#2315 - José Andrés

Joe Rogan podcast. Check it out. The Joe Rogan experience. Jose, my man. I cannot believe I'm here. I can't believe you're here either. I'm so happy, yo. I remember when, you know, people began telling me, Hey, you know, you know, Joe Rogan, and I was like, oh, Joe Rogan, what? Because I'm always lost, right? Yeah, Joe Rogan loves Bazaar. Yes. Loves Bazaar in Las Vegas. It's my favorite restaurant in Vegas. Loads of bizarre meat in Las Vegas. And I'm like...

Really? Shit. And you're happy every time you listen that anybody likes your restaurant. Well, your restaurant is set up so good. When you walk in. Those Argentine grills are going with the live wood fires. Oh, and you smell the steaks right when you walk in. Oh, it's perfect honeypot. Because if you're not hungry, you get hungry the moment you walk in the door. So, you know, Bazaar, I opened the first one, oh my God, over 15 years ago in L.A. In this hotel, amazing hotel, SLS.

by philippe stark sam nazarian was the brains behind the whole project and and and the restaurant just became wow Big, big, big hit in L.A. It was a crazy place. It was like Alice in Wonderland, like Joe in Wonderland. But then when we were opening SLS, the same hotel in Vegas, We were like, let's do bizarre, but something else.

And obviously what everybody loves in Vegas is a meat place. So we got the spirit of the original bazaar. Same dishes, the whimsy, the cotton candy foie gras, the philly cheese steak that you eat in one bite back. We brought meats, meats from different parts of the United States, different parts of Spain, Europe, Iberico pork, big grills, and was kind of... Fancy. You could go fancy. You could go cotton candy and cones of caviar, which, by the way, I have here some cones if you're hungry later.

But then you can go and you eat the steak. That's it. Why is Vegas a big meat place? It feels like, I mean, there's a lot of steakhouses. A lot of steakhouses, yeah. Not a lot of great ones, though. I love women. Overall, it's good. I'm not going to be the one saying it. You can. You can. I'm not going to be the one. There's a couple of good ones.

I'm not going to be. I mean, listen, it's a great chef. My friend Tom Colicchio has one. What's that one? Tom, I don't even know. It's so many casinos. I don't know. But Tom Colicchio, the chef. Wow, you know everything. Yeah, that's the one we've been to at MGM a lot. Oh, that one's great. Yeah, that one's great. And Tommy's a great guy. What is it called? Kraft Steak? Is it Kraft Steak? Kraft. Is it Kraft one? I think Wolf and Bag has another one.

Anyway, it's many other ones with names, with chefs behind, with no chefs. Yeah. Big name chefs. I like Cleaver's great. Ah, yeah. I've been. That's very good. Very good. Yeah. People, this is good you mentioned that because when we go Vegas. in the casinos and we go to the casinos hotels and that's it yeah and me i've always been a big fan of saying it's okay But make the effort to leave the casino. Yes. Leave the strip and also be sick.

Some of the other restaurants. Yeah, you gotta travel a little bit. Because they deserve that we visit them too. Vegas is the casinos, but Vegas... Like every other city in America, every other city in the world is so much more. Right. We all go to the Whistler of Oz. Yeah, here we go. That's it. Nothing else. No. Go beyond, beyond the obvious. Yeah. And you're going to discover great. But bizarre, I'm moving bizarre. Where? To the Venetian. Oh. Well, that other casino is going to starve.

They're going to fall apart. No, no. It's the only reason why I want that. It's a good casino. It's a good casino. And they do a good job. The Sahara and the owner is a good guy. I'm sure. And they're going to put a great concept there, too. What are they going to replace Bazar with? I don't know yet. They didn't announce. If I can, I will help them. I've been helping them. But I'm moving. to the venetian and when is that

At the end of this year. Okay. Soon. You'll be there. I'll be prepared. You'll be invited. I'm going to come. You'll be invited. It's my favorite place to go in Vegas. You know, I'm very happy because it's almost... You know, I don't know if he's the same as when... A player moves to a new NBA team. Sometimes works, sometimes doesn't work. No, bizarre meets, it'll work. But, you know, it's that feeling, right? It's like...

I'm going to this new casino. It's great. Closer to my other restaurants at the Cosmopolitan. I can go walking from one to each other. That's nice. Better for me. Yeah. And then I have the other bazaar, which is bazaar. Man, I'm sorry. I sound like a commercial. No. You know, restaurants are like my babies. I've eaten at your place in Chicago as well. Yeah, the bazaar meeting in Chicago and bazaar mall is great. So, Bazar, it's kind of, again, restaurants for me, they've never been busy.

God knows I'm not the best businessman. I'm surrounded by good business people. I think that's why they're so good, though. I think that's why they're so good. I think if you were just concentrating on making money. It wouldn't be what it is. Well, I should. I should. You shouldn't. You keep doing what you're doing. It's not a bad thing, but I am a – well, you are a storyteller.

You are a troubadour, a medieval troubadour that will tell the stories of what was happening around the castles and courts in medieval times in Europe. You're a storyteller, right? I am not very good at anything. My English, I miss a lot of words that I wish I knew. Yeah, but it sounds cool. I could express myself better. No, no, no, no, no. But I'm a storyteller and I tell stories through this.

That's who I am. Well, you do a fantastic job of that. And the passion that you have for food comes through. It comes through in your restaurants. It really does. Like you can tell the difference between someone who just really loves food and someone who's just trying to make money. So it's good that you're not a good businessman and that you surround yourself with good businessmen because that's all you need.

good businessmen that you can trust, and then you concentrate on what you do best. That's a perfect marriage. I'm 55. I'm about to become 56, July 13th. I was born in 1969. And I realized, not only as a chef, But as a person, as a man, as a father, as a husband, all the different labels we all have. It's always that the more you know... the more you realize you know nothing. Right. In the old days, I will be 23. Yeah, I know, I know, I know, I know. Now it's like...

