José Feeds the World: How a famous chef feeds millions of people in need around the world

by David Unger, Marta Álvarez Miguéns (Illustrator)

Overview

The true story of José Andrés, an award-winning chef, food activist, and founder of World Central Kitchen, a disaster-relief organization that uses the power of food to nourish communities after catastrophe strikes.

When a terrible earthquake hit Haiti in 2010, chef José Andrés knew he needed to help. Within a few hours of the disaster, he had gathered friends, they flew to the island, and they began cooking rice and beans for the hungry locals. This trip changed the life of the successful chef and led him to found World Central Kitchen, a disaster-relief organization that has fed more than 200 million people affected by natural disasters, the COVID pandemic, and war.

This beautifully illustrated book tells the story of a passionate chef who uses the power of food to nurture people in need, one plate at a time.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781728279527
Publisher:	Sourcebooks
Publication date:	01/30/2024
Pages:	40
Sales rank:	205,775
Product dimensions:	10.20(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.40(d)
Lexile:	AD1000L (what's this?)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Born in Guatemala and living in New York since his childhood, David received his country’s Miguel Angel Asturias National Literature Prize for lifetime achievement in 2014. The Mastermind (Akashic Books, 2016), his latest novel, has been translated into nine languages. He has translated 16 titles, including Folktales for Fearless Girls (Penguin, 2019) and the work of Rigoberta Menchú. His children's books include Topo Pecoso/Moley Mole, Sleeping with the Light On, and La Casita.

Marta Álvarez Miguéns is a self-taught children’s illustrator. She was born in a small town in Galicia, Spain, and currently lives in La Coruña, Spain. She is the illustrator of Shark Lady (written by Jess Keating), which was named a 2018 Best STEM Book by the Children’s Book Council as well as a Best STEM Book by the National Science Teachers Association.

Editorial Reviews

12/11/2023

This factual, step-by-step biography of philanthropist chef José Andrés foregrounds how his background and career led to his founding World Central Kitchen. Born in Spain in 1969 to nurse parents who frequently hosted at home, he realized early on that “it was possible to make life better for others in big and small ways,” specifically through food. After attending cooking school in Barcelona, he worked in New York, then opened a tapas restaurant in Washington, D.C.: “He liked tapas because they created a community.” Volunteering at a D.C. soup kitchen, he once again noticed food’s effect on people, a concept that followed him to Haiti after its 2010 earthquake; there, he learned “to cook food in the local style to make people feel better cared for,” a practice he continued after founding nonprofit World Central Kitchen, a globally scaled soup kitchen providing for people in places affected by disasters. Miguéns’s digital illustrations, one of which seems to nod at Sendak’s In the Night Kitchen, depict Andrés cooking and collaborating around the world, including during Covid and in 2022 Ukraine. A list of Andrés’s honors and a glossary conclude. Ages 4–8. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly

"Vivid illustrations that depict compelling scenes rendered in rich color add tone and nuance." — Kirkus Reviews

"Miguéns’s digital illustrations, one of which seems to nod at Sendak’s In the Night Kitchen, depict Andrés cooking and collaborating around the world, including during Covid and in 2022 Ukraine." — Publishers Weekly

"Readers will be inspired by Andrés’ boots-on-the-ground commitment to others’ well-being [and] the warmth and comfort a good, home-cooked meal can bring." — Booklist

"Children [...] want to hear about doing good work in the world or sharing their passions." — Youth Services Book Review, STARRED Review

"Food can truly save the world! ...[E]specially beautiful." — Youth Services Book Review

From the Publisher

2023-10-21
José Andrés Puerta, an award-winning Spanish American chef, uses his gift to help people in need.

Ever since José was a boy, he enjoyed cooking. Inspired by his parents, who showed him that he could help improve people’s lives in different ways, he went away to cooking school in Barcelona at 15 and became a chef’s assistant at the world-famous El Bulli. His professional journey eventually took him to Washington, D.C., where he opened his own restaurant. In 2010, an earthquake devastated much of Haiti. José, by then an award-winning chef, gathered a group of friends and went there to cook for the survivors. When he returned to D.C., he founded a nonprofit, World Central Kitchen, dedicated to providing free meals to survivors of natural and human-made disasters, work that’s enabled him to help affected communities all over the world. Vivid illustrations that depict compelling scenes rendered in rich color add tone and nuance to a flat, dry narrative that sticks to the facts at the expense of emotional depth. Condensing an entire professional life into a picture book means that the text eschews details, although some added information would have made for a more compelling story. Parts of the chef’s life—such as when he asks the Ukrainian people to become “Food Fighters”—are dropped into the story without explanation, leaving readers with questions the text does not answer.

Rich illustrations buoy a lackluster narrative. (list of some of José Andrés Puerta’s awards, glossary) (Picture-book biography. 4-8)

Kirkus Reviews