World-renowned chef and advocate of hunger issues José Andrés is the recipient of the James Beard Foundation’s Humanitarian of the Year Award, the organization said in a statement Wednesday.
In the wake of Hurricane Maria, Andrés worked together with his non-profit World Central Kitchen and the network of chefs and volunteers behind #ChefsForPuertoRico to deliver over 3.3 million meals in Puerto Rico.
“José’s work in Puerto Rico and Haiti shows how chefs can use their expertise and unique skills to enact profound change on a global scale,” Mitchell Davis, the foundation’s executive vice president, said in a statement.
The foundation gives an annual award to an organization or person in the food industry “who worked tirelessly to better the lives of others and society at large.” Andrés will receive the award May 7 at the foundation’s ceremony in Chicago.
The award-winning chef is also giving an inside look of his relief work in a new book titled "We Fed An Island: The True Story of Rebuilding Puerto Rico, One Meal at a Time," Ecco told The Associated Press Wednesday. A portion of proceeds will be given to World Central Kitchen.
Andrés several restaurants in the D.C. area include two-Michelin-starred Minibar.