I don't know. Tell me. And even if I know something in a conversation, I just tell, do you know about this? I don't. Why? Because... I want to listen because I want to learn. I realized that me living home very... Fairly early and not going to university and not even beginning first year of high school. I was out. I didn't even graduate in the first year.

that one of the things I needed was receive education, but not in the traditional way. The traditional way was not for me. Just being there eight hours a day listening to... All the hundred kings we have in Spain growing up. Why do I need to know? And listen, I respect kings. And I love the king of Spain. I think he's a great man.

A great human being has nothing to do with that. It's only I didn't want to know about the other 200 kings we had in Spain in this history. It's not what I was interested. I was interested in knowing what they did that was amazing. but not knowing about their names and their last names. I didn't care about that. So I needed to find ways for me to... used to learn. So that's why for me, I realized the more I know, the more I know nothing. And I'm in this moment, I'm 55, that I'm used.

eager to learn. I want to know more. I want to learn more. I want to, I'm talking now, but I want to listen. I only want to be a better person by learning. Yeah. Well, that's beautiful, and when you're young you think you know everything. And as you get older, there's a quote by, I think it's Dennis McKenna said this, that as the bonfire of enlightenment grows, the surface area of ignorance is exposed. So the more you learn, the more you realize there's so much you don't know.

Whereas as you're young you think you got fucking I figured it all out and then as you get older you like there's so much I don't know not only that There's no way I can know everything. It's not possible That's why fools argue about things that they don't know. instead of just going what is that how does that work instead of actually being genuinely curious

Fools like to try to pretend that they know more than they know. It's not possible to breathe underwater. Don't pretend you can. It's not possible to know everything. You just can't. There's going to be people that know things that you don't know. celebrate that enjoy it you know i think that's one of the best things that's ever happened to me uh through this podcast is i get to talk to so many different people that have lived so many different lives and have so many different paths

so many different interests and so many different things that they've studied. It's an amazing education. But I was a lot like you. I did not want to sit in school. Whatever ADHD is, I have it. You know, whatever the fuck it is. I'm raising my hand. I got it. I mean. It's like sometimes when I have people that's, oh, my son has this. I'm like, what? Your son is an amazing human, smart individual.

And I feel like I connect with him because I think we are alike. So I raise my hand. I am that too. I subscribe to the idea that ADHD is a superpower. I really do. Because I think the people that can't focus on nonsense.

generally speaking, they can focus on things they love. Really focus. They get really excited about certain things, but everything else they can't be bothered with. Like when I was a kid, I remember being in math class and checking out because I said, wait a minute, can I do this on a calculator? Yes. There are calculators, right? And there's an unlimited supply of batteries, right? They said, yes. I'm like, I'm out.

I'm out. I'm not going to think about math now because this is not something I'm interested in. If I can do all this math on a calculator, why do I need to learn how to do it? Obviously, that's a dumb way to think. That's all 13. But I remember thinking that at 13 years old. I'm out. I'm not going to think about this anymore. I'm just going to use a calculator. This is so stupid. Just give me the result. Yeah. I don't need to know how you made all those numbers work.

Just like I know it's real. Okay, that's great. I'm interested in other things. But the thing is. School was designed to make good factory work. That's what school was designed for. The American school system, at least, was designed by the rock. And what they're essentially doing is preparing people to be cogs in a wheel. They're preparing people to just show up and do what you're told and live this life of quiet desperation.

and just sit there and absorb whatever they tell you to because you're going to have to go and work and do something you don't want to do all day long. Show up and do it again until your body stops working and you die. I don't know if I will 100% agree with that statement in the sense of this was created by design.

Well, the school system in America certainly was created by design. The idea of sitting people down, especially young kids, for eight hours a day is a ridiculous idea. But the schools and education go way beyond America and go... Go back in time. It was always an interest for writing and teaching and sharing knowledge. And obviously the very few lucky ones centuries and centuries ago were the ones that...

We're able to acquire that knowledge. Yes, but I think starting people off at five years old and sitting them in classes all day, that's relatively new in human history. This is what I'm talking about. This sitting people in classrooms all day as children. This is relatively new. This is not something that people did hundreds and hundreds of years ago. When you think about all the great scholars of the past, yes, they certainly learned in school.

They didn't do it the way they're doing it today. I'm not an expert on that front, but I can tell you when my daughters began going to school, my wife decided to take them to Montessori school. That's where everybody's in the same grade, right? Very much, but the type of learning and the type of teaching and the method of Montessori. I was fascinated by it. I was so fascinated that I almost felt like as a dad, I had to go to school. to learn the Montessori system myself because I...

I thought it was great. I thought it was giving my daughters a great job. a great framework to understand how to be themselves, how to grow, how to organize themselves, giving them the freedom to become. the young woman they are becoming. So for me, just watching them going through, when they were four or five, going to Montessori, I thought that was amazing. Because I saw little human beings that were far away smarter, I think, than when I was at their same age.

system of education that was used guiding them like cows or like horses when they put... How do you call this thing? Blinders. The blinders? No, it was the contrary. It was... opening their world, not only 360, but almost three-dimensionally, giving them options for them to be their own. owners of their destiny, I will say.

I think that's why my daughters became so highly opinionated. And so, Daddy, thank you for your opinion, but let me tell you, it's something else here. Okay, okay, all right. And I love it. Yeah, I'm not an expert on education or ICU point, but still I'm not going to lie to you, Joe. I wish that in the same time, the same way I told you, I didn't go through proper education. In many ways, I wish I received a slightly more proper education.

I learned business hitting the wall every time. You know, Winston Churchill. They claim he said that success is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm. I had a lot of successes, but they had my share of failures too, like I'm sure everybody does. But what makes the difference between... Picking up the pieces. Picking up the pieces and let's do it again is enthusiasm. That's a great quote. Failure to failure without losing enthusiasm. That's a great quote. You know every phrase.

