Inside José Andrés’ Kitchen: A Feast of Heart and Humor

When you hear the name “José Andrés,” it’s hard to say what comes to mind first: award-winning chef, selfless humanitarian, best-selling author, television personality? All accurate accolades - and Andrés embraces each one of them with humility and humor. We cover all the bases, and then some, in this episode of Supper with Sylvia, including a visit inside José's own kitchen, that's sure to make your mouth water. The best part? You don’t have to live near one of his celebrated restaurants to enjoy his incredible cuisine. Mariano’s now carries Chef José's new line of Spanish foods, right here in Chicago - and we get a close-up preview of some of his favorites. This is a conversation you’ll savor long after it’s over.

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Transcript

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[01:00:00:00 - 01:00:04:20]
 (Music)

[01:00:07:17 - 01:00:18:14]
Sylvia
 Today on Supper with Sylvia, I'm sitting down with someone who has quite literally changed the way the world responds to hunger, Chef Jose Andres, the force behind World Central Kitchen.

[01:00:18:14 - 01:00:24:18]
José
 What I realized is that if we were able to bring the power of the food industry

[01:00:25:21 - 01:00:27:11]
José
 in these moments of emergency,

[01:00:28:12 - 01:00:36:05]
José
 we could be unstoppable. And at the very least, we could guarantee that food and water will not be one of the issues that people are going through.

[01:00:36:05 - 01:00:48:07]
Sylvia
 We talk about how WCK started, how it's grown into this incredible movement that's already fed millions, and his bold goal to serve one million meals a day in Gaza.

[01:00:48:07 - 01:00:53:01]
José
 We are already doing around 800,000 a day.

[01:00:53:01 - 01:01:09:18]
Sylvia
 He shares where all his endless energy comes from, what keeps him going, and why he believes food is one of the fastest ways to bring hope to people who need it the most. And then we have some fun talking about his new Spanish food line at Mariano's.

[01:01:09:18 - 01:01:17:04]
José
 It's created for you to enjoy croquetas at your home fresh. You're looking like the king or the queen of the household.

[01:01:17:04 - 01:01:38:17]
Sylvia
 If you've ever thought there's no way I can make paella or Spanish croquetas at home, Jose is here to prove you are wrong. He's proud to say, now you can. It's inspiring, it's passionate, and it's such a fun conversation. It will leave you saying, wow, if he can do all of that and so much more, what can I do to help others?

[01:01:41:17 - 01:01:47:19]
Mariano's Ad
 At Mariano's, we love how every product has a story, and some of the best stories come from right here in Chicago.

[01:01:47:19 - 01:01:55:11]
Mariano's Ad
 That's why we started We Love Local. It's our way of shining a light on small businesses and farmers and food makers who pour their hearts into what they do.

[01:01:55:11 - 01:02:01:14]
Mariano's Ad
 When you see a local item on our shelves, you know you're supporting someone's dream and keeping our community strong.

[01:02:01:14 - 01:02:11:12]
Mariano's Ad
 From family recipes passed down for generations to brand new ideas born in neighborhood kitchens, We Love Local brings those stories to your table because when local thrives, we all do.

[01:02:11:12 - 01:02:15:01]
Mariano's Ad
 Mariano's is a proud sponsor of the Supper with Sylvia podcast.

[01:02:16:03 - 01:02:20:01]
Sylvia
 Jose, Andreas, good to see you. Are you dressed for the holidays? What's going on?

[01:02:20:01 - 01:02:23:08]
José
 I am dressed for the holidays. Just eat it up.

[01:02:23:08 - 01:02:37:12]
Sylvia
 Wow. Thank you so much for doing this. We are so excited to have you. I know that you were in Chicago recently promoting all of your fabulous Mariano's products. So we're happy to talk to you about that and so much more. How are you doing, first of all?

[01:02:37:12 - 01:02:43:11]
José
 Super happy to be with you. Sylvia Pele. Do we know you're in Spanish or in English?

