LIVE! Proof That World-Feeding Chef José Andrés is an Actual Superhero

Summary

Outside Podcast: LIVE! Proof That World-Feeding Chef José Andrés is an Actual Superhero
Recorded July 29, 2026 at the Outside Days Festival, Denver
Host/Moderator: Mary Frances Heck, with contributions from Kevin Sintemang (Editorial Director, Outside)
Featured Guest: Chef, author, and World Central Kitchen founder José Andrés

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Episode Overview

This vibrant live episode of the Outside Podcast presents an engaging dialogue with superstar chef José Andrés, tracing his journeys across food, travel, humanitarianism, and the natural world. Against the backdrop of the Outside Days Festival, Andrés is celebrated not just as a world-renowned chef with Michelin-starred restaurants, but also as a dynamic storyteller and founder of World Central Kitchen—serving hundreds of millions in need. Blending humor, deep humanity, and irrepressible curiosity, the conversation delivers both levity and stirring calls for action.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Chef as Superhero and Storyteller

• The episode opens with lighthearted references to Andrés’s literal comic book superhero status:

  "They put me in a comic where Superman calls me and he introduced me to Aquaman... And I give the idea to Aquaman, 'let's go for lionfish.' ... and we make ceviche and fried fish to all the people of the islands."
  — José Andrés, [01:13], [31:49]

• This comic book adventure becomes a motif—Andrés’s blend of real-world impact and fantastical storytelling.

2. A Culinary Pilgrimage: The Camino de Santiago

• Kevin Sintemang recounts the process of joining José and his wife on a Camino walk for a cover story:

  "It's Jose Andres. It's the food. It's all the meals that we got to share, right?" [06:07] "His backpack the entire time was just filled with tin fish. ... He's the best hiking partner for that reason." [07:40]

• The narrative underscores Andrés’s hospitality, curiosity, and generosity, both on and off the trail.

3. Life as a Constant Traveler and Adventurer

• Andrés describes his impulse as a “chronic traveler,” always searching for food, markets, and adventure wherever he goes:

  "All of us, all of you right here in this room... you are all writing books... recipes are not recipes, recipes are moments." [13:24]

• The making of his latest cookbook, Spain: My Way, is part travelogue, part homage to Spanish producers and landscapes.

4. Formative Years: From Spanish Navy to Culinary Explorer

• Andrés tells the story of how he landed on a historic tall ship as a navy cook, against official assignment:

  "The story is that when you want something, knock on the door and if the door doesn't open, jump through the window and be creative about it. ... I went to that boat only three days before it sailed away... Those six months was probably one of the most important six months of my life."
  — [18:45–23:46]

• The journey marked his first experiences outside Europe and instilled a lasting belief in teamwork and destiny.

5. Personal Connection to Nature: Water, Fishing, Diving

• Fishing, inherited from his grandfather, profoundly connects José to nature:

  "I'm a terrible fisherman. I barely catch fish because I don't have patience. ... But my grandfather Ramon... loved to fish and hunt. ... he would make his own flies." [24:19] "Scuba diving has changed my life... I just came back from the Marshalls, and I love to get lost in the middle of nowhere." [25:43]

• Andrés shares his awe at encountering sleeping whales, his imperfect underwater photography, and commitment to culinary solutions for invasive species like lionfish.

6. Lionfish, Conservation, and Cooking as Activism

• The lionfish story weaves together environmental responsibility, culinary creativity, and even comic book heroics:

  "Lionfish is a problem... We need to fish and we need to cook lionfish because this is a good way to protect the reefs. ... I put lionfish in my restaurants."
  — [29:20–31:49]

7. The Magic of Spanish Ham (Jamón) and the Ingredients of Place

• Andrés and the host delight in the beauty, sensuality, and deep traditions around Spanish ham, hanging to cure:

  "But the most precious gift and ingredient is time... Time is the most important ingredient in cooking and in life. Time."
  — [33:52–33:54] "And then you slaughter them in January... Salt, one day per kilo. Then you take the salt out and you hang them... the winds come from the cold mountains and bring the cold air that keeps the hams cool." [35:54–39:00]

• The “air” of Spain is raised as a defining, almost mystical culinary ingredient.

8. Finding Wonder Outdoors: Stargazing, the Cosmos, and Space Food

• Andrés expresses a childlike wonder at the night sky, tracking the ISS, and equates cooking for astronauts with cooking for the world:

  "There's nothing more fucking fascinating that you will put the alarm. And every time the space station passes over us... And now you can almost see the astronauts doing their things in the bathroom." [40:47] "My biggest gift in life was I was able to create food for the space station... I sent them paella, Valenciana, Iberico ham, Marcona almonds." [44:10–45:07]

  • On accidentally creating a zero-gravity rice explosion:

    "I was trying to prove that the big bang began in a bag of rice..." [45:28–45:39]

9. Humor and Humanity: Parenting, Kite-surfing, and ‘Absorbing the Ocean’

• Andrés shares stories of learning kite-surfing, laughing at his own misadventures:

  "I crash against palm trees in Puerto Rico. I crash against reefs. ... I drank so much ocean water that, that I think I've been keeping the ocean levels down." [47:19–48:13]

• Relentless humor runs throughout, often self-deprecating or surreal.

10. Fire, Cooking, Poverty, and Dignity

• The philosophy of fire as central to cooking, community, and survival:

  "Fire is what makes us humans... Cooking made us human... When I see fire, I don't see the beauty of fire. I see the missed opportunity we have in this world." [48:35–53:00]

• The harrowing contrast between festive grilling in wealthy countries and the reality of billions relying on fire for survival, and the costs that keep many in poverty.