That is a good phrase and they don't know who did it. Right. Let's give it to Worcester Church. Or Socrates. Yeah, Socrates. There's always a bunch of those. Yeah. But whatever it is, it's accurate. It's definitely accurate. I just think that there's a lot of different roles in life and the problem with traditional school is that they're preparing you for a job.

And I think there's a lot of like very creative people that would be served better if they had a more open-ended education and they were allowed to just pursue their interests. and be excited about certain things, and just get a rudimentary education in other things. That's just my opinion. Because I think there's certain people that just don't fit in.

with a regular nine-to-five life. It's just not for them. Like I said, you can call it ADHD, whatever you want to call it. All my friends, everyone I hang out with, I don't know anybody that's built for regular life. Yeah, on that I feel I'm more in your club. I think the best university is the university of life. Yes. As long as you're really... As long as you're really doing something and really challenging yourself and really applying yourself.

That's, yeah, I agree with you. And, you know, you have to have a lot of, I think the more interest you have, the more things you're fascinated by, the broader your understanding of human beings will be and the better your life. Yeah, and engaging. Yes, engaging. I know lately I've been, you know, taking the taxi ride or the Uber ride. I drive myself sometimes, but I'm realizing, for example, the most fascinating moment is when I go back to use on the subway.

And just talk to people. It's just great. Or see people. People watch. Well, I mean, in your case, everybody will recognize you. In my case, yeah, people may recognize me too, obviously in D.C., New York. And then things happen. you have to engage for all these things of education, as you said, to happen. Because, yeah, it's the only way things happen. I mean... You know, I have this new book. This is another commercial, Change the Recipe, which I'm touring right now.

And I say one of the quotes I give is very important to me. I mean, it's a phrase probably you heard often many times before that. Life starts at the end of your comfort zone. You and I were talking about education. That means that the true education happens at the end of your comfort zone. Right. Because if you are not pushed to the limits.

What it is is what it is, and that's it. You don't need to know anything else. You don't need to learn anything else. You're in a safe space. You're in your cube. You're in your room. Everybody is protecting you, and the system protects you, and you are okay. The only thing, the only moment will become interesting. You go to the edges of that horizon. And you cross that line of the horizon. That's the moment that life gets really...

Yeah, I agree. I think just a lot of people that don't have experience challenging themselves, they get fearful. They get fearful, they anticipate things, they get anxiety, and they just never learned how to challenge. That's the problem. They never walked out on the end of the period. you know so to speak they never they never push themselves and because of that they're terrified of it but just you need like little baby steps do something you've never done before go take a yoga class

Go learn how to speak Spanish. Go do something. Do something different. And then try to do something else different. Try to add a little bit. Don't just go right into, like, doing a triathlon. Like, do something that just makes you a little nervous. and then try to build on that. But do it intentionally. That's my advice. Remember that there's a reason why people sometimes...

So, scare of the world. Because actually, the world is a scary place. It certainly can be. I think the world is a wonderful place. centuries for thousands of years, human. But the world is full of dangers. Yes. Just get lost in a forest. Yeah. Without anybody, without anything, even without a knife. Yeah. And things are going to happen. Yeah. A scuba dive in the waters, in the dark ocean. Dangerous. There are things moving in the water.

Things are complicated. If you are trying to feed yourself, is this mushroom poisonous or not? You know, to be a human... Yeah, I'll get coffee. To be a human for... for centuries for thousands of years was a dangerous place so i'm only saying that this is part of the dna that is part of who we are as humans That we want to be in a place we feel protected. Yeah. And equally we want to protect our loved ones. Yes. So it's just a human...

Natural response through the evolution of humanity for thousands of years. That is true. But also, to the contrary, when you take risks and then you get rewards from those risks, you then start getting very excited about taking risks. You get excited about adventure. You get excited about doing things where you're not certain how it's going to turn out. Like you opening up the new bizarre meets at the Venetian. Who knows?

Who knows? I think it's going to be great. But who knows? Like new things, new challenges. New challenges are exciting. But that's why. Even sometimes we feel we want to be alone in a cave. That's what you were saying before. On the top of a mountain, right before I came in. You were saying that you want to open up a restaurant where only four people can go. You have to get to the top of the mountain. And you have to walk.

20 miles. Yeah. And if you get there and the four seats are taken, you have to wait. You have to camp until next day. That's it. Camp out. Yeah. Yeah, and no bottles of oxygen and all that crap that people that go to the Everest do. Yeah, that's ridiculous. Yeah, I don't get it. I don't get it. Yeah. Big line of people waiting to say, I got to the top. Yeah, I got to the top and they had 10 guys carrying their belongings. Sherpas. The Sherpas and their oxygen bottles.

Actually, if I was any of the countries that controls the access to all those amazing mountains, all the top, the 8K, the Aconcagua, and the Everest, all the big peaks. I would make it mandatory that you have to go on your own. you could argue that okay but then scuba diving you are using air why is

Okay, but I want to be fair. It will be an argument. Jose, you like a scuba dive. You can go down into the ocean and you can bring air, but I'm going to the Everest and I cannot bring air. But I take my bottle with me. I don't litter the bottom of the ocean as I scuba dive. I leave the ocean as I found it. That's the real problem with Everest is the litter and the human waste. Tons, tons of poop.

Just human poop all over the side of this frozen mountain. Yo, they're not going to be holding their poop. I get it. I get it too, but it's kind of crazy. They can't put it on the back, maybe on... They can't even take the body. How many bodies are on the side of Everest? Well, as... How many bodies? How many bodies are on Everest? As climate change, it...

Taking down some of the ice and the snow. Listen, bro, there ain't no climate change up there. That's going to be cold for a long, long, long. I don't know. I've not been. Not yet, but who knows? But some ice is disappearing. Over 30? Over 300 have died. 300 have died. It's a very dangerous thing. Yeah. Even less than this.

Yeah, there's a map where all the bodies are. But I see your point. But this is an interesting tribe that people want to go to the topics. Even myself, I thought about it. Like, do I do that one day? I have all these things I want to do in life, and I want to do check, check. I want to go to Joe Rogan. Will he invite me to his show? Let me send him a text message. Check. Here I am. So maybe one day, maybe one day. I should do it, but I want to do it in a more, like the old days, in a more...