[01:02:43:11 - 01:02:50:20]
Sylvia
 Oh, we're doing this in English. I'm a first generation straight from the island of Puerto Rico. Both of my parents. So the youngest of five.

[01:02:50:20 - 01:02:53:03]
José
 We're going to dance salsa, you and I.

[01:02:53:03 - 01:02:58:02]
Sylvia
 I know. And I love it. You actually used to work in Puerto Rico. So right?

[01:02:58:02 - 01:03:14:22]
José
 I love Puerto Rico. Yes, I was there working during a couple of months back in 1992. It was amazing. I had the best time of my life. And I've been back to Puerto Rico so many.

[01:03:16:02 - 01:03:29:16]
José
 Puerto Rico has the perfect spirit of America. Obviously of the Caribbean, the Boricua and obviously the Duchess of Spain. I mean, Puerto Rico for me is like, it's home away from home.

[01:03:29:16 - 01:03:38:21]
Sylvia
 Yeah, I love that. And we're going to talk about that because I know you've gone there for hurricane relief efforts as well. But this is what I want to start with. I follow you on Instagram, World Central Kitchen.

[01:03:40:03 - 01:03:51:17]
Sylvia
 You recently were in the Caribbean, right, dealing with relief efforts for Jamaica and other areas hit by Hurricane Melissa. What's the situation like right now there?

[01:03:51:17 - 01:04:01:18]
José
 Well, World Central Kitchen teams are still in Jamaica. They are in many other places around the world. But Melissa was a very, very bad hurricane.

[01:04:03:21 - 01:04:04:08]
José
 Very slow.

[01:04:06:18 - 01:04:10:00]
José
 When the hurricane moves very slow and it's category five,

[01:04:11:02 - 01:04:19:04]
José
 it creates so much more damage. Very often in the old days, some hurricanes move very quickly. This is still a lot of damage.

[01:04:20:04 - 01:05:02:06]
José
 But when the hurricanes like Melissa move so slow, it uses the damage intensified, right? So many people obviously lost their homes, sometimes even more than the roof. The whole home blow away, electricity is down, the roads are badly impacted, the seaport, entire hotels that has a negative impact in the tourism industry. But the good news. In the worst moments of humanity, always the best of humanity shows up. We landed there before the hurricane arrived, like always we do. I personally landed there right the day after.

[01:05:03:13 - 01:05:06:07]
José
 We do what we do. We began showing up in the communities.

[01:05:07:17 - 01:05:08:08]
José
 By road,

[01:05:09:14 - 01:05:22:11]
José
 by helicopter, we had more than six, seven helicopters in Jamaica because it was the only way to access people and you began solving one problem at a time. More NGOs, other, the government,

[01:05:23:12 - 01:05:26:00]
José
 local NGOs, we partnered with local.

[01:05:27:01 - 01:05:36:20]
José
 We began doing Jamaican parties. We began doing your chicken. We began hiring a partner in a restaurant. We began opening our own kitchens. And before you know,

[01:05:40:12 - 01:05:41:10]
José
 before you know,

[01:05:42:19 - 01:05:47:05]
José
 we are doing almost 150, 160, 200,000 meals a day.

[01:05:47:05 - 01:05:48:02]
Sylvia
 That's amazing.

[01:05:48:02 - 01:06:15:05]
José
 And that's what we do. And it's been a joy working with Jamaicans. My daughter actually joined me there, so I was very happy. I only stay there, like I think 10 days, my daughter stayed there like six, seven weeks. And now still things are not easy, but at least every day gets a little bit better. Every day gets a little bit better and then people can start concentrating on reconstruction and hopefully, you know, look at the future with hope. So.

[01:06:15:05 - 01:06:32:11]
Sylvia
 Well, I have to say, as we're talking about World Central Kitchen, I understand 109 million meals were served in 2024 alone. And I'm sure those numbers have gone up. You've been doing this for such a long time. I've enjoyed reading this book, by the way. Good job on this.

