José Andrés & René Redzepi in Conversation

Aline, are you here? Aline, where are you? And when everything happened in Beirut, Aline was feeding Beirut. Beirut! She lost an ear, and instead of going home, Aline went back to her restaurant and began feeding the people of Beirut. Kamal and Aline are the people making it happen. They are the ones doing the job. Yeah, over there. And over here. What? Now everybody can see us. What? What... What... What are you on? I mean, seriously. I was with Andoni... From Mugaritz. Andoni... From Mugaritz. One of the most amazing souls. It's like the René of the Basque Country, or vice versa. You are the Andoni of Denmark. And anyway, I love you, Andoni. But what's going on? I mean, can I do one thing? I mean, can I do one thing? What are you on? Can... Can... What energy? What battery? How do you do it? Listen, my wife tells me, don't drink. And I say, I don't drink. I support local economies. Can I do one thing on behalf of all of you? Who W? How do you feel? For all of you... They're not only for you, but all of you are amazing who made this amazing place happen. this amazing place happen. So, what are you on? It's going to be the same question. No, no, no. What I mean is... They only gave us 27 minutes. Yeah, let's see about that. Can we change the clock? I'm getting nervous already. I didn't want to come here because lately I feel I want to be in a cave. Why? But then, so I told René, like, I'm sure I want to come, but don't give me the pressure to come. I'm not telling you I'm not coming. Even my body is telling me I want to be here with you. But don't put me under pressure of coming. I want to be in a cave. I think we all need to be having that feeling. But you know one thing? I came yesterday. I spent some good time with my daughter who she spent a few months in Sudan and in Yemen. And I didn't know if I wanted to come, not because I didn't want to be with you, only because I wanted to be with my daughter. And then I arrived and then I saw all of you. All of you. In this beautiful darkness. With darkness is not something wrong. In darkness is the moment that you actually see light more clearly. And I came because I needed to be next to René. I needed to be next to René. I needed to be next to Lisa. And I needed to be next to many of you who I know. And I needed to be next to the ones of you I don't know yet. In the same way you don't even know what the heck is this guy doing here with his heavy accent. So I needed to be here. So I guess I am I am I am I'm here because I need the energy of the people. Because at the end our responsibility to the world is to be selfish to ourselves to who we are. And don't be afraid of recognizing you are being selfish. But it's communicating to everybody that the selfishness comes from I need you. Because I'm only as good as the people I have around me. I'm only as good as you. And you are only as good as me. And if we all believe in this shit we are a very powerful group of people. We need each other in our good moments and especially in our dark moments of weakness. We have each other. And that's what you have done here. And that's what you have done here. Jose. You see some things. And you were in a bad moment right now. What happened? Can you repeat the question? I mean you see everything. The best. But you also see a lot of troubled things. And right now you almost didn't come because you needed a cave. You need it. What happened? What happened? You know when they describe me as a chef, right? And I always tell people I'm not a chef. I'm a cocinero. I am a cook. And I don't say that with disrespect to chef. It's only I don't think I've ever become a chef. I barely know how to run a kitchen. I barely know how to even make money in my restaurants and I have 40. Don't worry. When I go bankrupt, it'll be the best. I mean I know René will hire me so I'm okay. I don't know what happened in my life but I realized that I'm a cook like always fed the few. We all feed the few. If you're in the restaurant business, in the brining business, in the wine business, we feed the few. But then I realized that we have the power to feed the many. And that power is not only the power of physically feeding. It's also spiritually feeding. Food is used as the excuse of us to engage to each other. That's what you've done. Yeah, you're a fucking good cook. I don't know if you know how to run a kitchen. Barely. But whatever you do, it works. I always said that I'm only as good as I said before as the people around me and it's true. But obviously I realized that my life is beyond the restaurants. I didn't even dream about it. It just happened. I realized that the restaurant can be great but what happens around the restaurants, if it's not right, it's something wrong. You mean how people eat or we're serving three-star Michelin restaurant. Well, I'm sorry if any Michelin people is here. I have only two. I think we deserve three but that's fine. For