Because the world is too much with us, today we choose to celebrate humanity, heroes, mensch and chef José Andrés, who with his magnificent World Central Kitchen has now served more than 100 million meals to beleaguered Ukraine – in bunkers, in border, in their often secluded and rubble-strewn homes. With the careless and thoughtless destruction of ports, borders and food supply chains, Andrés said, Putin’s war of hubris is also quickly becoming a “war on food.” In response, WCK has created the largest humanitarian effort in Ukraine, with “army of kindness” – thousands of volunteer food fighters both locally and internationally – producing more than 300,000 meals a day in 350 kitchens across Ukraine. Chefs for Ukraine run a three-pronged operation: feeding refugees in neighboring countries where many Ukrainian women and children have fled – Poland, Hungary, Slovakia – activating hundreds of kitchens in cities within the war-torn country to feed them leftovers, and stockpiling and transporting food so that people can cook for themselves. In the process, Andrés said marking his 100 millionth meal served, they “uplifted people – suddenly, food became hope.” The path can be difficult: At Easter, one of their kitchens is destroyed by a missile, with several wounds; Andrés appears in a video, alternately gloomy and hopeful, to note, “Humanity at its best emerges in the midst of humanity at its worst.” Still, for him the fight was always through food. “We did the only thing we knew,” he said. “Food is just a bandaid, but a plate of food is sometimes also the start of a better tomorrow.” Hope against hope. Send money to these people, and give them the Nobel Peace Prize.