[01:06:33:15 - 01:07:17:17]
Sylvia
 And there's the recipe. Yes. And let's talk about that. Change the recipe because there was something in here that I thought was so interesting. Can I read this to you? You know your own book, but I still want to read this to you. You said you sat and watched as a hurricane took over New Orleans and you say you I couldn't understand why there wasn't a big organization of chefs to do this work. When there's a fire, you send firefighters. When there's an earthquake, you send search and rescue teams. When there's an explosion, you send doctors and nurses. So when there are hungry people, why wouldn't you send chefs? And this was in with Katrina in the United States of America. Is this really where World Central Kitchen kind of came about this idea?

[01:07:17:17 - 01:07:31:20]
José
 I know the idea. Yes. I would say that that was chefs in Louisiana and chefs in New Orleans, that they opened their kitchens, the ones that cooked in downtown New Orleans,

[01:07:33:01 - 01:07:39:23]
José
 to start serving people. So was not lack of people trying to help.

[01:07:41:17 - 01:07:49:16]
José
 But sometimes the help needs to be much more massive and much more organized and needs to last not only days and weeks, but months.

[01:07:51:07 - 01:08:14:05]
José
 But I want to say that actually what I saw was that both chefs doing it or people opening their backyard barbecue and doing hot dogs as people were living low nine and the mayhem of so many parts underwater in New Orleans. So that empathy is there. That willingness to give dignity to helping people is there.

[01:08:15:12 - 01:08:57:02]
José
 What I realized is that if we were able to bring the power of the food industry in these moments of emergency, we could be unstoppable. And at the very least, we could guarantee that food and water will not be one of the issues that people are going through, especially in the early weeks after a catastrophe like Katrina. What made me think really is like the Superdome, we forgot everybody. And all New Orleans, only the Superdome, 10, 20,000 Americans. You know, an arena is a gigantic restaurant that entertains with sports and music. Every arena, every stadium is full of food stalls.

[01:08:58:13 - 01:09:28:19]
José
 Anybody could open some of them, bring some hot dogs, bring some burgers, and you start feeding people immediately. This is what World Central Kitchen became. When we use the food industry, the chefs, the restaurant owners, the farmers, the people that own the food production, the food delivery, and bring everybody together to say, "How do we adapt to this situation?" Because every situation is different.

[01:09:29:20 - 01:10:12:05]
José
 Every plan, you may have a plan. The plan is, let's feed everybody. But cannot be deeper than this because if you plan too much, you cannot apply the same response to every situation. Therefore, what we did was the plan is feed everybody. But the answer to how to feed everybody will change dramatically from situation to situation. A volcano is different than an earthquake. It's not a volcano. It's equal and it's not an earthquake. And a floodings, tornadoes, hurricanes, a war, everyone also requires, depends where you are in the world, a different response. Very much that what World Central Kitchen became.

[01:10:12:05 - 01:10:21:12]
Sylvia
 Well, you guys are amazing. I saw you've got this campaign for one million meals for Gaza, which just blows my mind. I love that you're...

[01:10:21:12 - 01:10:23:09]
José
 One million meals a day.

[01:10:23:09 - 01:10:25:15]
Sylvia
 A day, which is even crazier.

[01:10:25:15 - 01:10:29:18]
José
 We are already doing around 800,000 a day.

[01:10:29:18 - 01:10:34:02]
Sylvia
 Wow. How is that possible? You have learned through all of these disasters.

[01:10:35:04 - 01:10:44:01]
Sylvia
 You say, "We need to have been there yesterday." And you guys are making this happen. You've learned so much from all of this and you've just gotten better at it.

[01:10:44:01 - 01:10:46:04]
José
 Well, it's not...

[01:10:47:19 - 01:10:50:22]
José
 As we say, it's the people feeding people.

