Fiona Govan
CELEBRATED chef Jose Andres has scooped Spain’s prestigious Princess of Asturias Award for his humanitarian work in feeding those in the midst of crisis and natural disasters.
The 51-year-old chef and his NGO, World Central Kitchen won the Award of Concord for “offering extraordinarily fast and efficient on-the-ground response to social and nutritional emergencies.”
Andres was born in Asturias in northern Spain in 1969 and trained in Barcelona before moving to the US in 1991 where he rose to fame popularizing Spanish tapas and opening a string of restaurants, two of which earned two Michelin stars.
In 2010, Andres formed the World Central Kitchen, a non-profit organisation with a remit “to end hunger and poverty by using the power of food to empower communities and strengthen economies”.
The charity rushes to the aid of those suffering natural disasters such as Hurricane Maria, when the team supplied 3.6 million meals to the people of Puerto Rico and last year dedicated restaurants to feeding those struggling in the coronavirus crisis.
Andres is a friend of President Barack Obama, who awarded the chef a National Humanities Medal in 2015, and a fierce opponent of President Donald Trump who sued him and lost after Andres pulled out of a restaurant deal over Trump’s disparaging comments about Mexicans.
The Princess of Asturias Awards are the most presitigious in Spain and the Concord Award comes with prize money of 50,000-euro ($56,700).
The Award ceremony is usually held in Oviedo in October when Crown Princess Leonor presents the prizes.
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