  "We must do more to make sure that we bring that good, healthy, affordable source of energy to feed the poor of the world, because it's the only way we will move from total poverty into hope." [53:00–54:12]

11. Food, Identity, and Dignity for All

• A closing meditation on the power of food, quoting French gastronome Brillat-Savarin:

  "Tell me what you eat, and I'll tell you who you are... The future of the nations will depend on how they feed themselves. ... People don't want our pity. People want our respect."
  — [55:12]

• Calls for Americans to confront hunger at home as well as abroad:

  "Every American should always be fed. Every children in America always should be fed." [55:56]

12. The Mission of World Central Kitchen

• Andrés discusses his organization’s global response in crisis zones, transcending politics or nationality:

  "Right now we are doing a million meals a day in Gaza. ... We've been in Israel. I had people that told me, 'why were you in Israel on October 7?' ... Because the people of Israel needed our help. ... The many use one — goodness, peace. ... I only know one thing, that I'm here today. And I know all of you believe in the same idea. Not only to provide for my three daughters a better world tomorrow, but the understanding that what I want for my daughters, I must wish it for the daughters of every other parent out there."
  — [56:13–57:57]

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• On time as the rarest ingredient:
  "The most precious gift and ingredient is time. ... Time is the most important ingredient in cooking and in life. Time."
  — José Andrés, [33:54]

• On breaking through obstacles:
  "When you want something, knock on the door and if the door doesn't open, jump through the window and be creative about it. ... The destiny of your life is not in the hands of others."
  — José Andrés, [18:45]

• On dignity in relief work:
  "People don't want our pity. People want our respect. The only way to give dignity to people is when you start respecting them."
  — José Andrés, [55:12]

• On the comic book superhero moment:
  "I get Superman, Aquaman, Wonder Woman, all cooking like shit. This is good."
  — José Andrés, [32:01]

• On outer space cuisine mishaps:
  "I was trying to prove that the big bang began in a bag of rice... and then expanded through the universe. So my theory is that we are really a paella that exploded and then Earth came to life."
  — José Andrés, [45:28]

• On keeping the ocean levels down:
  "I've been very important in maintaining the water of the oceans lower because I drank so much ocean water that, that I think I've been keeping the ocean levels down."
  — José Andrés, [47:46–48:13]

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Important Timestamps

• [01:13] — Andrés’s comic book adventure with Superman and Aquaman
• [06:45–07:40] — The Camino pilgrimage and “tin fish connoisseurship”
• [13:24–15:15] — On cookbook writing and travels
• [18:45–23:46] — Navy tall ship story; lessons of teamwork and destiny
• [24:19–29:20] — Origins of love for fishing, diving, and the ocean
• [31:49] — Recap of the DC Comics superhero comic
• [33:52–33:54] — The role of time in cooking and life
• [39:00] — The science and tradition behind Spanish cured ham
• [40:47–45:07] — Stargazing, the ISS alert, and creating food for space missions
• [48:35–53:00] — The double-edged reality of fire worldwide; call for clean cookstoves
• [55:12] — Food as identity, dignity, and the importance of feeding all Americans
• [56:13–57:57] — World Central Kitchen’s global relief work

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Tone and Atmosphere

The episode is a blend of raucous humor, earthy wisdom, heartfelt advocacy, and awe at the natural and human world. Andrés’s energetic, often self-mocking delivery is matched by profound insights on food, justice, and adventure—making the session both entertaining and deeply moving.

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For more, follow José Andrés (@chefjoseandres) and explore the life-saving work of World Central Kitchen (WCK.org).

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Listen for: Epic navy adventures, comic book cameos, philosophy about ham and the cosmos, hard truths about poverty—and what it means to live bravely, with heart, and a very well-stocked backpack.

Transcript

[A]

This episode of the Outside Podcast is brought to you by Arkansas the Natural State the thing that separates an adventure from just a standard issue outing outside is surprise. And there may not be a more surprising outdoor locale than Arkansas. A temperate climate means playing outside year round. And let me tell you, can you ever play from kayaking at Two Rivers park in Little Rock to the famed mountain biking in Bentonville, or afloat on the Caddo river or the Buffalo National River. Oh by the way, was America's first national river to tromping around Mount Nebo State park for unbelievable views of the Arkansas River Valley. In the Natural State, you're never far away from fun lakes, rivers, mountains, woods, trails, canoeing, boating, mountain biking, hiking, fishing. Whatever you want, whatever your skill level. Your next surprise outside is in Arkansas. Plan your next [e-mail]. This is the Outside Podcast with Patty O.

[B]

They put me in a comic where Superman calls me and he introduced me to Aquaman. They take me to the Caribbean because the Caribbean is about to go hungry because somebody has blocked the sun and it's not harvest. Earth is going hungry and all the countries are keeping the food for themselves. And who is suffering the most? The islands that never have food. And I give the idea to Aquaman, let's go for lionfish. And Aquaman puts me in one of his super big seahorses

[C]

and he takes me down to the ocean and we catch and then flush cleanse them and we make ceviche and fried fish to all the people of the islands.

[A]

Today, dear listeners, we are taking you back to the ideas stage of this year's Outside Days Festival in Denver. If you missed my interview with radio head guitarist Ed o' Brien from the festival, go back two weeks in our feed and have a listen. It's a nice bookend with today's conversation from the same stage with Spain's Jose Andres. Jose is a world renowned chef with about 40 restaurants worldwide, four of which have been recognized by Michelin. More importantly, he's the founder of World Central Kitchen, a non profit food relief organization that has served over 500 million meals worldwide. Jose loves to get outside, as you'll hear from Outside Magazine's editorial director Kevin Sintemong when he introduces him from the stage. And his calling to serve people around the planet is real, which comes through during his interview with OutSides Media GM Mary Frances Heck. The other thing that comes through loud and clear is that Jose is absolutely hilarious. One thing that may not come through quite as clear is that starting as soon as he comes on stage Jose is carrying a peron, which is a traditional Spanish pitcher used to share wine. No one, not even the audience, is safe from Jose's peron. You can see what I'm talking about if you check this episode out on the outside podcast YouTube channel. But not to worry. This is still a rollicking good time, even just as audio. Trust me.

