Been and theres even more many. Were going until 8 00 tonight. So thank you for being here, i hope youre having a wonderful day. And for those of you following us online and streaming online, im carla hayden, the librarian of congress, and this is one of my favorite [applause] as you can imagine, times. And our next author is not only a local celebrity, he is also an international one. Chef jose andres is as well known for the many extraordinary restaurants he runs as he is for his humanitarian efforts. In fact, he will be leaving directly after this program to go help others. [applause] so hes backstage signing books right now because if he doesnt catch the plane, he wont be able to get there. You probably know that following the 2010 earthquake in haiti chef andres formed the World Kitchen to feed the distressed island nation, and after maria struck puerto rico in 2017, he once again answered the call for relief efforts by providing millions of meals with his team of chefs and volunteers. [applause] his efforts and experiences are recounted in his book, we fed an island the true story of rebuilding puerto rico one meal at a time. Jose andres and his team have fed people all over the world. Hes been named one of time magazines 100 most influential people and awarded outstanding chef and humanitarian of the year by the james beard foundation. Jose andres came to america in 199 1 when he landed in new york city, and hes since gone on to cook in some of the worlds finest restaurants, and now he has more than 30 a awardwinning eateries to his credit. And washington, d. C. Is very fortunate that he calls this area his home. I think we should applaud for that one. [applause] his restaurants range from food trucks to a two michelin star mini Bar Restaurant oh, im just getting hungry reading this. [laughter] featuring a tasty menu of innovative preparations that push the limits of what is possible with food. And he will be discussing his new cookbook, vegetables unleashed, design to transform how we think about and eat vegetables including brussel sprouts. [laughter] he will be in conversation by the queen of talk radio, diane reameses. [applause] she is a native washingtonian who began her radio career as a volunteer for wamu in 1973. [cheers and applause] it was later renamed the diane rehm show which attracted an audience of more than 2. 8 million listeners, and i have to tell you, i was one of them. The final broadcast of the show was in december 2016, and her show lives as a podcast, hour, called on however, called on my mind. So please welcome chef jose ann a grace, we can all say jose andres, we can all say it together and diane rehm. [applause] what a welcome for you. Well, deservedly so, i think. [laughter] i think, let me finish. They gave you even a better one because you know one thing im very excited to be here besides being with you all, is to be next to this awe amazing person, this amazing woman who so many years [inaudible] understand whats going on in the world. Can we give another big round of applause to diane rehm . [applause] thank you, thank you. Youve probably already or heard that jose is not going to additionally sign books because he is taking off immediately after this is over to fly to florida, where else . Really. [applause] so, jose, here we are nearly two years after the hurricane in puerto rico. You went there, you did as much as you could. They are still recovering. What do you think of that . Well, listen, when a hurricane like maria happens, you need to understand the destruction is going to be so great that its going to take a long time to recover. If we remember katrina, and this happened already so many years ago, i think the yesterday was the unfortunate anniversary. Were talking already, what, ten years . Still they are recovering in many parts of new orleans. And this is only telling me one thing, that id had no doubt that america is the most amazing country. My wife and i, we could join as immigrants when we came over 25 yearses ago. Because i learned that when america comes together and they put aside silly fights and parties and Political Parties and republicans versus democrats and we only bring the best heart of every single american people, we can recover out of anything. But we need to leave the policies out of it. [applause] and thats it. I want to leave the politics out of it. Certain things cannot happen. I cannot have my president use all this fingerpointing to puerto rico when a hurricane is about to hit the island. Thats not the moment to do it. [applause] and thats what we have leaders for, to bring all of us together, even people that see different than that. People that dont see about the issues in the same way as us, but in the end genuinely we all agree more on thing than we disagree. That we, the people, is stronger than anybody. We cannot break that bond. So thats what i believe about puerto rico and reconstruction. I know the answer isnt straight up and i made it my own answer [laughter] i dont need to say anything. You know were in washington [laughter] and politicians never answer anything after they are asked oh, but you do. And even cooks like me, we just learn the bad way, and i apologize for it. Now, the one thing you did not say, when you got here to the United States, how much money did you have in your pocket . I arrived two times to the United States. Okay, how about the first time . The first time i was in the spanish navy, and i came sailing in a tall ship. And i was very lucky to serve in the spanish navy, and we went around the world. And i came to pensacola, and i still i remember the day i arrived to new york with ellis island and the statue of liberty. And the day i got, you know, i didnt want need much money because i was young and i had food on the ship. But the second time probably is the one that counts when i came to stay. In case theres an immigration officer in the room, i came legally. [laughter] even i had few hiccups later on. And then i had, yeah, i had 60. But, you know or, i came more or less with the promise of a job, with the promise of a bed, and that that made my life very easy. Thats why as an immigrant sometimes i do believe in the moment we are living. I want to send a clear message to