[01:10:53:06 - 01:11:13:13]
José
 In Gaza, we opened a new kitchen in the north. So we have six major kitchens of World Central Kitchen, probably doing close to 400,000 or 500,000 meals a day. And then we have other 80, 90 partner kitchens, smaller, that we support with know-how, with food, with fuel,

[01:11:14:20 - 01:11:50:03]
José
 with kitchens, with pots, with pans, with knives. And we make them stronger. So six of them, they are the bigger ones, the ones we run day to day. And the others are kitchens from different organizations that they want to do the cooking and we help them increase the amount of meals they do. We help them with food, again, we help them with food, with mind, whatever. And this way, we're able to do a much bigger response. That's how we are able to dream that we can be reaching 1 million meals a day, which will be 50% very much of the population.

[01:11:51:03 - 01:12:04:02]
José
 But creating the feeding system that not only serves the needs of today, but hopefully into the reconstruction of gas in the years to come.

[01:12:06:03 - 01:12:15:08]
José
 That's all we are. We are in your brain, obviously we are. We are in 11, 12th emergency seating missions right now around the world.

[01:12:15:08 - 01:12:45:17]
Sylvia
 Well, it is impressive. And before you were World Central Kitchen, you were known as the guy who really brought Spanish food to help make a huge dent in what we know about Spanish food in the United States. So you have got to be thrilled with this new food line. You've added on to this food line. You're now at our local Mariano's here in Chicago and you have paella. You've got your olive oil. And can I ask you why you're wearing that hat? Is that a solution?

[01:12:45:17 - 01:12:46:06]
José
 I don't know.

[01:12:47:07 - 01:13:01:03]
José
 We have a lot of things going on in the world. And it's okay sometimes to be used like Elmo, like simple. I love it. Simple, happy Elmo that sees the world in a happy normal way. So yeah.

[01:13:01:03 - 01:13:05:20]
Sylvia
 I love it. You're bringing a smile to my face. No, I want you to leave it on. You're bringing a smile to my face. Okay.

[01:13:05:20 - 01:13:07:02]
José
 I'll put it after when we cook.

[01:13:07:02 - 01:13:13:03]
Sylvia
 Okay. Let's talk about the food. Tell everybody what you want them to know about this food line and why you're doing it. Okay.

[01:13:13:03 - 01:13:22:00]
José
 So I have here a good friend, Tom Tatlas. He's from Spain, one of the best chefs in the history of Spain. He's wearing brothers. He's working with me. I'm working with him.

[01:13:23:09 - 01:13:40:18]
José
 And he used to be to start Michelin in Spain. He was working in this amazing restaurant. And then one day, Jose, I'm going to yearn you in America. I want to ask my daughters or my family experience in America, like I need you. So he has come here already in three years.

[01:13:41:20 - 01:13:58:13]
José
 And so anyway, I have Spanish in the house. Yeah, Spanish. Listen to me. We are stories. Tell me what you eat and I'll tell you who you are. A lot of people credit me of bringing tapas to America 33 years ago. Not true. Spanish cooking was here way before.

[01:13:59:13 - 01:14:09:12]
José
 Spain has been in America since 1492. So next to with permission of the Native Americans and everybody else, and especially English and Vikings, we came.

[01:14:10:18 - 01:14:15:12]
José
 Well, Vikings came probably before us, but it's not much Viking cooking. Well, so many Minnesota.

[01:14:16:18 - 01:14:19:10]
José
 But we came before the French. We came before the English.

[01:14:20:15 - 01:14:29:19]
José
 The Spanish would have been here almost. I will argue 500 years in one way or another. Period. First Thanksgiving with the Spanish people in Florida.

[01:14:30:20 - 01:14:45:06]
José
 I mean, whatever happened north, whatever happened Massachusetts or the northern states, that happened almost 100 years later. It wasn't even Thanksgiving with the Native Americans. It was with the Spaniards. Period.

