José Andrés

José Andrés began his journey as a chef at 15 years old — it was at that age that he enrolled into a culinary school in Barcelona. He spent three years working at a three-star Spanish restaurant called El Bulli before he decided to move abroad at age 21 to enter America’s culinary stage.

Today, José Andrés is a world-famous chef, founder of multiple restaurants in the USA, a professor at Harvard University, has a spot on TIME Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People,  and stars in Michelle Obama’s show on Netflix.

However, his work does not limit itself to business alone. In 2010, José Andrés founded the World Central Kitchen, a charity organization whose goal is to feed people who have suffered from war and natural disasters. Over the course of its existence, the team at WCK worked in Puerto Rico after hurricane Maria, in Haiti after the earthquake, and in Hawaii following the volcanic eruption, as well as in Peru, Cambodia, Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua. In 2019, World Central Kitchen was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for the aid it had provided to thousands of people in critical circumstances.

When the full-scale war began in Ukraine on February 24th, 2022, José Andrés took a plane from Miami, USA, and in 24 hours he was already in Poland. There, on the Ukrainian border, the World Central Kitchen opened field kitchens to prepare and serve hot meals to the refugees who had to flee their homes because of the war. Over the course of the war, WCK already had time to do their work in Kyiv, Zaporizhzhia, Kharkiv, Lviv, Kherson and Kramatorsk, serving a total of 200 thousand meals a day. During the first seven months of work in Ukraine, the organization managed to raise and distribute 300 000 000 dollars, and establish working connections with over 450 establishments.

Such dedication to the Ukrainian people had not gone unnoticed: in November 2022, José Andrés received a 2nd degree Order of Merit from President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and his name as a friend to Ukraine was immortalized on the Walk of the Brave.

In September 2023, José became an ambassador of the UNITED24 fundraising platform. Together with other celebrities, famous actors and actresses, athletes and artists, businesspeople and musicians, and many, many others, he helps raise funds for Ukrainians as we continue the fight for our freedom and independence.

And he promises to remain at Ukraine’s side until the end — until our victory in this war.