sure. Andoni deserves three. Well, he's three in my book. Let's not get into politics. You will get a fourth star one year. But I realized that feeding the few, it filled me. It's feeding my family. It's feeding through my restaurants, high-end, low-end. But that the feeding the many was equally important if no more. But when did you think of this? What happened? It didn't happen overnight. I mean... But what happened? My mom was a nurse. My father was a nurse. Shit, my mom... You know when you opened the fridge and was there nothing in the fridge? Yes. The best croquetas in the world? My mom. Maybe they were not perfect. Everybody knows croquetas? Si. Claro. You've come to Spain, croquetas? Okay. Even, you know, French people kind of made them first. We made them better. I like French people, okay? But my mom would make croquetas out of nothing. She was a magician. Yeah. The last egg in the fridge. You know that egg that has kind of mold on top, green? Like the egg is talking to you? Yeah, we charge a lot of money for molded stuff, actually. Yeah, I know. You are brilliant. And the egg is like, please, save me. I've been here six months. You know the piece of ham that is so dry? Like... It goes from being flat to stand up? It's like the homo sapiens of pork in the fridge happens in my mom's fridge. The ham goes from being flat to being up. That's how dry. My mom will get that moldy egg and that pork. The egg and the pork become best friends. Like, shit, we've been safe from being forgotten. And my mom will make croquetas. My mom will be able to feed my brothers and I with nothing. My father was the contrary. So she knew how to feed the few. My father was... How can we feed the many? Healing by the entire hospital. My mom and my dad were nurses. I have a feeling I always saw in a hospital the meaning of service. People going beyond their duty to help others. And my father would make this big paella for everybody. My mom would always say, how many people are coming? My father would say, I don't know. What the fuck you don't know? It's 10 or 50. Like my father, what's the problem? If more people come, it's a simple solution. We only add more rice to the paella pan. I'm like, okay. I grew up in that environment, right? So now you ask me, and I know I went through these stories beyond the hour. But right now, I am a very hopeful person. But right now, I open my phone and you and I, René, we were opening the phone and I feel this burden, right? Why I don't only do my restaurants? Why I don't only do some TV? You are doing, and by the way, isn't Omnivore amazing. Did you like Omnivore? Did you like the series on Apple? Matt Goulding is in the house. I'm so envious. I wanted to do that shit with you. I just got Martha Stewart in the show, but that's okay. No, Martha is great. But I'm only was telling you this because I'm here, and I've been probably drinking more wine than I was supposed to today. Probably my wife will not approve. Even, even, again, I repeat, I'm supporting local economy, so fuck it. Fuck it. But I look at the phone and I see that in the last 24 hours, Ukraine has been massively hit by drones and missiles and civilians are dying. And I see what's going on in Gaza, and Palestinians are dying. And people are hungry. And we have 41 kitchens only running still, only doing 50,000 meals. We used to have 197 kitchens, and we used to do over half a million meals a day. And then I realized that that's no matter what you do, you have people hitting you right and left. Because these people that rightfully so are defending Israel. And you have people rightfully or so defending Palestine. And on the first day of October 7th, we were in Israel feeding the people in the kibbutz. Why? Because it was the right thing to do. Because those people were massacred. And the day after, we were in Gaza. And the day after, we were also in Gaza. Why? Because that was the right thing to do. Because the civilians had nothing to do with what a little group of bad terrorist people did. And at the end, I realized that everybody is telling me, are you pro-Palestinian or are you pro-Israel? I am fucking pro-humanity. I am pro-Israeli. And I am pro-Palestinian. And if you ask me, I don't know. I don't know. Because I know the world through centuries, But I don't know what happened 500 years ago. I don't know what happened 1,000 years ago. I don't know what happened 100. I don't even know what happened 50 years ago. I only know what's happening today. And I tell everyone, what is good for you must be good for me. What, of sure I'm going to be next to people in Israel when they were massacred. And of sure I'm going to be next to the people in Palestine when they are being massacred today. At the end, the very simple truth that many truths can happen on the same phrase. Nobody is supposed to be living in fear in Israel. Nobody should be living in fear in Palestine. What is wrong about supporting that simple idea? Terrorism is