Palestinians. It may seem like double standards that the lives of the seven WCK workers killed seem to matter more – but would the absence of a backlash against how Netanyahu is waging the war be better?
The seven are not the first westerners to lose their lives in this war. What was different is that WCK immediately shared the names and back-stories of the victims. We saw Zomi, an energetic 43-year-old woman in a video handing out oranges and dancing with kids in Dayton, Ohio, and Damian, a 35-year-old who started volunteering in Przemyśl, his home town in Poland, to help Ukrainian refugees crossing the border.
Humanising the victims elicited outrage and empathy. This, along with Andrés’s powerfulmessage and moral authority as a pragmatic humanitarian who has direct connections to world leaders means the attack on WCK could prove to be a tipping point in this horrific war.
To suggest that a Spanish chef could change the course of history may sound implausible. But whatever you think of Andrés, he has managed to move the dial with the White House where diplomacy seems to have failed. In ways we rarely see, he has shown the reach of soft power.
María Ramírez is a journalist and deputy managing editor of elDiario.es, a news outlet in Spain
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