The World Central Kitchen Cookbook: Book Review

The World Central Kitchen Cookbook: Feeding Humanity, Feeding Hope, Jose Andres, 2023. This is something of a memoir of Andres about literally feeding and helping people in need around the world. About a billion people go hungry every day.  His approach is unique and inspiring. I’ll generally ignore the actual recipes. Note: there are many great recipes. Most of them are country-specific; therefore, if you are interested in Haiti cuisine (Creole mix or African, French, and Caribbean), this would be a good source. Examples would be griot (fried pork), pikliz (spiced pickled vegetables) and soup joumou (squash soup).

DC Central Kitchen started in 1989 in the District of Columbia to keep food from being wasted and sustain people. They hired former convicts, homeless, and other jobless people and trained them in cooking. Andres started his own version called WCK in 2010. In many places Andres and others had never tasted the food (Haiti was one) and had chefs show him how to prepare specific meals.

Introduction. It starts out with Hurricane Maria hitting Puerto Rico in 2017. They returned to Puerto Rico in 2022 after Hurricane Fiona. The chefs came back, making giant pans of arroz con pollo. The hurricane “provides a microcosm of the work World Central Kitchen does around the world, offering people the healing power of food and goodwill in a moment of crisis” (p. 14). Andres received the Vilcek Prize as chef of the year, then decided to use the $50,000 prize money to fund a nonprofit for food relief. This was named World Central Kitchen. One hurdle was figuring out the legal challenges of creating the NGO and dealing with state and local rules. There was Haiti after an earthquake. They brought solar cookstoves because there was no electricity.

Longer Tables. “In the first year of operating, they traveled to Haiti regularly to listen and learn, determined to understand the need before asserting what their role would be. … People are hungry and thirsty. Feed them. Give them water. Farmers need a boost after a disaster destroys their equipment. Give them money to rebuild. … Longer tables, not higher walls. … Jose’s motivating principles for WCK: the importance of chefs, feeding the many, disaster relief, supporting local economies. … Provide food for vulnerable people, to support local agriculture, and to promote environmentally sustainable cooking fuels and technologies” (p. 18).

Cooks Without Borders. “In 2014, the organization first launched our Chef Network, a group of notable chefs who were committed to supporting the cause when Jose and WCK called on them. … A handful of chefs traveled with WCK to do culinary training abroad. … Now, WCK’s Chef Corps has hundreds of representatives in dozens of countries” (p. 19).

Rooted in Relief. There was the Haitian Culinary Alliance which set up a kitchen in Les Cayes after the 2016 Hurricane Matthew, the first emergency food relief for WCK. It included Chefs for Puerto Rico. WCK regularly cooks for thousands, at least for lunch and dinner, seven days a week. “We need to have expertise in supply chains, transportation logistics, diplomacy, communications, nutritional analysis, and more. … Food safety, first aid, anti-racism, and crisis response management” (p. 22).

How to Use This Book. A Chapter Overview: empathy, urgency, adaptation, hope, community, resilience, and joy (especially for children).

The World Central Kitchen Pantry. “Wherever we are, we go to the markets, talk to farmers and chefs, and try to taste as many local dishes as possible to understand the culinary context” (p. 27).

Use the Right Equipment. “One of our standard pieces of equipment is a 16-gallon tilt skillet (an industrial cooking tool that lets us tip the pan forward to pour cooked food into serving containers” (p. 38). Also, paella pans 3-4 feet in diameter, paddles, and spoons. Cooking large pots increases residual heat useful when transporting it. Firefighter chili is a useful and forgiving dish to start.

Empathy. “Putting yourself in the shoes of people affected by disaster is the best way to access the deep reserves of empathy we all need in times of crisis” (p. 47).

Feeding the Elders. “The Minnesota American Indian Center, which was founded in 1975, serves one of the largest populations of Indigenous Americans in the country. Many Indigenous people—more than 35,000—came to the Minneapolis-Saint Paul area after the 1956 Indian Relocation Act … to relocate Indigenous people to urban areas and disconnect them from their familial homes” (p. 58). Brian “Yazzi, a Navajo, served indigenous foods including the three sisters and educates them on their cultural history. This is part of WCK’s Chefs for America program. “The team served 300 meals a day, helping reintroduce indigenous ingredients like wild rice, walleye, and tepary beans to elders” (p. 58).

The WCK went to the Caribbean Island of Saint Vincent after a volcanic eruption in 2021. They used the Hospitality Institute as a feeding base, partnering with local restaurants, including stew chicken. The menus used: “meals that fit culturally, could give comfort to evacuated families, and could be produced in large quantities (p. 64).

Urgency. Sandwiches, Arepas (a corn pancake), and Food on the Go. “In the aftermath of Hurricane Maria in 2017, the situation in Puerto was dire—hundreds of thousands of people had no food, electricity, or water. When Jose touched down, he saw hungry people everywhere. Grocery stores were closed. … Official government conversations were focused on getting emergency food resources to the island—in a month” (p. 79). The WCK tries to set up a kitchen and cook within hours of a disaster (before, if there is notice). “Find a kitchen where they can set up shop, figure out where to buy food, enlist local kitchen and logistics support, find restaurants to partner with, and begin coordinating with emergency response organizations on the ground” (p. 79).