[D]

That's a packed house in here. Look at all these Jose Andres fans. This is amazing. Oh, my gosh. I don't even need to do my intro. I'll do my. I got to do my intro. I got. I got to earn my paycheck here, okay? But I'm so excited to be here with a room full of Jose Andres fans. I mean, I don't even have to say this part, but there are so many reasons to admire Jose Andres, right? He's one of the world's most renowned chefs. He's a James Beard Award winner, as you'll. If you. If you meet him, you know how great of a storyteller he is, whether it's in person, on tv, in his books. He's got a cookbook out now called Spain My Way. We have copies on sale here if you. If you're interested in that later. And, you know, and, you know, probably most significantly, he's the founder of World Central Kitchen, which is. Yes, yes. You know, and it's just such amazing work that they do. They fed millions and millions of people in disaster zones around the world. And Jose is genuinely, you know, one of the great humanitarians of our time. But what really connects all of those things is Jose's sense of adventure and his humongous heart. Right. And that's kind of how the story came together. Our cover story. I see some copies of the magazine out there. That's kind of how our cover story came together. Right. It wasn't sort of a long process. Right. I think Sarah was there, actually. I was having dinner with Sarah and Jose's publicist. And then a few days later, Jose's publicist calls me and says, okay, Jose says, you can join him on the Camino, but you kind of have to leave now. And I'm like, all right, I'm in. Let me find a photographer. I'm packing my bags. And then she says, well, one more thing. You're going to be joining him with Tchi Patricia, his wife. And I was like, oh, even better. I've never met her. I've heard wonderful things. This is going to be great. And then she says, oh, wait, one more thing. It's their 30th wedding anniversary. And I was like, oh, this is going to be interesting

[C]

now.

[D]

I was like, what am I gonna. What am I getting myself into? You know, I know if you see on the. I'm the editor of Outside, by the way, and our motto is live bravely. And I was like, I gotta live bravely here. I might be at a third wheel on this, like, you know, Camino walk with Jose and Ticci, but I gotta do this, right? And I did, of course. And I did not feel like a third wheel at all. You can read the story, but the, you know, the highlight of it was, I mean, it's Jose Andres. It's the food. It's all the meals that we got to share, right?

[A]

And

[D]

the, you know, there's food people here, right? So food people have this like, food GPS where you just like, you know, you're the friends that the out of town person calls and you, you and they ask you where all the great restaurants are. With Jose Andres in Spain, it's like super gps. It's. It's sort of like a cheat code, right? And we would just end up in a town, a small town, and within minutes, you'd like, this place is open. And we'd sit down, he's like, all right. He'd order for the whole table. And he'd ordered all, all the great things, right? And he made every meal feel so special, right? Whether it was sort of a simple tortilla or like a lentil stew and just really made you sort of pay attention to the food. But my favorite moment came when we, you know, it was after a lunch. We came across this clearing on the trail with one of the Camino markers, which you see on the COVID And I thought, okay, this is a great spot. Let's try to get some photos here. And I was kind of trying to set up the shot, trying to get enough sky, and he's leaning on the post, right? And we had just eaten lunch, but he goes into his backpack and he takes out that tin of navajas, the razor clams there. And he offers. And I was like, I've never had avajas before. And he's like, here you go. And I just sort of ate it off of the knife there. Did not impale myself. But that was just sort of a wonderful little moment. And I had no idea that his backpack the entire time was just filled with tin fish. You know, he is the best hiking partner for that reason. And of course, we, you know, we turned this into our cover. And I think that really sort of captured the kind of essence of who Jose is. Right. It's just. He's just sort of, like, always offering food. Super generous. And now I am delighted to hear him in conversation with Mary Frances Heck, also a James Beard award winner herself. Mary Frances, Yes. Has lived and cooked in Spain and spent the first decade of her career in food media at magazines like Bon Appetit and Food and Wine. She now leads our editorial teams here at Outside. So please welcome to the stage Mary Frances and chef humanitarian, fellow walker tin fish connoisseur Jose Andres.

[E]

Thank you, sir.

[D]

Oh, my God. What?

[E]

A little something for you, amigo. Thank you.

[D]

Thank you, sir. We got some piranha.

[E]

Kevin. Kevin.

[D]

Come on, come on. Oh, my gosh.

[E]

Everybody, how you doing? Let's hear it, Chef Jose, what do you have there?

[B]

Chakoli, I think.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

Chak is from the Basque country. And this is a poron.

[C]

Yep.

[D]

How do you use that, Chef?

[B]

That's good. Also for. For. It's like a. A baby bottle, too. My wife was not very happy with me, but I've done it with my. I mean, I put milk, I didn't put wine,

[E]

but.

[B]

Yeah. So we're going to have. We're going to have a good time like we did walking.

[D]

Oh, yeah, for sure.

[B]

Can we give another round of applause to these amazing men?

[D]

Oh, thank you. Thank you, guys. Thank you, guys.

[C]

You. You know what? I love him because, I mean, outside.

[B]

Right. Outside magazine.

[D]

Right outside, yes. Last time I checked, they kept me

[C]

inside the green room for the last two hours.

[E]

No.

[C]

And I'm like, I came to Denver, and you keep me in a green room away from the people. And by the way, the green room is never green. It's white.

[B]

But he's such a good man that I forgive him. Next year, the green room is going to be on the grass under the

[C]

beautiful Colorado blue sky.

[D]

All right, give me a shot soon to. To bring me off stage here. I have to do it myself.

[C]

Oh, my God.

[B]

All right, and there you go.

[D]

I got take by J. I'm. Guys, it's here for Kevin. Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on.

[E]

Be brave.

[C]

All right, all right.

[D]

Okay, here we go.

[E]

Live bravely, Kevin.

[C]

All right, all right.

[D]

I'm gonna. I'm gonna have to get this dry cleaned, I think so. Okay.

[C]

This was a healthy conference, and here we are drinking wine on the stage.

[E]

It's all about balance, right, folks?

[D]

Thank you, Sean. Enjoy, guys.

[E]

All right.

[C]

My wife.

[B]

My wife says hi, and she says that even she always loved to do the way he described. Because she likes to spend time with me one on one, which I don't understand what she wants to eat.

[D]

She said she was a little angry. I wasn't sure if you're joking or serious.

[B]

And my wife said, okay, tell him that he can come with us anytime he wants.

[C]

So when my wife gives the seal of approval means.

[B]

Yeah, he was talking. She was talking more to him than to me.

[C]

Shit.

[B]

It's my 30th anniversary, and I feel like left aside, and I'm like, shit, I'm walking the Camino alone.

[C]

Like, who is this guy? Like, I have more. My body is, you know, I know you look good. So I got kind of little bit jealous.

[B]

I said, I don't think this was a good idea. But she said that you can come back anytime.

