By Jorge Garcia and Rollo Ross
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Spanish chef Jose Andres sent his food aid organization World Central Kitchen to Los Angeles as wildfires burned on Thursday and advocated putting politics aside to care for the person affected by the disaster.
“Like any place in the world, there are people with ways and means, and people without. But you have to be there with all the people, no matter what,” said Andres, who lives in the United States.
“Everyone needs support and love in these moments. Rich or not, poor or not. It’s the right thing to do. So make sure no one is left behind or forgotten.”
On the side of the truck, a sign offered “Free Food, Chicken or Shrimp” and several first responders lined up for a meal.
“Are you going to blame the current political party? Can we stop blaming and start building and working together?” Andres asked.
“Getting the best out of all of us and making good politics happen is good politics.”
Andres added that “climate change is real, if someone wants to say it’s not.”
“You can say these things happen randomly, but climate change has a lot to do with it,” he added.
He said there are more hurricanes, typhoons and floods, which he recently saw up close in North Carolina and the Spanish city of Valencia.
“So let’s fix it. Let’s make sure we don’t forget the people of Puerto Rico, or the people of Katrina, or the people of North Carolina,” he said.
“Let’s put politics aside, take care of people and solve problems one plate at a time. I think everyone will agree with me on that.”