I need to get probably in better shape. I think the first guy that did it died. Something like that. His body's still up there, I believe. The first guy, they think he made it up to the top and his body's on the way down. So they don't know if he actually made it and died on the way down or if he died on the way up and then the second guy made it all the way up. But, yeah, not good. Without oxygen in particular, very difficult to do. So you mentioned about the tribes, right? The tribes.

And before that, we were having the conversation about the world is a dangerous place. It's a dangerous place. That's why we like travel. Yes. Because the world is a dangerous place, so we feel unprotected. by things, by life. Right. But with everything that surrounds us. And that's why then humans, we had to be part of a family, part of a little tribe that then became bigger. Because we cannot all be good at everything. You like your friends, me like my...

I know the things I'm good at, which are not many, but I know the things I'm not good at. In life, at work, whatever. Surround yourself with those people that cover your blind... Surround yourself with friends that cover your blind spots, that make you better in the same way you are going to be making them better. Yes. Where everybody covers each other's weaknesses. Yes. Well, you have to do that in the kitchen.

Ah, he's no other way. Yeah. And everybody has to work hard. I mean, that is one of the most underappreciated, grueling jobs is to be a cook in a kitchen. With 15 other guys and women and everyone's running around. Everyone's got a job. You've got 100 people out there waiting to be served. You're running around making this and that and this and that. Orders are coming in.

This is medium rare, and this is that, and that is this. Well, I think this is the ultimate power. The ultimate power is that power of being able to... That's why for me, I mean, we are all cooks in a way, directly, indirectly. But the power of feeding somebody is the, that's all the power I want. to feed humanity, not physically, but even in a way it's what you do. The people that listen to you, you're feeding them. You're feeding their soul.

Yeah, you're serving people. But you're feeding food, but we are all feeding each other. We're feeding each other with hope. We're hitting each other with respect, with dignity, with love. Right. With food. Yes. But it's about feeding. Yeah. I'm going to feed you. Yes. And I know you're going to feed me back. Yeah. So in a way, restaurants for me, I love that my culinary profession. I agree with you. It's a hard one. You know, it has come a long way. It has come a long way.

I'm talking about, you know, 30, 40 years ago, even in Spain, it depends where you live, if you told your family you wanted to be a cook. It was not a profession that was seen as, wow. Why? You're not going to be a doctor? You're not going to be an architect? They're like, what? I have no family member that went to university. I have uncles that went, but my father and my mother didn't. They were nurses, but now my profession, this profession, has become a profession that...

has become very dignified. And it's more than being a chef and a cook. It's the restaurant business, but offshore is a very difficult business. When do you think that changed and why did it change? Well, nothing happens. Listen, I just had these. documentary on the last season of Chef Table on Netflix where I am one of the four chefs that on this season They've done a documentary, and they've done a documentary of my teams and myself, culinary.

You're going to see Minibar, my top restaurant, Two Star Michelin, Bazaar, everything else. But you're going to see me telling stories about me cooking with my mom and my dad. Sorry. My God, I haven't had a cigar yet. But... My profession, slowly but surely, because everybody...

I always talk about longer tables. But this goes almost to the beginning. A moment that was very important in my life, talking about cooks and chefs and restaurants and food people and... is that the first time I became a dad, My daughter, who is 26 years old now, Carlota. An amazing young human being. In the moment she came out into the world as a father, that I began having tears. That's another moment you realize.

There's always so much pressure on everybody. I feel as a young man, I always had a lot of pressure to be the man everybody was expecting you to be. And sometimes you felt like nothing ever came within structure. Not you. You had to. You know, I have to be a boyfriend. Okay, well, what does that entail? What do I do? Is it a manual? What is the right? Then you get married, and okay. My husband, I'm going to fall short. What being a husband is, is I need to be obviously a friend.

and a provider but my wife was working too so and actually it was without the job and she was the one bringing the money in they fired me from my same restaurant like three times a restaurant i've always been part of but technically i was even fired You got fired three times? Well, two technically, and the third almost I fired myself. What was going on? Rightfully so. Because I was too young to be a chef of a restaurant. And I'm a creative guy, you know, the guy that...

needs to run numbers and do food calls and inventory. And I was concentrated in... Can we make the best food we can and new dishes? And the restaurant needed more numbers and food costs and labor and scheduling. Like, what? I'm a cook. I'm not a chef. I'm a cook. I want to cook. I don't want to be running numbers. So that's why. But anyway, life comes without instructions. And you always start looking around. It's like, so my daughter born.

And it's like, okay, where are the instructions? I'm barely aware of how to become a young boy and be part of it. Now I'm a husband. Now I'm a father. I'm still learning about everything. And nothing comes with instructions. But one thing I realized was one, the lessons of life. That moment that I had these amazing tears of joy, of happiness, of, wow, I'm a father. I was part. Or at least I did my little tiny part. I don't know if I did 1% and my wife did 99% for obvious reasons. They carry it.

for nine months, and they take the burden of... They actually make it. They actually make it, but we do our little thing, right? Our little thing that we put in there is permatocyte, but just for the record. We contribute the ingredients. Correct. We do all the cooking. Correct. But that young girl comes to the wall. And the moment I realized the power of food, It's when my wife gets the baby and brings her to her, first time she's feeling it.

And I realized there the amazing power of food. Because the first gift we received... in the form of a tangible that sends a message of, I'm going to take care of you. I'm going to love you. Is through mother's milk? And if our mother cannot feed us, that's mother. It'll be our dad with baby formula, or it'll be the nurse, or it'll be the grandma. But that moment that we are brought in somebody's arms, and we are fed.

Our connection with food forever. That's the moment that we are all connected. Yes. To food in ways we cannot escape for obvious reasons. But that only tells a little part of the entire deep, profound story of the connection that humans have with food. And that's why then being a cook, yes, is one of the most fascinating professions. Because in a way, we are only the ones that we keep the legacy. of the mothers feeding humanity on that first mother's milk that sets the ground rule.

