We’ve said it before and we’re not going to quit beating this drum — Chef José Andrés is an absolute saint and the closest thing the culinary world has to a superhero. While most of us were glued to our TVs yesterday, witnessing insurrectionists descending on Capitol Hill, José Andrés was hard at work making sure the people working long hours and tasked with cleaning up after the chaos were well fed.
A mere four hours after D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s 12-hour curfew went into effect at 6 p.m. EST, Andres was loading up 120 pizzas from a Bethesda Maryland Domino’s into one of his World Central Kitchen trucks to feed National Guard members, the D.C. police, and cleanup crews dealing with the damage from earlier in the day.
Hi everybody…what can I say…today was a tragic day for America. I’m here in Bethesda, picking up 120 pizzas to bring to downtown DC to the heroic women & men keeping our city safe tonight. I’m meeting my @WCKitchen team which is also bringing our kitchen truck to support… pic.twitter.com/FmoPedVYeu
— Chef José Andrés 🕊️🥘🍳 (@chefjoseandres) January 7, 2021
After the delivery, Chef Andrés then opened his kitchen at Penn Quarter’s Jaleo.
“I don’t know what else to do right now…” Andres posted on Twitter around 1 a.m ET. “Pizzas weren’t enough for everyone… many have been working over 30 hours nonstop. So we turned Jaleo in WCK kitchen cooking 100s of hot stews on this cold night… plus fried egg sandwiches & fruit.”
By 2am., Chef Andrés was behind the grill preparing nearly 700 meals for responders working in the D.C. area. World Central Kitchen CEO Nate Mook shared photos of Chef Andrés in action as well the meals being prepared, which look pretty astounding despite the lack of prep time.
1am and @chefjoseandres is frying up eggs for sandwiches. The @WCKitchen team also prepared vermicelli pasta with sausage, potato and vegetables for everyone working through the night here in DC following today’s mob insurrection. pic.twitter.com/xvtcrUbSmt
— Nate Mook (@natemook) January 7, 2021
Andrés World Central Kitchen is a non-profit devoted to providing meals in the wake of natural disasters. You can support their mission here.