[01:14:46:12 - 01:15:51:18]
José
 So I'm only saying this because it's important to understand Spain had a very important role in the Civil War next to your sorry. Spain had a very important role in the independence war against the British in Florida. You know, for self-interest probably. But Spain was next to George Washington right there in the early days before America became America. It's a lot of stories in Spain. Malaga is cathedrals that don't have a tower because they use the money to build that tower to help George Washington. So I'm very proud of all these stories and so many more that probably even America doesn't know. But what I know is that there's many dishes that they've been part of America like, you know, jambalaya. Spain had its influence of jambalaya in Louisiana. We spoke before Spain loves rice dishes and we know we had our influence bringing pigs to America. We know we had our influence.

[01:15:53:07 - 01:16:26:02]
José
 So for me, I always look for connections that unite the country I came from, Spain and the country I belong now, America. I'm an immigrant. I build bridges between Spain and America, between Europe and the world, and America and the world at the same time. So the way to express myself is through my food. And I can only reach so many people through my TV show. You reach a lot of people, but they cannot eat as I cook in real time through TV. Through my restaurants, I can influence people, obviously.

[01:16:27:02 - 01:16:37:04]
José
 But how can I reach even more people? Not if I show up not only through TV, but with Spanish products I love in the homes of everybody.

[01:16:38:07 - 01:17:29:19]
José
 And supermarkets and beloved supermarket chains are the way to do that. One way, obviously, is this partnership and this love that Mariano's had with me and my products where they say, "Hey, we want our Marianos to be your home to achieve your dream." So the entire team of Marianos came to Spain and traveled through Spain and visited many of the products. I've been working on this for a long time and slowly we keep going up. I used to have somebody like Marianos in the Chicago and beyond area supporting for me like, "Yes!" Yeah. Yes. And here we are. I'm going to move the phone. Okay. I'm going to go slowly to don't give a headache to hold. So here I'm doing tortilla espanola. Oh, yum.

[01:17:31:03 - 01:17:38:20]
José
 And listen, to make tortilla espanola is amazing. Everybody can make it. But yeah, you have to go shopping for eggs and onions and tomatoes.

[01:17:39:23 - 01:17:51:10]
José
 And then you have to come home and you need to peel the potatoes and you need to chop the potatoes and you need to put them in water and then you need to dry them and then you need to have a big pot of corn and you need to fry them and then you need to peel the onion and you need to cry with the onion.

[01:17:52:12 - 01:18:08:01]
José
 Then you need to chop the onion and then you need to put it on the oil with the potatoes, the potatoes and the onion and say, "Hey, how are you? Hey, I'm happy. Hey." Then you need to crack the eggs and you need to whip the eggs. Then you need to clean all the mess you did right before. Then you have to do the pan and then you have to do the tortilla.

[01:18:08:01 - 01:18:09:00]
Sylvia
 Look at that.

[01:18:09:00 - 01:18:47:00]
José
 Or, or, or you go to Marianos or any store near you but now it's Marianos and you get this amazing tortilla de patatas by Rosso Andres. This was created by a very good friend of mine. He's a chef called Sennen and obviously he wanted to open other markets. He's producing the best tortilla. I partnered with him but he's done quite frankly the work and this tortilla comes frozen. You can use it in the oven or you can do it like I show you with a traditional pan and here my friend you have. Nice.

[01:19:08:06 - 01:19:12:11]
Sylvia
 This is a great place to take a break and we'll be right back.

[01:19:16:01 - 01:19:26:12]
Sylvia
 If you're enjoying Separate with Sylvia, please like and share with family and friends and also leave a comment. We love and need your support. Thanks for listening to Separate with Sylvia.

[01:19:31:11 - 01:19:34:10]
José
 So hey, let's do the paella. So this is one of the products.

[01:19:34:10 - 01:19:36:19]
Sylvia
 Oh, the paella. Yes, let's talk about that.

[01:19:36:19 - 01:19:37:21]
José
 Let me see. So listen,

[01:19:39:00 - 01:19:46:04]
José
 what you see here is the stock. The stock is everything. The stock is made in Spain and the stock is made in the traditional ways.

[01:19:48:03 - 01:19:55:22]
José
 And the stock, I'm going to move. Yeah, this is life people. This is life. And here is what we call the vegetable paella.