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It's not like music that you can listen to over and over again or comedy or a movie or literature. We don't think of it as an art form. I didn't realize it was an art form until I started watching Anthony Bourdain's show. No Reservations, the original one on the Travel Channel. And then from being like really a big fan of that show, I realized like, oh, this is art.

and because of his narration his narration was so brilliant because he wrote all the all the descriptions of the cultures that he would visit and the people and the descriptions of the ship you could tell it was all in his language it was in his is his mind and he Wrote it all out. He didn't have writers and script writers. He wrote all the narratives and I think Then I realized through his passion for food and his passion for cooking and his deep appreciation for other chefs.

It wasn't about him. And he was always very self-deprecating to his own abilities to cook. It was about other people and how amazing these people were and how he loved to go and visit them. And sometimes it was someone's mother that would be just cooking Sunday sauce. you know some italian mother and he would have someone translate what she was saying he would ask questions it's like

Then I realized, like, oh, this is an art form. And I never considered it was an art form until I was a grown man, and I was a little embarrassed by that. It was like, oh, that's a blind spot. Like, food is not just delicious. It's a form of art. There's something to it. It's just an unheralded art form because everybody needs it, and it's not always art. Twinkies aren't art, but it's food. It's calories. You need to consume it to stay alive. You need food.

So you don't think of it, but when it's done with passion and when it's done... in this creative way, it's like you talk about it forever. It's amazing. It's like going to see an incredible concert or it's like going to see a movie that just rocks your world. It's the same thing. It's just someone expressing themselves through a medium, and that medium is food. And it's the medium, the one medium that we all consume. Everyone consumes that.

When I talk to people and they say, I don't really care about food. It's just fuel for me. I'm like, well, you're. It looks like you're missing out on life. You're missing out on a giant chunk of life, which is delicious food and delicious food that you enjoy with others, which is also a part of food. Enjoying delicious food by yourself is not nearly as fun.

as enjoying delicious food with other people. There's something communal about it, which goes back to our tribal ancestors sitting around the campfire enjoying something that we cook. And our mother feeding us for the first time. Yes. I miss Tony. Yeah, me too. Me too. I miss Tony. You know, I did... You know, we did a few shows together. He'll always invite me. Eric Rippert, he did many shows with him.

And we spend a lot of time together, especially Januaries. We'll gather in the Cayman Islands. We did that for 15 years, for one week, every January. Oh, really? Why the Cayman Islands? Because Eric has a hotel there, a restaurant. Eric repaired... The nicest, talented chef, Le Bernardin, restaurant of restaurants. And Eric, Tony, and myself, we call ourselves the three amigos. And we'll spend time together smoking a cigar, doing nothing, walking on the beach, scuba diving. So when...

When I need... When Tony... I decided to move to his next station life and left us. I was in Guatemala. I was actually with World Central Kitchen. It was a big volcano there, Volcano Fuego. And it broke my heart. I remember speaking to Eric that day. And just what happened was that less than a month before I was with him. in North Spain, Asturias, where I was born, shooting. uh what it became his last show and and and for me obviously

That was a hard moment because it's not like I lost a friend in a very selfish way, an Eric. I know so many hundreds of thousands, millions around the world lost. a person that In so many ways, he's probably listening to us, Joe. In so many ways, when I listen to you, you sound like him. Tony speaks like Tony, and Joe speaks like Joe. But in a way, you are like soulmates. And Tony always had those words of wisdom. He always will be the voice of the boys.

He didn't mind to speak his mind. He was a very straightforward shooter. He didn't try to piss anybody off. Only he wanted to be Tony. Respectful, but Tony. And because that forever we will miss Tony. Even I think he never left. He's here. He's in so many parts of all of us. Because his way of telling stories, he waits to listen to the people telling those stories. And him becoming the medium.

of making sure that we will learn that the world was a beautiful place. I remember the story he did about Iran. He went to Iran. Like, sometimes you think about Iran, and if you read the news, it looks like the people of Iran, they are... And you see the show, and you're like... Man, Iranian people are great people. Yeah. Blame the leader, maybe, or the leaders, but the Iranian people, they're good people.

They're like you and like me. Maybe look different. Maybe they have a different language. And obviously we know a lot of Iranians who are here in America. And they're wonderful people. So he showed what he did. The legacy of Tony is that he shows us that the world is not such a scary place. that it's okay to open yourself to the world. What we were talking before about people that they get into their cocoon and they don't want to move beyond their comfort zone.

Tony showed us that the people that are not like us They're actually okay. They're just different people that are going to expand our horizons and our thoughts about life. That was Tony. And he did it through food. And he did it through his amazing, amazing poetry. Yeah. Yeah, that's perfectly said. It took a long time for me to be able to watch his show. I love the painting you have in the entrance. Yeah. What a... I didn't cry because lately...

I've been trying to hold my tears now because I feel a man should not cry. I'm a guy that cries easily. And I love it. But when I saw it, first thing, I come out of the, I open the door and there is this beautiful big portrait of Tony and I'm like, okay, I have a feeling I'm home. Yeah. i've got a couple i've got another one i'll show you that i have that's in another part of the studio i got a lot of art in the studio luckily it's nice i love art i just love being around people's express

I just love things that people make. If there's anything that I couldn't live without. I need to be around people's creations. It's very important to me. I like seeing it. I like it to be all over the walls. I like it to be everywhere. When I found out he was gone because my friend Maynard, he's the lead singer of Tool, and Tony had really gotten into jiu-jitsu.

And that's how one of the ways I was friends with him before that. But that's one of the ways that Tony and I got closer is that, you know, he knew I was a black. And so he would ask me questions. And when we were doing the show together, it was really funny. When I did one episode of No Reservation, we went pheasant hunting in Montana. And part of the day, he's asking me how to finish Darce chokes. So he and I are on the ground, on the dirt.