everybody, immigration is not a problem for america to solve, its an opportunity for america to seize. [cheers and applause] we need to be asking our congress to pass immigration reform. [applause] we had president bush tried to do it. We had republicans tried to do it, democrats tried to do it. But in the end, some forces dont want that to happen. Why . Thats what we need to be asking ourselves. So, yeah, thats my answer about how much money i got [laughter] i told you, im not going to need to say very much here this morning. [laughter] so when Hurricane Maria erupted two years ago, you chose to go directly down this as you are going to florida today. Tell me why you felt you had to go do that. Well, we saw the hurricane was going to be total destruction, and i felt the urge to go. Its not the first time i did it. Ive been doing this for many years before with. What happened in puerto rico was something like, you know, everybody was aware. When i go to hurricanes, i dont do press releases. I just ask my wife for help. We pull together some clothes, thats it. And i show up and begin feeding people. The for me, the inspiration probably was moving into washington, d. C. On [inaudible] and i guarantee almost none of you have done that. One of the most important buildings that you should visit in this city is on 7th and e. Yes. The claire a rah barton clara barton [inaudible] that woman was able to single handeddedly take care of many of the wounded of the civil war, and the or American Red Cross was created. When i moved to the city, that building was across there from my apartment. My mom and dad were nurses. A person like clara barton was able to do so much good for the american soldiers of both sides. Why cooks like me, we cannot do exactly to put our expertise at the service of others. So really the first time was in haiti. And then we began going to hurricanes all sure, sure. Puerto rico, when i landed i tell my wife, i landed on a monday three days after maria hit the island and probably the second plane that landed in san juan. And i told my wife ill be back by the weekend because we had some friends visiting from spain. I still remember calling her thursday, three days later, telling her im not coming this weekend and, actually, i dont know when im coming back because the problems, the destruction was bigger than what you even were watching at home. We had 3. 7 million puerto ricanamericans in an island without cell signal, without electricity, without water because all the Water Systems broke down. And on paper, without food. So what a cook can do is gather the food, gather the cooks, find the kitchens and start feeding as many people so what did you cook . What were you relying on . [laughter] so the first, the first day we landed, as we landed i said whats up not knowing if any of my friends on the island were going to be able to receive it. And when these emergencies happen, you have to be very clear. You need to give a very simple message that everybody understands and so everybody or kind of stick to plan. And the whats app message was i handed, ill be at 3 00 on this location. And when i arrived to that location, before that i had time to be going around to see what was the damage, to see what companies were, to come to companies that they knew had food to Start Talking with them directly. When i arrived with some food in my car, all of the friends that i whats app, they were there waiting, and we began cooking. And that first day we did over 1500 meals only. We went from 1,000 meals the first day and 20 friends and one restaurant, we went from thousand meals a day to 150,000 meals a day. We went from 20 friends to 25,000 volunteers. We went from one kitchen to 23 kitchens all across the island. At the end we fed probably over four Million People. [applause] unbelievable. Unbelievable. [applause] well, even that was not your first hurricane. You went down to haiti before you got to puerto rico. Yeah. If you buy the book and i dont mind to tell you that you should buy it because [laughter] of course. Because 100 of the earnings after a paying the writer and other things, 100 go to worlds hunger kitchen. And itd be a way for you to [applause] in the book its a chapter that we compare american aid to haiti after the earthquake and our own aid to our own land. I mean, this chapter we compare number of people that were sent, number of helicopters, number of military personnel, number of meals, all the assets that were available to us. And if you take a look, you will see that the response that we gave to haiti was so much more quicker, so much faster than the response we gave to puerto rico. And im very proud as an american that america did so well in haiti helping the great people of haiti and the people of portauprince. But as an american equally, i was so sad to see that the aid we gave to puerto rico, american territory, was not equal to the one we gave to haiti. So the message here is the men and women of fema are amazing people. The men and women of our National Guard are amazing. The men and women of the many ngos that help are astonishing. Everybody should be clap and honor, because theyre really good people. [applause] but fundamentally are, fundamentally the way fema has been structured is not the best way to be helping america sometimes anymore. Why not . What is it that they dont do that you are able to do . Because its a super Big Corporation that is more handling contracts. And when youre hungry, if you have americans hungry, you cannot start initiating a contract with anybody. When we go to california and the firemen are hungry, on paper its a contract between the firefighters and a Catering Company. But you know what happens with the Catering Company . Nobodys showing up to work because theyre trying to save their homes and save their lives. So you need to think out of the box. We cannot be contracted. We are an ngo. We go and we help when nobody is there to help. So i do believe we need, hopefully, the next democrat or Republican Administration because i dont think this one is up to the task they should look, they should no, but i mean it in a nice way in the sense of [laughter] in a nice way. [applause] fema is there to support americans, and most of the time they do a great