[01:19:57:13 - 01:19:58:18]
José
 And comes in a big can.

[01:19:59:21 - 01:20:12:21]
José
 It's the broth but the broth has been made traditionally in Spain to get the flavor with a lot of vegetables and unused vegetables but they are amazing. Like it was a traditional broth.

[01:20:13:23 - 01:20:27:10]
José
 The broth is very much everything. And here I use some of the vegetables I have home. I didn't even go shopping, especially for you. I had carrots and I had mushrooms.

[01:20:28:10 - 01:20:56:02]
José
 In Valencia probably if they see me right now, they're going to be very upset on me because you will argue this is not traditional by the book. Even the vegetable paella is one that allows you to use your favorite vegetables and make a great paella. And so here we put one, the entire can which is one port is concentrated so because we reduced it to one more port of water. The vegetables are there and in this moment we are adding two cups.

[01:20:58:16 - 01:21:17:15]
José
 Wow. And in this moment we're going to turn it. We're going to make sure the rice mingles. And in 15 minutes without much touching only regulating the fire boiling heavy at the beginning and then you bring it down. In 15 minutes we'll have a great vegetable paella.

[01:21:17:15 - 01:21:29:20]
Sylvia
 Which is amazing because for most people paella is an intimidating dish. Like they think, oh I can't make it. And now you're making it easy for us to bring it at home. But you also have the cheesecake. You've got some empanadas. You've got everything.

[01:21:29:20 - 01:22:10:21]
José
 And we got the other paella. We got this one, el paella. So el paella they are very good friends of mine are the guys. So I don't need to reinvent. I'm partnering with some of the best small producers in Spain. Obviously I developed with them a little bit further to what I believe is the best way to succeed in America. But you know I'm not trying to reinvent the wheel. I'm actually again empowering the people in Spain to be able to have access to American markets and the American households using the amazing opportunity this window into every American household through Marianos. And then giving you the products that you can bring a piece of Spain into your home.

[01:22:10:21 - 01:22:11:12]
Sylvia
 I love that.

[01:22:11:12 - 01:22:13:21]
José
 So we have other products. Like for example,

[01:22:15:06 - 01:22:17:13]
José
 don't tell me that everybody doesn't love croquettas.

[01:22:17:13 - 01:22:22:10]
Sylvia
 Oh yes, croquettas. I love that at your restaurant here in Chicago. Bazaar meats.

[01:22:22:10 - 01:22:29:12]
José
 So croquettas, look at it. They come from, you can do it in your dry fryer or you can go into the oven.

[01:22:32:14 - 01:22:46:16]
José
 We create, in Spain they will not be happy with me because croquettas you always fry. Okay. We would fry those. But I know that frying at home can be intimidating. So we created a croquetta that you can roast it in the oven.

[01:22:49:18 - 01:22:59:04]
José
 Roast it in the dry fryer or fry it traditionally like my mom used to do all my life. I love that. And at the end,

[01:23:00:10 - 01:23:06:16]
José
 hey I'm not doing bad as a farmer, right? No, you're good. You're very good. You've done this before. At the end, here you have the croquetta.

[01:23:07:20 - 01:23:08:03]
José
 Delicious.

[01:23:09:04 - 01:23:14:20]
José
 That you open and this is croquettas without you having to boil the chicken,

[01:23:15:22 - 01:23:27:10]
José
 clean the chicken, chop the chicken, peel the onion, chop the onion, butter, oil, cook the onion, add flour, add milk, add the salt, then add the chicken.

[01:23:27:10 - 01:23:28:05]
Sylvia
 You make it in the oven.

