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The National Humanities Medal, inaugurated in 1997, honors individuals or groups whose work has deepened the nation's understanding of the humanities and broadened our citizens' engagement with history, literature, languages, philosophy, and other humanities subjects. Andrés left school at 15, went to a culinary and hospitality school, then had the good fortune to work in a restaurant frequented by Ferran Adrià, the father of Modernist cuisine, which led to a job in Adrià’s legendary restaurant elBulli. He would take that love of fire and, over the course of the next several decades, transform it into a collection of 22 restaurants —some of them among the most innovative in the United States— and an international reputation as a major culinary influencer.
Jose Andres.
He felt both welcomed and intoxicated.
In 1993, he helped to open Jaleo in Washington, D.C.
José Andrés doesn’t win the Nobel Peace Prize, but that doesn’t slow his disaster relief work Up to 12 medals can be awarded each year. “I fell in love with making the fire,” he says. In 2002, he opened Zaytinya, featuring eastern Mediterranean cuisine on small plates. In 2005, Food Arts magazine awarded him their prestigious Silver Spoon award, referring to him as "the irrepressibly energetic chef Jose Andres, the best thing to happen to Spain in North America since 1492." Not only did he create a small restaurant empire, Andrés’s manic energy, curiosity, intelligence and love of his native Spain has made him one of the great ambassadors of Spanish food and a chef who also works to improve impoverished parts of the world. Andrés and World Central Kitchen were responsible for feeding more than a reported 3 million Americans in Puerto Rico following the devastation of Hurricane Maria. José Andrés: Hannibal. One of the first ports of call was Pensacola, Florida, where he saw five flags flying, one of them the Spanish flag.
Not only did he create a small restaurant empire, Andrés’s manic energy, curiosity, intelligence and love of his native Spain has made him one of the great ambassadors of Spanish food and a chef who also works to improve impoverished parts of the world. José Andrés knew he wanted to be a cook since the time, as a boy, he helped his father prepare paella in the woods of northern Spain and yearned to be in charge of the fire. This is far from the first time that Andrés is being formally recognized for his altruism; just this year, the James Beard Foundation bestowed its Humanitarian of the Year award on Andrés. Chef José Andrés has been nominated for the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize for his work with disaster relief through his non-profit organization World Central Kitchen.
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World Central Kitchen has also helped feed those in need after natural disasters in Houston, Texas, the Carolinas, and most recently, California, where they’ve been feeding the victims of the deadly wildfires sweeping the state, including an epic Thanksgiving dinner, where Andrés recruited local and celebrity chefs like Guy Fieri and Tyler Florence to feed 15,000 survivors of the California Camp Fire.
Chef Jose Andres attends the reopening of the Dorado Beach Hotel in Puerto Rico over a year after it was destroyed by Hurricane Maria. When the Spanish navy conscripted Andrés into service as a cook, he was thrilled—he’d get to see the world!—until he learned (perhaps because of his talent) that he’d been assigned to the admiral’s house, and would be going nowhere.