[D]

I would love to. Just let me know and I'll pack my bags and head out there.

[C]

Thank you.

[E]

Thank you.

[D]

Thank you, guys.

[E]

Here for Kevin, guys.

[C]

Let's go, Mary.

[E]

Who needs water? We have pour on. Okay.

[B]

Yeah, water is important, too. How are you guys?

[E]

Welcome to Denver.

[B]

I love. I love them. I don't spend enough time because I'm always landing here to go somewhere else. But my family and I, over the years, over the decades, we've. Yeah, we've spent good time in this city and beyond, in the entire state.

[E]

Well, we're here today because you wrote a new cookbook.

[C]

Yeah.

[E]

Spain My Way.

[B]

I did it my Way. I don't know why I did it. If you think about it, all of us, all of you right here in this room, in the process of living life, you are all writing books, and maybe you should. All of us should. Because these moments. Recipes are not recipes. Recipes are moments. Moments with people you love, with places you've been. That's why I have a hard time going to hotels. Even I have restaurants in hotels. I'm more the Airbnb type or the renting a house because I like to cook. I have a hard time not shopping. When I go somewhere, I see a market, I buy the market. And my wife, we have no kitchen. I'm like, what are you talking about? The wall is my kitchen. I can't cook anywhere. And the book is very much. I had that urge again. That's my third Spanish book, my eighth, ninth book. But this one was a book that was done all in Spain and a few recipes in my house. But the book was going place to place. But that's what I do all the time. Going restaurant to restaurant. That's what I do. All the time. Go market to market. Waking up early in the morning and going for gooseneck barnacles with my buddies. The best fishermen in the world. They risk their lives just to bring a delicacy to us. And that's how they make a living. And what you see in this book is used, not recipes, but in a way, an homage to the people that makes feeding the world possible. This time in Spain.

[E]

And you're a. Maybe we could call it a chronic traveler. You are everywhere all at once. If anybody follows Jose on social, you know, this guy gets around. But you've done this your entire life. You started your adulthood as a. As a sailor.

[B]

This is a very serious situation here. Mary Frances is interviewing me and I'm drinking.

[C]

I mean, if I was drinking water, would you laugh? No. Right?

[B]

Oh, okay.

[C]

So let's go back to the mood.

[E]

All right. Sorry about your mic, guys.

[B]

Okay. I'm gonna try to see if they control the is mine. Oh, my God. This is gonna be a long go.

[E]

You guys have the afternoon, right? Okay. I want to hear about cooking on a tall mast ship sailing about half the world.

[B]

Yeah. Oh, my God.

[E]

Starting when you were 18 years old. 19 years old.

[B]

Yeah. I need to go back to the timeline of my life. I'm a little bit confused. I think we all should do that sometimes. Like, you know, sometimes things, they seem. They happen too far away and then they happen right there. And sometimes I have memories of things that I thought happened yesterday, but my wife tells me it was 25 years ago. Like really shit. Time flies. So I was a very young boy growing up in Barcelona. I was born in Asturias in the north. One of the most beautiful regions in the world. Very green mountains. Cows, sheep, goats. From the top peak full of snow and lakes to the beach is almost less than 45 minutes. Driving, mind blowing. And I moved when I was young to Barcelona. Even was within Spain. That's kind of the moment I realized that I've been an immigrant all my life. In a way, we are. We all are. Because Asturias in Barcelona, Catalonia had nothing to do. Different language, different accent, different food, different buildings, different people. Fascinating. Same country, like a Star Trek, different worlds. So I've been an immigrant all my life. I know where I come from, and I always know where I belong. And in Barcelona, my father took me to the port. Maybe I was 10, 11, 12. And was this beautiful tall ship, like in a movie foremast white. The Juan Sebastian del Cano. The person that finalized the first circumnavigation of planet Earth. After Magellan passed away, was the guy that took over the expedition was his lieutenant and the ship was naming his honor. I see that boat. I remember this conversation like it was yesterday. My father told me, if one day you do the military service and you end in the Navy, few people that request to be volunteers to go to the boat. You will sail in that boat. I was 10. Life that has the story of our lives written, even if we are unaware or not willing to listen. I get in the military, I get in the Navy. But after requesting to go on the boat, they tell me that because I was such a good cook, probably the best cook of the new recruits in the entire Navy, they were going to send me to cook for the Admiral. I say, F U C K no.

[D]

Oh, God.

[B]

They told me, who do you.

[C]

Who do you think who you are? Like, shit. My father told me, like your father. Shut up, okay?

[B]

I went to cook for the Admiral because they knew my intentions, that you cannot ask anything to the admiral. Well, he's cook, so I didn't tell him anything. I only told him many months. He loved me, his wife loved me. He has three daughters. I became like the older brother to the daughters. I was having the best life. I had my own apartment, cooking whatever I wanted. Shit for being in the Navy, my life was like, holy cow. I mean, I mean, yeah, Tom Cruise had nothing. I mean, I mean, I mean, my life was amazing. And then one day I go into, hey, Admiral, wouldn't be great that the sailors in the boats could eat the same food you eat every day. And he was like, why are you trying to tell me? Like, nothing? Because they will, you know, the saurians, if they knew I was doing this, I would get in trouble. Long story short, I went on the boat. So the story is that when you want something, knock on the door and if the door doesn't open, jump through the window and be creative about it. Because the destiny of your life is not in the hands of others. It's always in your life. We can regret the rest of our lives what we didn't do, but I am so happy. I risked to get in trouble only to do with something that was my destiny. I went to that boat only three days before it sailed away. Six months. First time I left Europe. First time I saw the Canary Islands. First time I saw Africa. First time I saw South America, Rio Janeiro. First time I saw the Caribbean. I saw Dominican Republic. Santo Domingo. First time I came, Pensacola. The beautiful white beaches. My first offshore crab ever. I'm like, these Americans Are crazy.

[C]

They eat crabs without shells.

[B]

They were so delicious. First time I arrived New York, I docked on 30th street on the west side. The American Dream. Thirty plus years later, I opened 300 meters away from on 30th street from where I docked. What is one very special project for me. Mercado Little Spain. When you talk about the American dream, this is the American dream in a movie for me. Opening that restaurant so close to the first place I arrived in New York was very special. So for me this was an amazing adventure because I will go up in the mast. We had almost hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico. Well, sorry, the Gulf of America. I don't want to get in trou.