[01:23:28:05 - 01:24:18:14]
José
 You have to wait until it gets cold. Then you have to roll in little balls with flour, egg, breadcrumbs. Then you have to fry it. Oh my God. Here. It looks amazing. You go directly from your freezer. You take them out of the freezer. It goes into the oven, can go from the freezer into the oven. The instructions are very easy to follow. Or you can have them a little bit already out of the freezer and you can fry them or you can put them in the dry fryer. Anyway, it's created for you to enjoy croquettas at your home fresh. You're looking like the king of the queen of the household and making your life easy and bring them. I grew up with croquettas. This is very important to me. I have rich children in Spain and now I know that croquettas are becoming also very part of Spain. I know they're very important part of Puerto Rico.

[01:24:18:14 - 01:24:24:18]
Sylvia
 Yes, yes. Okay. Well, you're making me hungry and I'm told I don't have a heck of a lot of time with you, Jose.

[01:24:25:21 - 01:24:27:13]
Sylvia
 Okay. Empanada. Here we go.

[01:24:27:13 - 01:24:34:08]
José
 Technically, we did it that way but technically this will be the diminutive. Empanadillas. Okay.

[01:24:35:11 - 01:24:41:19]
José
 Empanada is the big pie, the big one. Empanadilla is usually roasted in the oven.

[01:24:43:06 - 01:24:56:03]
José
 The empanadilla usually is fried. Here what we did was we did the small one that usually is fried but we put it on the oven too like the croquettas. And now take a look what we have.

[01:24:56:03 - 01:24:57:05]
Sylvia
 Let me see what you got.

[01:24:57:05 - 01:25:18:08]
José
 Don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't. Wow. And we have empanada, empanadilla de atun and empanada de ferdo. Pork, Iberico and tuna empanadas. And this is what you get, my friend. It looks delicious. Oh my God.

[01:25:18:08 - 01:25:35:13]
Sylvia
 Okay. Those who can't see, Jose basically has made all of this for us in his kitchen and he's cooking these from the products that we can now buy at Mariano's. Jose, I have to ask you, look at that. That looks so delicious. You're making me hungry. Okay. Hey, num, num, num.

[01:25:35:13 - 01:25:35:21]
José
 Hello.

[01:25:35:21 - 01:25:58:20]
Sylvia
 Are you hungry? I'm very hungry thanks to you. I want to know how in the world you've got a TV show, you've got your own podcast, you are World Central Kitchen, you have a Michelin star restaurant. Now you can keep up the energy for all of this because the demand for you is so high. How do you keep yourself going? What energizes you? Tell us your secret.

[01:25:58:20 - 01:26:01:09]
José
 Well, my wife big way.

[01:26:01:09 - 01:26:02:17]
Sylvia
 Good answer.

[01:26:02:17 - 01:26:04:19]
José
 My daughter's big way.

[01:26:06:12 - 01:26:08:04]
José
 Guy like Carlos big way.

[01:26:09:12 - 01:26:19:12]
José
 But at the end, I love to be part of these, these human village we are, right? We all make each other better. Everybody country is apart.

[01:26:21:22 - 01:26:27:06]
José
 I love cooking. I love sharing cooking stories and even better dishes with people.

[01:26:28:14 - 01:26:29:00]
José
 People I know,

[01:26:30:07 - 01:26:39:02]
José
 people I just met. For me, one of the most unique things in America is Thanksgiving. I'm the biggest Thanksgiving celebratory in the history of mankind. Really?

[01:26:40:10 - 01:26:42:16]
José
 Anything is building longer tables is a good thing.

[01:26:45:00 - 01:26:46:13]
José
 What keeps me going is use these,

[01:26:48:02 - 01:26:59:00]
José
 especially we began talking on the podcast about the emergencies that in the worst moments of humanity, the best of humanity shows up. And this really keeps me going.

[01:27:02:13 - 01:27:12:22]
José
 I'm a story. I don't think I cook more than I'm a storyteller. But because I don't, you can tell stories for books, you can tell this, which I have,

[01:27:14:15 - 01:27:30:08]
José
 but I'm not a book writer person. Even you can say I'm a book author. You can tell stories through painting. You can tell stories through sculpture. You can tell stories through any form of art. You can tell stories through food.