wrong. Killing is wrong. Leaving people hungry is wrong. And actually, the conversation should only be, can everybody live with dignity, in freedom, love, and understanding of each other? What is good for you must be good for me. What is good for my daughters must be good for the daughters of others. Can we all agree to this very simple truth? This is what is going through my mind right now. I mean, I'm happy when you mentioned the Michelin that you didn't want to go into the politics. This is... But I... Now I ask a question. It's only 19 minutes left. Can we get five more minutes? Yes, we can. Jose Andres, don't worry about it. Okay. I'm getting... I mean, this clock is getting... Oh, thank you. Shit. José. Man, you have power. They only gave us four, but that's okay. José. Let's go back a little bit, Jose. Because you have a lot on your mind. When you were a little Asturian boy in northern Spain, what did you dream of? What was the height of your dream? Well, I left Asturias when I was five. So I was really... I've been an immigrant all my life. Because we can be immigrants in our own country. Immigrants is a concept that should be beyond countries. When I left Asturias and I moved to Barcelona, too young to remember, but I remember. And I remember my mom happy eating Cabrales with permission of Stilton and Roquefort, the best blue cheese in Europe. Do you have blue cheese here, too, right? Yes. And Denmark. We have one that's called Bonzola. Bonzola. Yeah. Probably was a Spaniard that made it when immigrated here. Or the Vikings took it away from us. But I've been an immigrant all my life. And I've always endorsed being an immigrant like... Everybody should be so proud to feel they're immigrants somewhere. Because we become bridges. We become ambassadors. We become the people that says, you know, I may come from another country. My accent may be a strange. What I'm cooking. What I'm cooking. You think, like, shit, you eat anchovies. But immigrants becomes this amazing, necessary connection to the world we don't know. And the world is created in a way that almost makes us believe that we need to be afraid of those we don't know. The ones that don't look like you. The ones that don't look like you. The ones that have different skin color. The ones that have different accent. Religion. We have a tendency to be afraid of. And what if all of a sudden, all those people that are not like us, is actually what show us that we're learning. We're moving away beyond our comfort zone. You know, life starts at the end of your comfort zone. Life starts at the end of your comfort zone. Life starts at the end of your comfort zone. Life starts beyond that horizon that you feel happy with. That's why I love my best moments cooking. Don't happen in my own kitchen. It happens when I'm in a new kitchen. The burner doesn't work. The pots and pans suck. The salt is not salty. Who is these people? The fish doesn't behave in the way the fish. Shit, that's life. It's like, oh shit. Nothing is going as I planned. I have to adapt. Adaptation is what do you do when you are on the edge of your comfort zone? I don't remember the fucking question you asked me and I don't know where I'm going with this. I think it's a, I think we were talking about you, a boy in Asturias. Yeah, Asturias. And so, when I moved to Asturias. What was your dream? When you sat there, what did you dream? You know what's happening? I'm 55 right now. I know I don't look it. Thank you. Why are you laughing? Me or them? I don't look it, but I look 43. Hey, careful. Thank you for the question, but I come from Washington, D.C. and politicians answer whatever fuck they want in D.C. So, I feel entitled. The answer to you, René, is we always must keep dreaming. It's not what I dream. It's not what I dream, but what I'm dreaming for. Hmm. What are you dreaming about? That's what you hear. You're coming because you are sharing your dreams with others and you're listening to the dreams of everybody else. And the only thing we have to do is make sure that dreams are not dreams, but that actually dreams become reality. I know, you know, when I talk to this guy, I feel so guilty, right? Because I was never supposed to have 43 restaurants. I think we opened one last week. And I've not been there yet. Yeah, don't worry. It's fine, but whatever you think. But they didn't want to open restaurants as a business. I wanted to open restaurants as stories. My restaurants are stories. I wish I was a painter. Picasso. Shit, you paint a painting. Boom. You finish the painting. Boom. Five million dollars. Fuck. I do a restaurant. Shit. Five million dollars in debt. They're like, really? Why it was not Picasso? I'm like, really? Restaurants for me were stories. So, my dream was stories. The way to learn for me was opening the restaurant through going through trips. And I opened a Mexican. Shit. Yeah. Shit. I love Mexico. I travel through Mexico. Mexico. Mexicans. You go to Oaxaca. I