job but sometimes they dont. And they are not selfcritical of themselves. If you hear of what happened in puerto rico, i heard the president gave himself and fema a ten. You know what . I give myself only a five. Why . Because we fed four million, we did four million meals, but i wish we did forty million because thats what was needed. So you cannot give yourself a high score and not be critical, because if you are not critical, means that nothing will ever change. And when something happens in florida, south carolina, virginia, maryland, new york, another hurricane hits or an earthquake, if the response is not there, all of you will suffer. And americans deserve that the government is there for them in moment of disrepair. Thats why we need to look at how fema is organized [applause] break fema into two and start making fema do a better job in the way they help americans. So id like to talk about what it was you fed them [laughter] yeah. Its manager that ive read its something that ive read, and i dont know whats in it. So funny, because i think you asked me that before, and i dont understand how i cannot answer to a question by the great diane rehm. But my brain is so full of things that sometimes i forget. So what we fed the first day is something called sancocho. If theres Puerto Ricans in the room, im not going to describe because they will criticize me, you have no clue [laughter] its like when i do paella in spain, they create seize me and say criticize me. Because in an emergency you try to do what you can with what you have. But its this amazing stew of pork and yucca and corn and many other root vegetables, very hearty. And because we had all of those things, we began making these big pots. And i remember the first delivery we did was to a hospital that they got a phone call because was the niece of the director of the hospital that knew i was in san juan, and im like, really, theyre hungry . We began cooking them pots and bringing them to the hospital because nurses and doctors were operating without lights. Sometimes i saw them with an iphone, they didnt even have generators that were working because they didnt have gas. So that was the first thing. But very quickly are, what happened . The moment people knew we were cooking, the phone calls began getting to us, messaging, people would show up. And before we knew, we went from 1,000 meals a day to over 35,000 meals a day in four days. Thats when i saw that the problem was bigger. And so we made [speaking spanish] which is mashed potatoes with a ground meat. We did [speaking spanish] food for 40 people and they can go into these cameras that allow us every is 240, 2503 meals, and thats the way we transport the food so its healthy and hot and everything. We began making [speaking spanish] chicken and rice which is also a staple in puerto rico. So all the dishes we make, obviously, are based on the ingredients we have at our disposal. But then we make sure that the locals have what they like. Nothing gives more hope and more joy to people than to give them something, a plate of food that sends one message very clearly, we care, be patient, things will get better. And when especially the food is to their liking, then you are bringing joy to lives in a moment that they have only chaos. Thats why we worked so hard in bringing up good, humbleflavored food. [applause] this idea alone weve been in indonesia. We responded to the first earthquake, first tsunami and second tsunami. We did close to 900,000 meals. The military began helping us because they saw what he doing. I went myself in mozambique, we had three kitchens in a beautiful up to in the north of the country. Last month i was in venezuela, were in colombia, we are on the border in el paso. Weve been over nine, ten months in tijuana. So everywhere we go can we dont impose what we like to eat. We listen to the locals to what they want to eat. And what was the government offering in the way of food in puerto rico . [laughter] thats a longer conversation. [laughter] im guessing theres a lot of military here, and im amazed what i have many men and women friends in the military, and when they go to battle combat zones, they have what they call the mres, that meals ready to eat. But if you go and search mre, its many different names that they use the m, the r and the e, and theres too many kids in the audience for me to be telling you. [laughter] but mres are brilliant. You can buy an mre, you can put it in the middle of the highway. You come back 50 years later [laughter] and the mre is still perfect. No, no. We should clap to our intellect. Weve been able as humans to create something when were looking for alien life on jupiter, im like, what the fuck . [laughter] we have alien lives here, weve made it. I mean, you know, a memory is like a burger from a fast food chain that im not going to name. You put it in the middle of the road, you come back 50 years later, its still this. Yes, i eat it too, but its for your to understand. So thats the way we do it. And let me tell you what is the problem with it. Four mres are very bulky. Full of calories. It is great. But four mres occupy the space of 40 meals. So lets follow this right now. If youre trying to feed an island, lets say a Million People, do you know the amount of space you need only to provide one mre a day for a Million People . You need hundreds, if not thousands of helicopters. You need ships by the hundreds. You need planes by the hundreds. The space occupied is so big. Its okay for one or two days. Its not something sustainable. Another thing happens. When we deliver foods, we deliver them in perp and by foot. That in person and by foot. We are not cooks, we are solution centers. Distribution centers. But what happens . We show up every day. What happens with mres . They go and drop them ask and and they leave. When you show up every day, you begin gathering information, you given gathering knowhow, grow start knowing what people need. All of a sudden, diane, we know that some people have Health Issues with some foods or religious issues with some foods. We start accommodating to their needs. Somebody tell us, jose, my grandfather is going to die because he doesnt have a generator, so his breathing machine not working