[E]

That's the right crowd for that.

[B]

The Gulf of Mexico, my God, the storms. I would love to go up in the mass and you see around me360 and see only by the blue water. I'm so thankful to life that I got that chance. And since then, every 10 years or so, many of the people that were the midshipmen training because that was the. The boat that trains the future officers of the Navy, many of them began scaling up and. And they became, you know, captains and vice admiral and admirals and the captains of the boat. And so I've been invited to the boat for one week. Once it gets to Spain, they invite few civilians to the boat. My wife to this day knows that every time I see this boat, when comes back to America or I go to see in some port in Spain that I began tearing down in the moment. Even now I'm telling you the story because those six months was probably one of the most important six months of my life. Because it showed me the power of 300 people working together. Even when the winds, the oceans, the currents were taking us in other direction together we could take always the boat in the direction we wanted. Those six months on the sea with my teammates, in a way was probably where I learned some of the most special lessons of my life. Then when I arrived in America and I saw in Washington D.C. in the national Archives we the people. I said I understand the meaning of we the people. I have nothing else to say about this story.

[E]

Either way. It's Saturday afternoon.

[B]

This is not live, right? My wife is not watching, right?

[E]

Absolutely not. Nope, nope. It's a health conference. So I want to kind of take that thread of water. Your connection to water, your love of fishing, of tinned razor clams on the trail of being underwater. Can you speak a little bit about how that centers you? How that brings you back?

[B]

Well, I'm a terrible fisherman. I barely catch fish because I don't have patience. But it's fishing for me comes because my grandfather Ramon, he loved to fish and he loved to hunt. And it's the days. One of the things my mom gave me was all the equipment of my grandfather Ramon. He was, you know, in the old days that the train stations was the heart of the little towns, because everything arrived by train. The people, the family, the things, the goods. And my father was the chief of the train station in this town nearest.

[C]

So.

[B]

And when he was on vacation, he will go fish or hunting. He will make his own flies. So he had all the feathers of the different birds. Yeah. And. And he will make. So I have all the utensils of him making all the. How you call the thing?

[E]

The flies.

[B]

The flies, yeah, yeah. The lures. Yeah, that. And. And for me, that was very special. So me, I'm. I've always loved fishing. My father used to take us fishing when we were young in the sea. But when I'm in Asturias, I'm more of a river fisherman. When I come here, Denver, that sometimes Aspen, and they take me to the rivers, but then we go. They take me to rivers that they have to fish and release. And I'm so unhappy.

[C]

Like, fuck.

[B]

I understand we need to protect nature, but I mean. So that's why I get a little bit, like, tense, because, like, shit, I catch the fish and now I have to release it. Like, really? Holy cow. No, it's okay. It's fine. But one thing I love to do, and this happened more than 17 years ago, I never scuba dive because my uncle told me, don't scuba dive, it's very dangerous. Like, holy shit. And so I took him seriously. He was the. He was a doctor. My father was a nurse. And my father and my uncle work for the Americans in some of the American bases that America has. And they were the. My father was the nurse and my uncle, the doctor in American bases. And then my uncle and being the medical doctor of the factory of Fort in Valencia, the biggest factory of Fort at the time in Europe. And I'm telling you all of this, I don't know why, but I'll get there eventually. So he told me, don't escuba die. But one day, the ocean underneath for me was something always fascinating. And I was very scared of sharks, especially because they movie. And I realized that the only way to go through life is when you are able to look at the things you are scared of looking at it. Not bringing your eyesight down, but looking at it. And to this day, I'm scared like shit. But scuba diving has changed my life. I scuba dive every time I can. I'm underwater every time I can. My wife and I is one of the things we do the happiest, because my wife loves. I'm not in my phone, and I'm always next to her. And we shake hands and whiskuba. I just came back from the Marshalls, and I love to get lost in the middle of nowhere. And I go with National Geographic, and I'm surrounded by the best scuba divers and biologists in the world. And. And I searched for the whales in Dominica, and I found them sleeping. You've ever seen a whale sleeping? They're in families seven and nine. It took us three years to find them. And when they sleep, they sleep for over an hour. And they look like a forest in the middle of the ocean. And they sleep with the head looking up. And they are together for almost an hour. And if you respect them, they let you to be with them. And that's the moment that time stops and you say, how beautiful is to be part of this world. Going to your question on the fishing. I began fishing. I began scuba diving in Cayman Islands, Puerto Rico. I've been now in Galapagos. I've been around the world, but there I met some people that they were going for spur fishing. And you're like, jose, where is this going? You are talking about protecting nature or you're talking about eating nature? Lionfish came to the Gulf of America, the Caribbean, and lionfish right now is an invasive species, and it's okay to catch the lionfish. So now I bring always my camera, and next to me, I have my spear. I love underwater photography. I'm the worst underwater photography in the history, but I keep trying. I took Nemo. I call him Nemo, you know, the clownfish. But, oh, my God, I took one photo that is so imperfect but so beautiful. A mandarin fish. I was with 20 guys of National Geographic. I'm the only one that got that

[E]

photo

[B]

with a little bit blur, but still, I'm the only one that took it. And they're all my friends. But going back to fishing the lionfish, I began learning how to do lionfish. But the important thing was not about the lionfish. Lionfish is a problem. And my friends, one scuba diver called Jason and one chef called Thomas, were the first people I heard about. We need to fish and we need to cook lionfish because this is A good way to protect the reefs. Lionfish eats their weight every day. So they kill the baby. They eat the baby fish. Jesus, God bless you. The baby fish, the baby lobsters, you open their stomachs. My God, these guys, they could be my friends. I mean, if I was going to have a fish friend, that will be the lionfish. So I feel guilty killing them. But my God. And we go super fishing and. And I love to go expert because it's super cool. I mean, they can hit you. And then, you know, if they. They are. They're Ben and they are poisonous and shit. But it has not happened to me yet. One day probably is my karma. I deserve it at this point. But so far so good. But just to end this story. But I don't know where we are going with this shit. But I told that story so often because I put lionfish in my restaurants. We pay the fishermen when they don't have anything else to catch. They go to lionfish and make. They make a good living. Now it's not only my restaurant in Bahamas, but Puerto Rico and boom. It's a lot of places that, well, the lionfish make invasive.