I'm saying now when you're in this position, like I'm showing him how to strangle people in the dirt.

so we're like wearing hunting clothes and boots and everything like that and i'm like no no this way and then trap the head here and turn it like this so we're like i'm like now do it to me do it to me like we're working with each other like on the ground and he's like fascinated by this martial art and i thought it was wonderful because like he's this sensitive creative poetic guy but he found the beauty in jujitsu which is like

To the outside person who's the uninformed, it looks like this brutal caveman activity, but it's not. It's a very complicated, intelligent... creative martial art and he was obsessed with it and he didn't start doing it until he was 58 years old which is kind of crazy but he really got obsessed with it

Entered into tournaments, age-appropriate tournaments, and did really well. And so I was training every day, sometimes twice a day. Like, I was taking private lessons and, like, really got obsessed with it. I can tell you that because when we were shooting in Asturias and a few other places, Cayman Islands. One of the things he always did is finding out...

Where was the local Jiu-Jitsu hanging place? And it's very funny. In Oviedo, it was a place and he would go there. And for one, two hours, he would be fighting against local guys. So it was fascinating to see how even on weeks that he was supposed to be concentrated on shooting, he always found time. Yeah. To do what he love. So Maynard got his black belt recently. And Maynard was also like very into jujitsu. And he was joking around like maybe one day he and Tony would have a celebrity.

So I'm in Chicago. I'm doing shows in Chicago. And I get a text message from Maynard and says, so much for that celebrity jujitsu. and so i'm like i don't even know what that means that was the moment and then i google and i i have this feeling and then i just the news and then it all hits me i'm like oh There's moments when people take their own life where the worst feeling is, I feel like if I was there I could. That's the feeling, eh? You know, the feeling like he just was alone.

You know, sometimes you just, you know, you're not alone and you're going to be okay. Like, whatever you think is going to be the worst thing that's happening here, it's not. You're loved. You're loved. You're an amazing person. There's so much more to see. You don't want to leave these people behind. You don't want to hurt.

You don't want to hurt these people in your life. You don't want to hurt your family. You don't want to hurt your daughter. You don't want to hurt your wife. Don't do it. I know it feels impossible, but it's because you're alone. I don't know. Maybe I wouldn't have been able to do anything. Maybe I'm wrong. But there's that haunting feeling that you... I could have talked...

That feeling fucking sucks. That feeling of, if I could have, if I was there with him, I think we could have had some laughs. we could have joked around about some stuff and we would have been okay That's, you know. I bet you feel the same way, right? And I think that's something I didn't close yet. Obviously, I'm not going to talk on behalf of Harry.

but Eric was so strong and Eric obviously was shooting with him in France when that happened and and actually is the one that found him his room and and I understand that feeling because I'm still going through it and it's okay to feel responsible because that means you care for those people But the message here is that we all need to be checking always on each other. Yeah. That's what friends are for. Obviously for the... Celebration of your team winning the NBA or...

or having a beer or the birthday or a party or celebrating life or playing darts or just having beers with no plan. What are you doing today? I'm having a beer. I'm joining you. Great. That's great. The celebrations, that's what we're here for. But the true moments of friendship, obviously, are those moments that even you show up when you're not invited. Because you feel...

You feel something maybe is off. And it's okay to knock on the door. It's okay to pick up the phone. It's okay to maybe get on a plane. It's okay. And obviously, I guess, like you now, Joe, that I'm learning about and gives me joy to see that here another person that really loved her. and Eric, and myself, and so many others around the beautiful life of Tony. That we wish we were there, right? Yeah. So I think, if anything, that's the...

I don't think it's a lesson. It's only let's always be there for each other. Yeah. Let's always be there for each other. And let's all be, even if, especially when we disagree about anything. Yeah. Let's be kinder to each other even on the disagreements. Yeah. of the people you know and of the people you don't know.

Right. Because we are all more connected than we think. And what we say and our opinions, they may be touching and affecting somebody else. Somebody else we know, somebody we don't know. So that's okay to celebrate the good times and agree all the time when we can. But there'll be moments that you don't or... Moments of sadness, moments of hate. Just be kinder even in those moments of disagreement. If anything, that's the lesson I always take.

Because you don't know what anybody may be going through. Right. You don't know what anybody may be going through. Another lesson that I've taken with me is that any conflict that I've ever had with a person Even if I was correct, even if I was right in being angry, even if I was right in the mean things that I said, I never felt right.

But every good interaction that I've ever had, where maybe me and a person disagreed, but we came out of it smiling and hugging, and we found common ground, then I feel great. Always. Always feel great. There's going to be people that you run into in life that are stubborn and they don't want to avoid conflict. They want that conflict. They feed off of it. They're stupid. Not even stupid. They're on a bad path. They're on a bad – they have a bad program.

Whatever the patterns of behavior that are ingrained in their consciousness, they're unforgiving and they're, you know, they have this way of living their life and it's not a... And, you know, you can't fix everybody. So you just got to, when you encounter those people, you have to be able to filter people out of your life. You have to know, like, some people you can't interact with. But the people that you can... Try to not have conflict. I don't want any conflict.

I'm good at it. I know how to do content. I literally do it professionally. Sure, you can break the neck of anybody. But, I mean, even verbal conflict. I'm not interested in it. I'm not interested in physical conflict, and I'm not interested in verbal conflict. It's not what I like out of life. What I like out of life is fun and joy and being around interesting people and challenges and doing difficult things and creative things and learning.

learning about myself learning about other people learning about life Conflict is just a distraction from your own personal demons for the most part. It's a lot of what it is. When you're angry at other people, a lot of times you're really distracting yourself from the things you don't like about yourself. It's a flaw. And I try to filter it out as much as possible in my life. Yeah, I'm trying to become the best version of myself on that. It's the second most important word we can always use.

In our vocabulary, the second most important one is thank you. But the most important one is sorry. Yeah. Because thank you, people have a hard time saying thank you. Me, I try to use the word thank you. as much as it can. But because God knows I'm an imperfect man, the word sorry is the one I also try to use as quick as I can. Yeah, and mean. I mean it. Yeah, that's the thing. Don't say sorry because you want someone to not be mad at you. Say sorry because...