want to open a restaurant. My wife always makes fun of me because every city we visit is like, I want to buy a house and I want to open a restaurant. And she's like, really? Danish one next? Maybe not. Shit. Shit. Shit. If you have enough mahogany clams, I will. The food here is so amazing. So, you ask me, so my dreams are like your dreams. We need to dream. And let me give you a piece of advice. Dream loud. What do you mean? Tell everybody about your dreams. Don't keep them for yourself. Because that's a way that you achieve one thing. That everybody is making sure careful what you dream for. It might happen. But make sure that everybody knows. You put pressure on yourself to pursue those dreams. And you actually plant the seed in others to dream as bold as you. So, dream. Dream big. Dream loud. And if you fall short. And if you fall short. And if you fall short. Still, it's okay. I think with Winston Churchill. Every great phrase right now, they give it to Winston Churchill. Dream big. I think that's yours now. Dream loud. Dream loud. That success is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm. Fail. Fail. Fail. And do another failure. And one more. But keep the enthusiasm, man. But how do you do that? Because the people. You know, I'm going to give you one example. I mean, Julia is no longer with us. She left to Madrid. Julia was the woman that led World Central Kitchen efforts in Ukraine. More than 300 million meals. What? 300 million meals in Ukraine. 300 million. 300 million. We did. At one moment, 1.5 million meals a day with 500 restaurants. Wow. Julia was here with us. She left. I wish she was here. But she's here in the spirit. We have other Ukrainians in the room. But Julia, we found Julia early on on the wall. And Julia was the manager of a restaurant company of six restaurants. And she had a friend, Katia, who she owned. She had a business planning business. When the war began, restaurant business down. And planning and party organization, done. Everything. So all of a sudden, we have the two best people. The most prepared. The most prepared. With the most heart. That when we arrive to leave. The first big city coming from Poland. And we look at them. And we show up. And like, hey. We're here. And we want to feed people. And they look at us like. And I remember I told Julia. Because she keeps reminding this to me. Like, Julia. We're here to feed you people. But we're not going to do it. If you are not committed to do it. Because we are you. And sorry I'm putting this pressure on you. And she said, and how many meals you want to do? Like, all of Ukraine. How many people need food. And she took that simple idea. I didn't make it happen. What central kitchen did I make? Make it happen? Julia made it happen. Yeah. So dreams are possible. You will always find around you somebody. That will get your dream. And will make it happen. That's why we need to be loud. And share our dreams with others. Because even if you don't do it yourself. You empower somebody else to take your dream. And giving it a chance. So be bold. Be loud. I want to ask you. I mean, you clearly dream big. Most of us know by now. Where have you been. Where have you come from. And you've done extraordinary in your life. Pretty extraordinary. When you dream. And it doesn't work out. Because I think a lot of people dream. And they get. Ah, it's hard. You know. Suddenly if things don't work out. One time. Two times. People keep squishing you. Like you're a mosquito. Then what? I'm sure you deal with this all the time. How do you do it? This is when I'm. When I ask you. What are you on? I don't mean if you're on marijuana. Or whatever. Like. How do you do it? I'm more a cigar guy. I mean. Marijuana. I mean. You know the good thing with marijuana. That even if you don't smoke marijuana. When you have marijuana people smoking around you. You are smoking marijuana. Which is the same shit. And it's cheap. And it's free. Yeah. So anyway. Are we talking about marijuana? No. No. No. You are. Okay. We can. Like. You know. Yeah. I'm worried that these people don't see us. So. The issue was that. We keep. No. Because before I would look. And they put people over here. And the people over here. They couldn't see you. Jose. Do exactly what you want. Sorry. How do you do it? How do you do it? When people want to squish you. Like a mosquito. I don't know. You know. When. When I found. When I created. World Central Kitchen. I went with two friends. And we went to Haiti. And we began cooking. And I realized that everybody wanted to cook. And was beyond. World Central Kitchen. Where World Central Kitchen is not. It's people that go and cook. It's people that go and cook and feed people. But can be disorganized. You need money. You need. If you want to do a lot of volume. So I just realized that. The power that all of you. In this room. The power that all of us. In the food community. I realized in New Orleans. When Katrina happened. Many