[E]

But it's delicious.

[B]

It's unbelievable. Fry and everything. But just to finish that story, DC Comics, a year and a half ago, I thought this was a prank. They love the idea. And they began putting all the DC Comics heroes, Superman, Superwoman, Flash, Aquaman. They put me in a comic where Superman calls me and he introduced me to Aquaman. They take me to the Caribbean because the Caribbean is about to go hungry because somebody has blocked the sun and it's not harvest. Earth is going hungry. And all the countries are keeping the food for themselves. And who is suffering the most? The islands that never have food. And I give the idea to Aquaman. Let's go for lionfish. And Aquaman puts me in one of his super big seahorses

[C]

and he takes me down to the ocean and we catch and then flush cleanse them and we make ceviche and fried fish to all the people of the islands. That's a true story. So go to DC Comics and you'll see. You see that story so, so crazy. I get Superman, Aquaman, Wonder Woman, all cooking like shit. This is good.

[B]

So it's funny. I don't know, but did I answer your question?

[E]

Yeah.

[A]

More from chef and humanitarian Jose Andres. Live from outside days after the break.

[E]

I lived in Spain one time and I went to a Jamon Fabrica and there are all these legs hanging from the ceiling, drying, dripping, drying. It's not like beautiful. It's beautiful in a certain way.

[B]

But the hamps.

[E]

Yeah.

[B]

You have to find it super sexy.

[E]

Yeah.

[C]

I mean,

[B]

it's entire room after room

[C]

of legs of ham above you dripping fat. Like if there is rain and you don't know if you are the Lord of the Flies or you are in a Hannibal movie.

[E]

Hannibal is definitely the one. It's a Hannibal vibe. I'm not. And there's an aroma, but it's a

[C]

deep aroma, like you want to get naked and start doing. Hang me up, hang me up with them. Okay, Keep going, keep going.

[E]

What's in there?

[B]

Hey, this is barely a glass.

[C]

Okay?

[E]

Not tequila. Okay, okay. But the guy, the guy stressed. Stressed that there were only two ingredients besides the pig salt and air.

[B]

And I a third one.

[E]

What is it?

[B]

Time.

[E]

Time.

[B]

Time. Of course, the most precious gift and ingredient is time. Because when we waste it, it's precious. We are wasting time. And when we enjoy it, it's precious because we are enjoying every second. Time is the most important ingredient in cooking and in life. Time.

[E]

Well, that's it. Now I really want to ask about the air as an ingredient and how it was stressed that the air in Spain, you can't have Jamon Iberico or Jamon Serrano from anywhere else because of the air in Spain. Fresh air.

[C]

Yeah,

[B]

let me see how I answer this one. I mean, listen, obviously you mentioned the ham, right? And. And you know, I have a restaurant called Mini Bar. It's twisted, Michelin. I don't know why I don't get three, but that's okay. My good friend Itor, who used to work with me, he used got three stars in la. And I'm so proud. But I'm like, what the fuck? I didn't get the three myself. I mean, this is very healthy.

[E]

There's still time, right?

[B]

I know, but everybody around me that work with me, they all get three and I only get two. And I'm like, shit, Okay, I guess I'm not as good, but I'm so proud for them. Right? But I don't know what I was telling you that.

[E]

But okay, in Spain, hanging in the windows, you see chilies hanging in the windows, you see?

[B]

Yeah, but we're gonna go to the

[E]

chorizo, drying the eggs outside the fridge, everything.

[B]

And the air, nobody dies.

[E]

Air is an ingredient in Spanish cooking.

[B]

No, no. But you know, for me, the ham, Iberico ham is super expensive, but it's super expensive because good things sometimes are expensive. Those, those pigs, a type of Black pig we call Iberico has a lot of hair, very much like me. I think we're the same family. No, I think we are. They roam semi free in the forest in southwest Spain, all the way almost to Portugal. At that peak, it's between September and December. Acorns. When the acorns began falling down from the trees, they began releasing the pigs into the forest. They put the water in one side, far away. So the pigs keep going from the water to the acorns. The acorns to the water, very much like us. And they double their weight during three months, putting a lot of fat in between all the protein. And that's what creates this amazing piece of meat. Very much like my piece of meat, my body, because I eat better than the pig. So I have to be tasty like hell. And then you slaughter them in January. Sorry? And then you're right, Salt, one day per kilo. Then you take the salt out and you hang them. And this usually is happening near. I love when I land in Denver, because I see the beautiful mountains with the snow, even all the way to June, July. And in the place we do this, the hamps, you have nearby, these mountains with the snow and where usually the winds are coming. So you slaughter them in January. Why? Because it's cold. And even if the salt has been added, it's only in the outside. But the winds keep everything cold. So you have these old houses where they hang the hamps. And all the houses, big houses made out of rocks, where they dry the humps. They have windows, windows to the north and windows to the south, south, windows to the north. Because in January and February, the winds naturally are north. Why? Because the people of the countryside are wise people. Because they listen to the wind, they listen to the rain, they listen to. They don't need an app in an iPhone. They use art in the outside and they see the world. And the winds come from the cold mountains and bring the cold air that keeps the hams cool. But also the air dries. Like if you put something in your fridge and you forget and it's dry a week later. And then when they want, in summer, the winds are from the south and the winds come hotter. At this moment, the salt is already in the ham. It's not going to be problems that they're going to get bad. But now they warn the hot winds of the south and they open the windows of the south.

[C]

The south.

[B]

Because now that heat and the wind is going to keep drying them, but then the fat is going to start Melting more and melting. And the salt is going to keep penetrating. And the wind, the air is doing its job and is when the wind becomes obviously an important ingredient cooking mechanism. And this is what is fascinating. And that's why this ham is so offensive. Because there's not many pigs, is not many acorns. You can only release so many pigs every year into the forest and take three years until we are able to enjoy it. Yeah. I have nothing else to say about this.

[E]

It's good. Pretty good.

