[ad_1]
World Central Kitchen’s emergence as one of the world’s most agile and remote emergency feeding operations is supported by two powerful forces. It’s a chef who knows how to quickly organize a kitchen even in the most extreme situations and the undeniable charisma of chef José Andres. Wealthy and well-connected restaurateurs are working hard to feed those in the disaster area, even if it seems impossible.
On Monday, an Israeli airstrike in the Gaza Strip killed seven members of the organization. They had just unloaded 100 tons of food at a warehouse in the central Gaza city of Deir al-Balah and were leaving in a car with the organization’s logo and two armored vehicles. One of those killed was a dual citizen of the United States and Canada, and the others were from Australia, the United Kingdom, Gaza and Poland.
The extent of the global response to the killings in a war that has already left at least 203 aid workers dead, according to the Aid Guard Database, partly reflects the visibility of the World Central Kitchen. . .
The idea for the organization came in 2010 when Andres cooked with Haitians living in camps after the earthquake. They taught them how to prepare beans the way local cooks do, and realized that creating dishes unique to the region was essential to comforting people in times of disaster. From there, he helped build schools and train cooks in Haiti and other countries.
His model leverages a network of local chefs to serve thousands of meals based on local recipes, which he brought together when he traveled to Houston to help after Hurricane Harvey in 2017. I did.
Later that year, he flew to Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria wearing an Orvis fly-fishing vest that looked like a battle jacket, with a roll of cash in one pocket and a cigar in the other. Most of the island was without power. Only water came out of the bottle. People were hungry. He tapped a few chef friends to start cooking, doing something that government agencies and more organized relief groups like the Salvation Army couldn’t do. At one point, he persuaded federal agents on the ground to load food onto a vehicle headed for patrol.
All of the group’s efforts were focused on creating warm food familiar to the displaced population. Fresh fruit and a bowl of sancocho, a Puerto Rican stew that Andrés and his staff made in an oversized paella pot, were much more comforting than his government-issued MREs or boxes of processed American snacks. .
“I work without paperwork and 100 meetings,” he said at the time.
Chris Barrett, an expert on international food assistance programs at Cornell University, said World Central Kitchen has an unusually focused mission among aid organizations, with special attention to cooking. Ta.
“Although these operations are relatively small operations from a broader humanitarian perspective, their high profile is due in part to their leadership and in part to their lack of visibility into the mainstream. “I think it represents a different perspective than humanitarian aid,” he said.
Barrett said the group’s presence in Gaza is particularly important because the strip lacks a strong government aid infrastructure and there are few food businesses available, primarily to displaced people and relief organizations. In Yemen and Syria, he noted, organizations are using vouchers that people can redeem in stores, exempting them from some of the on-site cooking duties performed by World Central Kitchen.
In 2018, Andres was named one of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World. The rise of World Central Kitchen has led many American chefs to fight for populist causes like feeding the hungry, ask the government for coronavirus relief, or fight racism and sexual harassment. It happened when people spoke out against assaults or, more recently, took on the role of political activist. About the Gaza conflict.
“Chefs are some of the most trusted and connected people in the community,” says Laura Hayes, senior manager of World Central Kitchen’s division called Chef Co-op. “They have an innate drive to improve their community and help their neighbors.”
Hayes joins the 400 chefs and restaurateurs who jump into action when a disaster strikes, volunteering to find kitchens to use, food trucks to dispatch, and recipes and ingredients to help those in need feel most at ease. Coordinating a network of people. World Central Kitchen also employs local cooks. Nearly 400 Palestinians work in the organization’s 60 kitchens. “Food quality is of paramount importance to us, along with speed and urgency,” she said.
With a renowned chef behind it and a clear mission that Andres and his organization broadcast regularly from the field on their social media feeds, World Central Kitchen is a place where people who want their donations to see tangible results became the destination. The group raised approximately $30 million in 2019 and approximately $250 million in 2020.
In 2021, Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos handed Andres $100 million through his annual Courage and Decency Awards. The chef funneled that money into the organization. In 2022, World Central Kitchen received $519 million in grants and donations.
According to many views, the organization was growing faster than its management structure could support. Last year, Bloomberg News reported on allegations that Mr. Andres forced people to deliver food in dangerous conditions and that the group failed to properly deal with a senior executive accused of sexually harassing a woman. . World Central Kitchen has promised new safety measures and fired its manager and CEO Nate Mook.
The group’s operation in Ukraine was its first in a combat zone. In March, Gaza became a second location, demonstrating just how agile World Central Kitchen’s operations have become. Staff and volunteers working in dozens of community kitchens in Gaza have assembled Ramadan food kits by making hundreds of mujadara, a dish of lentils and rice with crispy fried onions. The group sent more than 1,700 trucks loaded with food and cooking equipment.
Sean Carroll, chief executive of aid group Anera, which has worked extensively with Andres’ group to deliver meals in Gaza, has plenty of experience running a World Central Kitchen, even in a conflict zone. He said that he has a high level of expertise.
World Central Kitchen, which initially struggled to obtain entry permits into Gaza, was unable to provide critical components of food aid, such as the appropriate serving size (1 pound) and the weight of a food delivery bag for someone. He said he had advised Mr. Anera about this. Who will struggle to transport it and how many meals will be included in a larger food package?
Andres described the effort in Ukraine as the country’s largest food relief operation. It began feeding people in February 2022, shortly after the Russian invasion, and has provided more than 235 million meals to refugees there and in seven other countries. The Ukraine operation has attracted celebrities and star chefs like Rachael Ray, who is planning her fifth humanitarian visit in May and is volunteering at World Central Kitchen.
A restaurant run by the organization in Kharkiv, Ukraine, was hit by a missile at some point early in the war, injuring four staff members. Group officials said.
Kim O’Donnell, a Seattle-based author and food writer, spent a week volunteering with an organization in Przemysl, where she met Damien Sobol, one of the World Central Kitchen workers killed in Gaza.
She said the lack of safety procedures and instructions worried her.
“When you weren’t working in the kitchen, you were kind of on your own,” she said. She was less than a dozen miles from the border, and she didn’t think the organization was doing enough to remind people how close war was coming. Some volunteers may have difficulty traveling to Ukraine and returning home.
Ms O’Donnell said the lack of access to a handbook or formal instructions on safety procedures before departure was a red flag. “It definitely gave me pause,” she said. The work is important, she said, but there are questions to ask.
“I’m not in charge,” she said. “But I hope this is an opportunity to step back and think a little bit.”
Noah Weiland contributed reporting.
audio creator Tully Abekasis.
[ad_2]
Source link