people from America here. They're all afraid. They're all afraid. To say they're from America. Right now. We should not be afraid of America. America. And I'm an American. I'm very proud of saying I'm an American. And I'm prouder today. To say I'm an American. Than ever before. And everybody knows how much I love Spain. You just remember. The bad behavior. The bad behavior. Of the leaders. Of one person. Doesn't make all of us. Guilty. Of the leader. Actions. Yes. People are good. Sometimes we get. The wrong shepherd. You know shepherd. The guy that takes care of the lambs. And the cows. And the sheep. Yeah. Usually shepherds are good people. Yeah. Shit. What was the conversation? Oh yeah. Jose Andres. How do you do it? How do you go through adversity? How do you deal with the problems? So I began because Katrina happened. I remember Katrina in New Orleans. You remember Katrina? Category 5. And I was watching. And we had 20,000. Forget Katrina. Forget Luis. Forget New Orleans. 20,000. Forget New Orleans. 20,000 people. In the Superdome. The very big stadium. People. Women. Were being raped. No food. No water. In a stadium. You know what a stadium is? It's not a place to see soccer. Football. It's not a place to see Madonna and Taylor Swift. A stadium is a gigantic restaurant that entertains with sports and entertains with sports and music. Especially in America. Go to a baseball game. Everybody's fucking eating a hot dog. Nobody's watching the game. Maybe in the playoffs. Everyone else? Beer and hot dog. I love it. Hey. How was the game? I don't know. But the hot dogs were amazing. They were organic and local. I don't think so. But they were amazing. So that moment I realized that shit. Something is wrong. How can we leave eight days people hungry? So Haiti happened. I was with Anthony Bourdain and Eric Ripert. And I told and I say hey what are we doing? Like let's go. And I went. And I didn't go help. I went to learn. It's okay going learn. I went to learn. I'm still learning. I don't know. You guys. I'm 55. I'm about to be 56. I know. I look young. I said before. But the more I know. The more I know. The more I know nothing. Yeah. You can clap. Shit. The more I know. The more I know. The more I know how little I fucking know. It's like. They tell me you are an expert on this shit. I'm like. No really. I just learned three new recipes that I had no clue. They tell me I'm an expert on Spanish cooking. Everybody. Every time I go to town. I learn three new dishes. Like what the fuck. this came from. Why are they doing this to me? So let me try to come back to what we were talking about. I mean the original question was still how do you do it? And I think we're still we're still at that. How do you fuel yourself? So I realize I'm very selfish. Because obviously I do my restaurants. I come few times. I barely things like what you do here which is so amazing. I like to teach. I like to teach only because you know what I teach in university. You know Ferran myself we created this class at Harvard about physics and cooking. That became we didn't do it to teach. We did it to learn. I'm teaching a class now in George Washington University about food policy. Not all Americans are afraid. Tara. Tara. Tara. That scream is Tara. She's the director of that class. Because we believe that if we want to change the world we need public policy that makes sense. And to have public policy that makes sense to change the world through food requires politicians that know any politician in the room don't raise your hand. I think the one is on stage. We love you. We're not going to change the world if we don't have good public policy that takes care of the food problem. and we don't have good public policy that takes care of each other. So we need to create a class to start investing time in bringing the conversation to young people the one day some of them will become the next president of United States or of Denmark or of France or Spain or China. Where food will be at the heart of what they do. Because I believe food is in essence the most important thing in planet earth. Not because I'm a cook. But fuel, gas, fills up the tank in my car and moves my car. But if you tell me what is the most important source of energy, it's the energy that feeds humanity. So why every politician doesn't have a talk about feeding people in emergencies? How can we leave people without food and water in the middle of an emergency? So the simple thing to do was showing up to feed people in the middle of an emergency. When you have a fire, who do you send? Firefighters. When you have rescue and search teams with dogs after an earthquake, like in Turkey, who do you send? Search and rescue teams. When you have to take care of people that are wounded, who do you send? Nurses and doctors. Okay, if you have to feed people, who do you send? A lawyer? No, cooks. The idea is very simple. Yeah. And so you ask me, how do you do it? I don't do it. You do