[B]

You know when you feel like you are like a seal and instead of giving you sardines in the zoo you serve, you give yourself a

[C]

same thing.

[B]

My wife does this for me sometimes. Like when I behave, she gives me a can, a can of sardines because she knows I love them. And when I behave like, you know, I wash the dishes rarely, but when I do it, she gives me a can of sardines. I feel like a seal. I mean, I feel like I live in a zoo.

[E]

Well, zoos being under stars, something we love it outside is astro tourism, astronomy. Being outside at night, finding dark skies. And Spain has some of the best dark skies in the world. Never mind being on a ship in the middle of the ocean. And you've talked a little bit about stargazing and a love of. You've got a telescope, right? And you love looking at celestial beings. Can you tell us a little bit about why? Why is that?

[B]

I mean, how many of you in your iPhone or in your phone has the alarm every time the iss, the International Space Station crosses over? How many of you have that alarm? Only few of us is nothing more fucking fascinating that you will put the alarm. And every time the space station passes over us, for those between a minute and three minutes, 20 seconds, depends the orbit and when you are able to see it, first with the naked eye, second with binoculars, third with you become sophisticated enough that you can have your telescope ready to be able to catch it. And now you can almost see the astronauts doing their things in the bathroom. You understand what I mean? Deep. It's just fascinating. And you know, I didn't go to. I didn't graduate, barely I graduate from anything, but it's fascinating, right? And so for me, the telescope was the ankle of my wife, Javier. He was in the military, he was a general and he was the intelligence at the chair of Spain in America. And that's why my wife came. And his passion was telescopes. So we will be always with a telescope everywhere in Maryland, watching stars, Jupiter and venues and oh my God, so I got into that. So yeah, I got my telescope. He told me, don't buy a big telescope because you are going to regret it. I didn't listen to him and I got, I bought the telescope and I got four boxes and my wife is. What is this? A telescope? Four boxes. Oh holy. Every time you go an extra inch on the lens, everything increases exponentially on the size. So now every time I have to put my telescope before it's like I have to start like three days before. Like what the. But I love. So next year always. I organized this two years ago. How do you know that about.

[E]

I read your book.

[D]

Oh,

[B]

they're available for sale next year in a. Next year in Spain, 11th of August, 12th of August, around 7.25pm is going to be a total solar eclipse. And now is the great thing about AI I kind of got the perfect place that has the highest possibilities of no clouds in the best place to see the most amount of time the solar eclipse. So in case there are clouds, you have always to have plan B. So I kind of rented this, a small hotel, 10 rooms. That happens. The hotel has the best restaurant in that part of Spain. And so we're going to be there with friends. The 10 rooms, we're going to eat the day before, we're going to watch the stars, we're going to have lunch the day after, after we're going to see the clips and then we're going to have dinner again. And if it's a clouds plan B, we're going to eat very well. But I love the star. I mean I love science fiction, I love. You know, my biggest gift in life was I was able to create food for the space station. And in recent, usually every space, space country, their crews, they bring their own food. This technically was the first time that all the astronauts of the different countries, USA and Russian ate the same menu. And there I was very chinistic, very Spanish. I sent them paella, Valenciana, Iberico ham, Marcona almonds. And I was so happy that we send paella to space. I fuck it up because we made the recipe so by the book that the recipe was the rice was a little bit too dry. If you know a little bit about physics and I'm not an expert, but I teach photo physics at Harvard for the last 10 years. Yeah, I'm showing up.

[E]

It's true.

[B]

That means I should. I'm supposed to know better because it was not really very wet. The rice was nothing that kept the grains attached to each other. And when they opened the Bags of rice.

[C]

And when they told me, I told

[B]

them, well, I was trying to prove that the big bang began in a

[C]

bag of rice

[B]

and then expanded through the universe. So my theory is that we are really a paella that exploded and then Earth came to life. I am Jose Andres and I endorse this theory.

[C]

This is a true story because NASA

[B]

has not called me since then. No, no, we keep on.

[E]

I was gonna say you've made it your mission to bring Spanish food to the world and, and to outer space. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Pretty cool.

[B]

In case we find aliens. I mean, contact. I mean, so many movies out there. My God. But I mean, scuba diving is like being in the space. I mean, you see there things like, shit, wouldn't it be great that we have aliens that are good people that come. Well, by the way, aliens usually 99.9% they are good people. For the record, I'm an alien.

[E]

Okay, back to Earth. This crowd. Who here likes to camp? Anybody? Anybody? Ski, hike, backpack?

[C]

Kite surfing? Hey, my daughters. Daddy, you're not gonna be able to

[B]

be in a kite surfing like shit. I will. I crash against palm trees in Puerto Rico.

[C]

I crash against reefs.

[B]

By Jose Undress. During the pandemic in 2022 was over one minute on a surfboard kite surfing, heading towards Morocco.

[C]

And because I didn't know how to turn back, I just jump into the water. But I did be one minute on a kite surf and it's a video to prove it. I love kitesurfing.

[B]

But, you know, so the climate change that they are saying that the water is going to raise in the ocean. I've been very important in maintaining the water of the oceans lower because I drank so much ocean water that, that I think I've been keeping the ocean levels down. Now that I'm not conserving, I'm worried

[E]

the air.

[B]

Yeah, we go back to the air.

[E]

Go back to the air. When you're, when you're cooking outdoors and building a fire and thinking about the elements of cooking, what are the things that you're thinking about in terms of how the fire is interacting with the rice or with the broth or with the meat? And how does that inform how you bring a meal together?