And you are doing your best to change your effort or your behavior or the way you... you raise your voice or you yeah but thank you is important second most important most important is sorry yeah because it takes also it takes humility to say sorry a lot of people will never say sorry It's terrible to walk through life with no humility. It's just so stupid. There's such a silly way to go through life with no humility. Like, why? Life is such a beautiful place.

especially when you are in, obviously in cities you can see how beautiful life is, but when you are in a tour and you're seeing the sunrise, Or you're seeing the sunset or you're seeing the moon. and you see how little you are yeah how insignificant you are but at the same time how god gave us this power to be of this amazing universe we are part of. And then you are thankful there because you are like, oh my God, I am part of something so beautiful.

And we all occupy a space in that universe. And the space we occupy should be to... Don't make it worse. If anything... Leave it as it is. And if you can, do whatever you can use to make a little bit better. And that's our destiny in this universe. You only need to don't fuck it up. Just don't fuck it up. And if you can do a little bit more, even better. Me, when I am in those places, like I go to the south of Spain and my wife is from there, Cadiz.

is where I did my military service in the Spanish Navy. And it's one moment not too far away from Gibraltar, the little possession that England has there in the south of Spain. that maybe one day England gives it back to Spain, there is a place that almost you can touch Africa. You feel like you can, with your finger, touch Africa in the straight of Gibraltar. And it's just like even a movie cannot recreate.

The amazing place you are with birds and the oceans, the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean, and two continents that want to love each other, but they are separate. But that body of water, they are, I look. And I began circling my head in 360 degrees and I'm like, oh my God, what a beautiful planet we live in. Let's not fuck it up. What a beautiful universe. One time when my oldest daughter was very young.

We went to Hawaii. We went to the Big Island. And just on a lark, just for fun, we went to the top of the observatory. Is it Mauna Kea? The Keck Observatory, whatever mountain. And we were driving up there and they said, well, if it's a cloudy night, it's terrible. You can't see anything. But maybe you'll get lucky and there'll be some stars. You'll be able to see the stars. So we're driving. And as we're driving, I was telling my wife.

look at all the clouds this sucks we're gonna get up there and then we drive even further it's a long drive it's like a 90 minute drive As we got further, we drove through the clouds. And the crowds were below us because it's very high. And the stars were magnificent. You saw the whole Milky Way and the entire sky was filled with stars. There's no light pollution because the Big Island has diffused lighting.

And they have specific lighting just because of the observatory that doesn't give light pollution so you can see all the stars from up there. And I remember that day like it is yesterday. Every day, I think, every time I see the stars, I'm like, we're so fucked by cities because we can't see what this really looks like. That's what it looks like. That's what it looked like at night. And I remember thinking, why don't we see that every day? The universe is so fascinating.

put you in your place oh my god like you are in a convertible spaceship and you're hurling through the galaxy and the only thing that's protecting you from everything else is a layer of gas layer of gas that surrounds this beautiful planet Of course it's life in one of those star systems. Oh, 100%. It's more than in one. Oh, yeah. I think we're just little babies, and they're not ready to let us know yet.

That's what I think. I'm sure they're trying. Some of them, I think. They're trying to contact others like we are. I think some of them have been here. I had a guy on yesterday. His name is Hal Puthoff. He's a physicist that's been working. with the government, with this stuff forever. He said they have 10 retrieved crafts that are of non-human intelligence. 10 that the United States is in position.

And he said, during the Bush administration, during George Bush's administration, they were contemplating disclosure to the American people. And they wanted to get all these physicists and scientists and psychologists. to make a list of things that would be negatively impacted by disclosure and things that would be positively impacted by disclosure and give them a numerical value, like a 0 to 10 value.

And when they calculated it all up at the end of the day, the cons outweighed the pros and they decided not to disclose. So during the Bush administration, during George Bush's administration, during 9-11, during that time, that time. They were contemplating, this is 2004, they were contemplating having disclosure and releasing to people the fact that we are in possession of non-human intelligent crap.

They have recovered biological entities, meaning beings from another planet that are preserved, that we have, and that non-human crafts are visiting this planet. Or might not even be visiting. They might actually be here. They might have bases in the ocean. They might have bases somewhere in the mountains. But that this is a real... So he started working on this in 2004. you know 100 convinced that we're not alone there's been movies about it this is uh some 51 area 51 area 51 listen

Nothing will give me more joy. As a young boy, I always thought, man, could I be the guy that finds E.T.? it wouldn't be cool yeah um and especially it seems it's a good Alienist piece that is an alienist piece of goodness. Hopefully. Imagine it's a science fiction movie and planets like us is part of... Yeah, let's say they're here. And let's say that all the... you know, junk food and extra calories and the obesity pandemic is actually something like this alien civilization has orchestrated.

And so as we become fatter, they're going to be able to recollect more protein to take back to their planets. Okay, that can be great. Next big movie and then we'll eat seeds and they'll take it with us and they'll put us in the planet and at our stomachs we'll have potatoes in their fields. I don't know. But I only will say that if that already happened and the government, the U.S. government, number one,

Seems everything only happens in America. All the great movies of the world, everything happens in America. All the science fiction movies. That's why I wanted to come to America because, man, the aliens never visit Spain. It's always America. Everything cool always happens in America. And that's, I guess, where I wanted to come. But I will say that if already something like that happened and we've not invaded again, means that...

That they're good aliens, let's hope. But I will say that at this moment, our government will be already sharing with us. that will forever change the present and the future of humanity. You think they would already share it? Why not? No, I'll tell you why not, because he explained it to me yesterday. There's a bunch of problems. One of the problems is... Studying this stuff, back engineering crafts, all that stuff takes money.

