We Fed An Island
date: label: date made
content: 2018
notes: label: Description
content: Originally published in 2017, We Fed an Island: The True Story of Rebuilding Puerto Rico, One Meal at a Time details Chef José Andrés’s efforts to provide food to the people of Puerto Rico after the devastation of Hurricane Maria. Written in partnership with Chef Andrés’s longtime collaborator Richard Wolffe, the book was published as part of Andrés’s philanthropy communications strategy and chronicles the formation of Andrés’s response team in the area and their work over the course of several months to serve over 3.7 million meals across the island. Chef Andrés donated this book along with several other artifacts related to World Central Kitchen after he was awarded the Julia Child Award in 2019.
label: Description
content: After immigrating to the United States in 1990 at age 21, José Andrés established and expanded several restaurants in and around the Washington, D.C. area, including the popular tapas restaurant Jaleo. He founded the nonprofit World Central Kitchen (WCK) in response to the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, where the organization prepared and distributed food to Haitians in need. In addition to its work in Puerto Rico, WCK has supplied food for first responders and families after several different fires in California, in South Carolina after Hurricane Florence in 2018, and to those affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States and India (2020-2021).
label: Description
content: After making landfall on the island of Dominica on September 18, 2017, Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico on September 20th and caused additional damage from flooding and wind on Guadeloupe, Martinique, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. With the majority of the island’s residents without access to adequate food, water, and electricity, Chef José Andrés boarded a flight to Puerto Rico just days after the hurricane, amassing a team of chefs, volunteers, and local businesses to assemble massive amounts of sandwiches, rice and beans, and sancocho, a stew made from meat, corn, and various vegetables. Grappling with bureaucratic quagmires, inaccessible roads, and limited supplies, the team served millions of meals and made a point of purchasing as much produce from local sources as possible. This effort later expanded into a program to support local farmers and businesses through grants, training, and networking.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Food Technology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2019.0224.05
label: catalog number
content: 2019.0224.05
label: accession number
content: 2019.0224
objectType: label: Object Name
content: book
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 9 1/4 in x 6 3/8 in x 1 in; 23.495 cm x 16.1925 cm x 2.54 cm