[B]

Yeah, very much next to breathing that we all do. Right? Because if you are not breathing, you're not alive anymore. You are not outdoors. You are under dirt. The other thing we do is eating. Think about it. And drinking water is like eating. We're eating the two things we do as humans. Breathing and eating. Eight billion People, when I see an open fire. Fire is what makes us humans in more ways than one. Because it's more than a theory. Was this Spanish anthropologer, anthropologist, anthropologist who wrote this theory that cooking made us human. Because when we began cooking meats and began cooking proteins, our body began absorbing better all the nutrients that makes our brains bigger and make us smarter. And then humans, we became human in this simple process of feeding. Prometheus on paper, you know, gave us created man, woman out of clay. Prometheus also gave control of fire to humans. Some of this story has to be true because that's why we love so much. I love so much cooking in an open fire with clay. You're cooking on the fire. The meals to feed the humanity on the same clay where on paper humanity came from. It's just a story, it's just beautiful itself. I want to believe it's true, but when I see fire, I don't see the beauty of fire. My happiest moments is a big open fire. And cooking for people on clay pots. That's something I do especially in Christmas time in the south of Spain. All the meals are done on fire with time. When do we eat? When the fire lets me feed you. When do we sit? When the clay pots are warm enough to be able to serve you. We don't dictate the fire and the clay tells me the story. But when I see fire, I don't see this beauty I'm describing to you. I see the missed opportunity we have in this world. We're talking about not only landing in the moon, but landing in Jupiter. And I'm fascinated by this human achievement that we should, we should clap and be proud of. But today in planet Earth, when I see a fire, when we are camping and we make a fire, I only think that there's more than 3 billion people on planet Earth. That the process of feeding their families with wood of fire is an act of survival and is one of the reasons why more than 3,4 billion people on planet Earth are poor. Because the same charcoal, a wood fire I do in my house, you know, all those men and fathers and grandfathers that do the grill on Sunday mornings and they call themselves cooks and we know that the only thing they're doing is burning the meat. Who really feeds the world or the woman of the world. Yeah, you can clap on that because it's true. And remembering that our connection to food is because the first gift we ever receive in the form of a tangible is when our mother bring us to her Body. And the first gift we receive is mother's milk. That moment we are attached to, to food forever. Tell me what you eat, and I'll tell you who you are. Brian severan wrote in 1826. But I bring it back to the charcoal and the clay. Makes me sad that today a family in Haiti spends close to 20, 25% of their daily earnings in buying the charcoal to cook the food, to feed the family when people are already 25% poor before they wake up, when those women, they have to go and send their children, usually the young girls, to the forest to pick up the wood because they are too poor to even buy charcoal. You see that? That same beauty of cooking, that same love I have for feeding people, for many people, is the reason they're poor. So now I'm only asking you, you still remember that every time we do a fire, be thankful because you are able to feed your family and you are not going broke, but that we must do more to make sure that we bring that good, healthy, affordable source of energy to feed the poor of the world, because it's the only way we will move from total poverty into hope. That's one area I've been working very heavily, is what we call drink cook stoves. Mainly. I'm concentrating Haiti. I'm giving myself and many others that we're working on this project the next 25, 30 years to one day make sure that nobody in Haiti anymore has to be poor because the only way they have to feed their families with charcoal that in the process make woman unhealthy, makes them poor unhealthy, because they are breathing there. So my hope is that same fire we all love so much to feed our people we love is the same fire will give hope to the 3 billion people in the world that need hope more than ever.

[E]

Thank you. Pretty good.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

All right.

[B]

I mean, time is zero, and zero is zero in a. The good thing about mathematics is that doesn't matter the English or the Spanish you speak. Zero in mathematics is zero. How was my accent?

[C]

Okay?

[E]

It's perfect.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

For the ones of you that tell me that you think I have an accent. I only want to say I think you have an accent, too. It's true. It's nothing worse than the French people telling me you have an accent. Like shit, really. Anyway, I don't know why I'm telling you this, but it's true. Thank you for your amazing questions.

[C]

You are.

[E]

Thank you for being here, chef, but

[C]

I don't quote French people in public. Usually but brilliant.

[B]

1826. He said, Tell me what you eat and I'll tell you who you are. Powerful phrase. But he also said, the future of the nations will depend on how they feed themselves. You know, people don't want our pity. People want our respect. The only way to give dignity to people is when you start respecting them. And we can be talking about feeding the world, but we need to start by feeding home. The richest country in the history of mankind has no reason why anybody usually mothers with two and three children that because life is always harder to woman seems that the system always forgets them. So we need to be starting by taking care of our own. Every American should always be fed. Every children in America always should be fed.

[C]

And this is something like I know

[B]

everybody agrees has no colors because that's humanity itself. We the people and used to end. You know, when we World Central Kitchen, we can be having hours of talk. Right now we are doing a million meals a day in Gaza. We are bigger than any Arab country UN we are doing 250,000 meals in Lebanon. We've been in Israel. I had people that told me, why were you in Israel on October 7? Like, what is this question? I'm in Israel because the people of Israel needed our help.

[C]

I had people that told me, why

[B]

are you in Gaza, Jose? Because the people of Gaza need our help. We need to make sure that we don't shape our thoughts by the actions of the few bad apples, by the actions of the many. And the many use one. Goodness, peace. What is good for you must be good for me. That's humanity itself. And that's what we all need to keep pushing forward. I respect people don't think like me if they respect me back. I respect people that have a way of life that is maybe different than mine, but I respect their way if they respect me back. And at the end, I only know one thing, that I'm here today. And I know all of you believe in the same idea. Not only to provide for my three daughters a better world tomorrow, but the understanding that what I want for my daughters, I must wish it for the daughters of every other parent out there.

[C]

I am Jose Andres and I endorse this message. God bless you. Thank you.

[E]

Thank you, sir.

[A]

You just heard chef and humanitarian Jose Andres interviewed by Outside's Mary Frances Heck, Live at Outside Days, follow Jose's food and philanthropy on Instagram at Chef Jose Andres and learn more about World Central kitchen by visiting WCK.org you can watch the taping of this episode and other video episodes. Oh by the way on our YouTube channel at Outside Podcast One. And I hope you come hang out with us at Outside Days next year. Great music, great panels, great films, and even better community. Come on out to Denver at the end of May. And a quick note. If you dig this show, we'd love it if you'd leave us a review wherever you listen to the Outside Podcast. And if you want to do us an extra solid, share the episodes you love with those you love. Post it, email it, send it via carrier pigeon to your friends and family. Thank you. We appreciate the support. The Outside Podcast is hosted and produced by me, Patty o', Connell, but we're you can call me Patio. The show is also produced by the storytelling wizard Micah. Canned Tuna was the name of my high school band, Abrams music and sound design by Robbie Carver and booking and research by Jeanette Courts. The Outside Podcast is made possible by our Outside plus members. Learn about all the extra rad benefits and become a member [e-mail] pod+.