[01:27:31:10 - 01:27:40:01]
José
 Croquetas is my story. The Bayas is my story. And Baradillas is my story. Tortilla, Española is my story.

[01:27:41:11 - 01:27:42:12]
José
 Look at this tortilla lady.

[01:27:42:12 - 01:27:43:11]
Sylvia
 That's beautiful.

[01:27:43:11 - 01:27:47:10]
José
 Take a look at this tortilla. Oh my God.

[01:27:47:10 - 01:27:48:15]
Sylvia
 It's perfect.

[01:27:48:15 - 01:28:17:18]
José
 And you can cook it more, but I like it like this. Like the egg is slightly and then cooked. Look at the Bayas. I don't think we're going to have time before you cut me off. No, you're... Yeah, but you can see the bison is reducing. This has seven more minutes to go. Wow. But take a look. Now I can add some broccoli on top because the broccoli needs less cooking than everything else. I'm putting it on top and then it's going to be florets of broccoli.

[01:28:19:00 - 01:28:27:20]
José
 You can make it your own. Obviously, as I said before, and this is why like what keeps me going is because food connects people.

[01:28:30:00 - 01:28:41:12]
José
 Markets like Mariano connects people because every time you open a bottle of wine from a place near home, can be a wine from upstate New York or wines from California or Virginia.

[01:28:42:23 - 01:28:58:18]
José
 And in America, that's opening a window into another place, even if it's close to home. When you open a bottle of wine of Spain, you are opening a window into that faraway place with people that are pouring love into making the best product so you can enjoy the home.

[01:28:59:19 - 01:29:01:05]
José
 So for me, food, wine,

[01:29:02:12 - 01:29:07:18]
José
 they are stable. It's the best way to connect people around the world. That's what keeps me going.

[01:29:07:18 - 01:29:19:16]
Sylvia
 Well, can I say thank you for all you do? I'm just amazed at how you never seem to stop. I just want to know what are the big holiday plans and is there anything coming up in the future you want to share with us?

[01:29:19:16 - 01:29:26:03]
José
 I also have chocolate, Jose and chocolate. Oh, yeah. I also have a line of cans,

[01:29:27:04 - 01:29:27:14]
José
 sardines,

[01:29:28:20 - 01:29:29:07]
José
 octopus,

[01:29:31:01 - 01:29:33:02]
José
 mussels. We call it fish snacks.

[01:29:34:09 - 01:30:07:12]
José
 I also have a line of broth, different seafood broth for your favorite recipes. You can make paella, obviously, but you can use it for anything else to make a soup. You add some mussels here and some rice. You have the best mussels, seafood soup in the history of mankind. So this is what keeps me going. So this Christmas, I'm going to be here a few more, one more week or two. But this many Christmas, I go back to Spain to celebrate with my wife, family in the south. Do big fires every night. Do big terracotta pots.

[01:30:08:19 - 01:30:17:04]
José
 And then just cook all night long every day around a fire, singing. I love Christmas. I love singing and I love Christmas carols.

[01:30:18:11 - 01:30:57:13]
José
 And I love especially used to be with family cooking and celebrating life and one more year and obviously, if you are a Catholic boy like me, celebrating the born and the Jesus born. But at the same time, I realize I celebrate. I have many friends from different faiths, others that don't have faith. But I only realize that we all love to celebrate learning from each other around a table where everybody brings who they are and they enrich you because they share with you who they are through their stories. And this is how the world becomes a better place.

[01:30:58:18 - 01:31:04:23]
Sylvia
 Well, keep on doing what you're doing, Jose. Merry Christmas to you and I cannot really cry the paella.

[01:31:06:01 - 01:31:11:08]
José
 Paella, are you ready? I'll send it to you. Please send it to me.

[01:31:12:15 - 01:31:15:15]
Sylvia
 Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas. Take care.

[01:31:18:11 - 01:31:27:00]
Sylvia
 This podcast is produced by Jennie Waters, original audio and music editing Donnie Cutting, social media and promotions, Iliana Blasdell.