it. The people of Valencia after the flooding fed Valencia. The people of Ukraine fed Ukraine. The people of Lebanon, Kamal, you are still in the room, fed Lebanon. The people of Gaza are feeding Gaza. The people of Israel are feeding Israel. How do I do it? By letting them do what they do best. By empowering the people that actually are there. With the willingness to do it. And is that what gives you your fuel, your power? How do you do it? Shit, well, I'm still with the same question, huh? Because I think I... At the end is the reason I'm here, René. Because we all feed from each other. Listen, I know with some of you, maybe I look sarcastic when you come with a selfie. Can we take a selfie? I'm like, fuck selfies. Give me a hug. Tell me who you are. Tell me what you do. Tell me something maybe is funny or naughty. Fuck the selfie. Engage with me. Engage with each other. Not through selfies, which is okay. Hey, look. I took a photo with... I don't know this guy. Who was this fucking guy? A young Spaniard. But engaging a conversation with somebody that maybe in that moment is going to be changing who you are and what you are forever. Put selfies aside. Have a conversation. Give a kiss on the cheek. With permission. Oh, no. I kiss everybody. You know. But hug everybody. Look at the people in the eyes. The selfies are so tiring. But then you tell me, why do I keep going? In the last 15 years, I've been to many hurricanes, fires, tornadoes, floodings, wars. I've been in Gaza. You know, we lost seven people in Gaza. I was supposed to be there. I didn't go because I was afraid. I didn't go because I was afraid of not seeing my wife again. I didn't go because I was afraid of not seeing my daughters again. People tell me, like, you're a hero. You're brave. And I don't see myself in such. Because that's a matter of what you do. You always feel like you are always way short. Because it's always somebody else hungry. It's always somebody else that has no water. You go home. You go to your hotel. And you're happy that that day is raining, even when people lost their home in the earthquake. Because that day they are going to be drinking water because it's raining. They're getting wet, but they're raining. They're drinking. And I realize that lately, I'm afraid. But afraid knowing in a bad or negative way. Afraid of the reason of trying to answer to your question. And I hope they give me five more minutes. It's only four seconds left. Don't worry. Because, you know, René, I told you, I feel I need time is up. I know. But can you change that? It's getting me anxious. Don't worry. Let's shut that screen off, please. Everybody has reservations. But, but René, I'm afraid because. Fuck reservations. Right. Because it is okay to be afraid. Especially in this room. It's okay that you're afraid. And it's okay. Okay that you share that you are afraid. About life. About what restaurant you're going to work next. Is René going to give me an internship? I want to open my own restaurant. I'm going to ask to marry the person I love. It's okay. It's okay. It's okay. It's okay. It's okay because in a place like this, we have each other. It's okay because I can share with him or you what is inside my heart. It's okay like I'm opening myself to you in a way I didn't even open to my wife. And I didn't open to my wife because I'm afraid that I'm going to make her afraid. And right now I'm sharing with you emotions that I didn't even share with my wife in the last year. And today I told René, I don't know if I'm coming. Because I was selfish. But I said, I don't know if I was coming. I didn't know if I had to go back to Israel and Gaza to try to bring food to feed the people. And still I'm not going because I'm afraid. But you know what I'm afraid the most? It's because when we lost the seven, it became big news. One of them saw me. Others were good friends. I spent many times with them in hurricanes. And to this day, I will forever feel guilty of what happened. Because if we were not there, nobody will perish. Of World Central Kitchen people. The issue is like if we were not there, still people will be perishing every day. Without the shirt of World Central Kitchen. My daughter Inés, who spent many, two years in Sudan, Chad, and Yemen. She's 23 now. She was 21. She told me, you know one thing, Daddy? I understand we are afraid that you are afraid. Because I share that with my daughter. And my daughter told me, Daddy, how are we going to be changing the world without taking some risks? We can do two things. To look to the other side. Like nothing is happening. Or look right in the heart of the problem and show up next to the people suffering. So I'm afraid. So I'm afraid. But I'm hopeful. And both things can live in the same sentence. I'm afraid, but I'm hopeful. Because I know. I have René next to me. And Donnie next to me. And I have every one of you next to each other. That's why we should not ever be afraid no more. We are one.