For people who remember José Andrés’ earlier incarnations — as the brash young Spanish chef with a huge personality whose cookbooks and TV series “Made in Spain” encouraged Americans to try making tapas at home, or as the Midas-touch entrepreneur behind more than 25 popular U.S. restaurants — his transformation over the past decade into one of the world’s most prominent humanitarians might seem surprising.
Yet, as Ron Howard’s inspiring new documentary portrait “We Feed People” reveals, Andrés’ impulse to help those in need was instilled in him many years before the world got to know him as the gregarious guy in the cargo vest supplying meals in disaster zones “one plate at a time” with his relief organization World Central Kitchen.
Andrés learned to be of service early in life, long before President Barack Obama awarded him the 2015 National Humanities Medal, and decades before he took his first trip to Haiti after the country’s devastating 2010 earthquake and discovered he had a knack for “seeing opportunities where others see mayhem.”
安德烈斯（Andrés）的两个父母都是在同一巴塞罗那医院工作的护士。In “We Feed People,” streaming on Disney+ starting Friday, May 27, he describes spending time in those halls as a child observing the nurses’ “small gestures of empathy” for patients and their commitment to “going the extra mile” to ease someone’s suffering.
So, even as an ambitious 24-year-old immigrant chef in Washington D.C. (he became a naturalized American citizen in 2013), Andrés volunteered at Robert Egger’s groundbreaking DC Central Kitchen, transforming collected food waste from city restaurants into meals to feed the homeless.
安德烈斯在与纽约的《纪事报》的视频通话中说：“烹饪，喂养人们和服务 - 这些是我知道如何做得很好的事情。”“我对小事来说是一个非常不耐烦的人，但是我对长期，更大的事情非常耐心，”例如改变无能为力的官僚机构，这些官僚机构历来一直保持着至关重要的援助，无法获得最需要的人。（这部电影向他展示了与众议院议长南希·佩洛西（Nancy Pelosi）的电话，认为“食物是国家安全问题。”）
Andrés sat during the interview next to Howard, who has made more than 30 films, including his Oscar-winning dramas “A Beautiful Mind” and “Apollo 13,” as well as his 2020 documentary“Rebuilding Paradise”关于北加州致命2018年致命的Camp Fire的后果。
The director recalled hearing Andrés speak at a conference seven years ago and being impressed by the chef’s charismatic enthusiasm and the astonishing efficiency of his mobilization efforts.
“We Feed People,” which screened at this year’s San Francisco International Film Festival, highlights not only Andrés’ incredible drive to deliver food to people after disaster strikes but also the extent to which he adapts on the fly to unforeseen conditions — like abandoning a delivery truck filled with hot meals for stranded North Carolina residents after Hurricane Florence floodwaters almost overturned it — and, perhaps most important, how he learns as he goes.
霍华德在拍摄“重建天堂”时首先目睹了布特县的安德烈斯行动。“Seeing him on the ground was the final catalyst,” said Howard, for deciding to make a movie about him, including the personal toll on someone who admittedly doesn’t slow down until he comes close to breaking down, as he does in the film on the phone with his wife. (His three telegenic daughters admit to checking Twitter to see where their dad is.)
霍华德说：“制作'重建天堂'，我们跟随某些个人和家庭试图应对大火的后果和悲剧，以及参加的人（服务和分发餐点），他们做得更好。”“世界中央厨房会激活不仅面对紧急情况的人们，而且通过参与加快康复。”
Andrés echoed the same sentiment about what he’s learned about the reciprocal, at times surprising, nature of service after 12 years as a globetrotting relief worker.
“I remember being there (in Butte County) with my daughters on Thanksgiving,” Andrés said, “and we did tens of thousands of Thanksgiving meals. But for me, the most powerful moment was when all these firefighters who were finally having a day off came to serve the food themselves to the people they saved. When you see people like that, it’s very humbling. You can feel guilty making a movie that portrays me as a savior.”
尽管他的魅力并在聚光灯下自然而然 -he’s a frequent draw on BottleRock Napa Valley’s Culinary Stage— Howard’s film has a larger mission itself than casting Andrés as a hero.
“It’s really about the importance of volunteers and volunteerism,” Howard said, and what urgent, yet compassionate, aid really looks like.
An early scene recounts the powerful lesson Andrés learned during his first relief trip to Haiti, when he learned to make beans from local women using their traditional methods, rather than his own. “To this day, we make sure what we are cooking is what the locals want to eat,” he says in the film.
That scene is juxtaposed with footage of President Donald Trump tossing paper towels at Puerto Ricans in 2017, while drone shots show pleas of “We need water and food” written in the streets.
“We Feed People” reminds viewers that, whether in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria, following volcanic eruptions in Guatemala or in Navajo Nation during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the planet has no shortage of opportunities for Andrés, WCK’s CEO Nate Mook and a committed tribe of volunteers to catalyze relief efforts.
“We are doing close to 400,000 meals a day,” Andrés said, getting even more animated and garrulous as he touts WCK’s accomplishments. “We’re in 110 cities, 800 shelters and at 40 border crossings. We were the first people in Bucha (Ukraine) after the war started.”
“Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24,” said Andrés. We were there serving meals on the 25th.”
“We Feed People”(Unrated) is available to stream on Disney+ starting Friday, May 27.