They were in Beirut in 2020 after an explosion where hundreds were killed and thousands injured. WCK arrived within 36 hours. Meals were distributed across the city including the volunteer cleanup crew and first responders, cooking traditional Lebanese food.

Sandwiches are common items to feed. They are portable, easy to make and distribute, and quickly consumed. Examples were ham and cheese, turkey and cheese, tuna salad, salami, chicken salad, pulled pork, fried eggs and tomatoes, plus vegetable wraps, chicken burritos, and specialty sandwiches by country like arepas (masa pocket with fillings), and baleadas (tortillas with refried beans, kafta and hummus, and more). Spreads include mayo, ketchup, a combo, and specialty spreads. A thousand sandwiches can be done in an hour, placed in paper bags, and handed out. Lots of sandwich recipes are in the book.

Feeding refugees and migrants was done, usually long-term projects at specific locations like Tijuana refugee shelters. Migrants could be hired to work in the kitchens while teaching them skills, or Columbia for Venezuelan refugees. Then Refugios de Paso at various places for refugees attempting to get to the US or other destinations. Ditto, refugees from Afghanistan with WCK projects at neighboring countries.

An important story was Ukraine, attacked by Russia in 2022 and a continuous warzone since. It started as a refuge story (mainly women and children) for WCK, with operations in Poland and four other countries nearby. They later worked with Ukrainian restaurants to serve cities under siege, including Lviv and Dnipro. Ukrainian borsch was a classic served in Poland and later directly in Ukraine. WCK helped gather 4,000 chefs, cooks, drivers and more to try to feed the country through the war. “In Ukraine on Orthodox Easter, we worked with partners to prepare traditional paska, a sweet egg-enriched bread that has a profound significance to Ukranians” (p. 218). Also Easter cakes (pasky) and colored eggs. On June 1 WCK celebrated Ukrainian Children’s Day, including pizza parties and ice cream. Some farmers were having trouble selling their crops, so WCK bought them to distribute around Ukraine.  

“We adapt, we don’t plan. … As disaster responders, we deal with nature—and have to do everything in our power just to keep up. Adaptation is the ultimate unteachable skill, but it’s in the wheelhouse of professional chefs” (p. 117). It’s different from a normal kitchen. “We work with local chefs, use local ingredients, and prepare local dishes. … We integrate into a community and respectfully reflect the local culture in our cooking” (p. 168). The WCK comfort hall of fame includes mac and cheese, arroz con pollo, barbecue pork, chili, and spice meatballs like kafta.

WCK might fly in with boxes of sandwiches ready to go, then set up a base to cook, find ingredients, and distribute. Some dishes are adaptable like mac and cheese or one-pot dishes like pasta in spicy broth. WCK was active in Hawaii after Kilauea erupted. People volunteer and become part of their community’s recovery. Andres stressed empathy, joy, resilience, and hope.

WCK works in the US when needed, like New York after Hurricane Sandy and Hurricane Harvey in Texas. They fed the people in the town of Paradise after massive fire Thanksgiving dinner. Emeril Lagasse helped in Florida and New Orleans. Guy Fieri works in Northern California including feeding firefighters and evacuees. They smoked turkey for Thanksgiving, some 7,000 pounds of meat plus green bean casseroles. WCK partnered with 2,500 restaurants around the country.

In much of the world rice should be the key ingredient, especially Asia, but also Caribbean, Ukraine, Africa, and Latin America. Recipes vary by geography and culture, like arroz con cosas (rice with everything).

WCK prepared food in a variety of circumstances during the Covid pandemic. The worked with the Navaho delivering food boxes while “blitz testing” for Covid by going from home to home.

“The EPA offers a hierarchy for reducing food waste. The best solution is to repurpose it for human consumption. … Vegetable scraps can be incorporated into salad dressing. … Legasse’s Gumbo is the perfect way to use up an abundance of green tops and stems. … If that’s impossible, then use it to feed animals. And, as a last resort, compost it. … Organizations like Copoa, the Food Rescue Alliance, and Food Rescue US are great friends to have; they pick up excess meals and donate them to others in the community” (p. 212).

Holidays With World Central Kitchen. “WCK has cooked every single day, 365 days a year, somewhere around the world, since September 2017. … Our first big holiday was Thanksgiving in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria in 2017. … It was a traditional Thanksgiving meal with a local twist: along with mashed potatoes, corn, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and gravy, there was pavochon, a distinctly Puerto Rican mashup of pavo (turkey) and lechon (slow-roasted pork)” (p. 216).

“We want to make sure that those communities aren’t just fed today, but that their food systems are resilient enough to withstand future shocks tomorrow” (p. 227). In Haiti that meant updating school kitchens and staff training. Bakeries were added and tilapia farms. They developed Food Producers Network to increase food production and expanded to other locations.

Kitchen Skills and Safety trained community cooks in Haiti and beyond. “Small food producers account for a third of the world’s food supply” (p. 227). That usually means “Buy Local”. “In the US, traditional food relief after a disaster tends to rely on food that’s quick and easy to distribute. Meals ready to eat’” (p. 249). MREs are made for soldiers, not natural disasters, but they are quick to ship plus made in America, not a good thing according to Andres, who believes food should be local.