And the way they get that money is by lying. They lie to Congress. So they misappropriate funds. So they lie about where money is going, which puts people in jail. So in order for them to tell the truth, they have to open themselves up.

serious criminal prosecution like you you're you're in deep trouble you've misappropriated funds you've lied to Congress and there's probably some fraud involved in that too as soon as you get a bunch of people that can lie to Congress who knows where all the money's moving around and then there's also the fact that

The way you work on these crafts, you have to use defense contractors because they're the ones who make jets. They're the ones who make spaceships. Like you can't do it on your own. You have to bring in these scientists. you have to bring in private industry. So when you bring in private industry, now you have the United States government, the intelligence agencies embedded in private industry, and then their competitors suffer. So if the competitors go under...

then the competitors could sue, hey, you gave, you know, whatever, Raytheon. You gave Raytheon this. special generator that you've back engineered from some flying saucer. Why didn't you give it to General Electric? Why didn't you give it to this company or that company? It's all Lockheed Martin. There's too many problems in terms of legal ramifications, prosecutions. People are going to lose their careers. They're going to be brought in front of Congress. They're going to have to testify.

The only way that you're going to really have disclosure at this point is Amnesty. The government is going to have to say, listen, let's let the past be the past. No one's going to get in trouble. But for the greater good of humanity, we need to know what the fuck is going on. So tell. And that's a tough one. So you mentioned about aliens living in the ocean. That's Atlantis.

Well, it's not Atlantis. But technically it's Atlantis, which is a city under the water. No, Atlantis was a city above. Correct, but technically somewhere submerged. And still they're looking for Atlantis? Well, they think they found Atlantis. The pyramids and some of the drawings and paintings. I mean, we can go to Peru with the Incas and we can go with the Mayas to Guatemala. And it's a lot of people that...

Always they've been trying to make connections of things they found that they say already we made contact in previous civilizations of planet Earth. But I have a hard time believing that this has already happened. And I respect the opinion of obviously who looks, seems he's an expert and has spent a lot of time. And I see that you believe in it. The side of me that is the boy that will want to believe. that there are other planets with people and we are not alone, I will be full of joy.

Hopefully. I hope that if there are good people and that happens, that you and I and everybody else around the world, maybe that's the moment that the world becomes one. And all of a sudden, we are all fighting. You remember what was the movie? Independence Day. If they are the bad guys, you and I, you will be doing jujitsu against an alien species. And me, I will be with two pants, I don't know, crushing their heads. But let's hope that they are more like itty.

I know like alien. Well, I would imagine if you look at the trajectory of human life on this planet. The world is safer than it's ever been. People are smarter than they've ever been. People are more aware. We have more access to information. And generally, generally, people are kind. and less tolerant of evil than they have ever been before. There's still problems with just the tribal nature of human beings where, you know, we're territorial apes. I mean, that's what we are.

But I would imagine that if they are so sophisticated that they're capable of traversing solar systems, traversing galaxies and reaching us, they'd be on. If they weren't and they have reached us, they could have. By now, we could destroy ourselves a thousand. So for we, with our inability to go to other galaxies, we could destroy ourselves. So for sure, they could destroy us. I don't think that's what they're interested in. I think...

We are an emerging civilization in the galactic sense. And I think that if you look at... primitive man and you look at primitive primates and you look at current human beings and our technological achievements and all of our medical achievements and our ability to feed enormous groups of people and our concern about the environment and all the things that make us so special as human beings, I would imagine that that would be even more advanced.

with these species i think that's the only way they're visiting us obviously yeah i don't think you know that way yeah you don't know the way you don't get to us if you're still tribal territorial apes technically they say that even if we are able to achieve a speedlight, that our human body itself... will not be able. Right. Whatever that means. But now we see that we can be sending our conscience in other ways without our physical body. This could be happening one day.

Me, what I know, the thing I'm interested in is... The first restaurant in the moon or the first restaurant in Mars? And I will be there just cooking for the first people arriving. I've done my little part. Many chefs, many chefs, many, you know, they've done, thanks to NASA, their work. they put their mark on food that has been sent to the space station. I did it in 2016, 2017. My dream was to send paella, the Spanish rice dish.

to the space station. You sent it to the space station? I was able to partner with a company called Axiom, A-X-I-O-M, which is one of the companies helping provide services to NASA. to bring astronauts, and they will do it also with civilians to the space station, and was a Spanish astronaut, a Spanish-American astronaut, called López Alegria.

And he's like, Jose, in action, we will be interested if you want to do a dish because we are going to be feeding all the astronauts in one of our first trips. And if you are up to it. I say, yeah, what do I have to sign? And we send Iberico ham. We send paella valenciana. We send a pork dish with pisto, which is like a ratatouille, a Spanish ratatouille. i did it that's amazing but you know the thing i did which is the coolest what because all of that brings

new things and new opportunities. So it's this guy called Jim Sears, an amazing engineer, a guy that is crazy for space like you, like me, like so many. And like everything, there is a competition, and the competition is about, right now, astronauts receive the food already cooked. Come in those pouches. semi-purese liquids that they pour into their mouth. And certain things are okay. The rice we did, I thought, was very good. Even we had a little leech.

We tried to make the paella by the book, and the paella at the end was a little bit too dry, as a traditional paella is, meaning... The grains of rice are fairly loose and separated, one from each other, which on earth is a sign of a good paella. But in the space, if you open the pouch, all of a sudden you start having all those... rice flooring in the station.

And there is the moment you want chopsticks. Oh, my God. I was on the edge of collapsing the space station by Zendenpaya. But what I've been working on with this guy I mentioned, Jim Sears, is that he came up with a kitchen that will be... the kitchen and he won a competition. The kitchen that astronauts could use one day, hopefully soon enough. Save it. And that Jim, amazing guy. Jim Sears. And it's two prototypes of this machine. He gave us the prototype.

Has been working on them. Wow. Charisse. Macaroni and cheese. They can cook that in space? That's Charisse. Look, that's a cornbread. That's a comrade. And I want you to take a look because this is how food will look in a space. If one day we have a kitchen in the surface of the moon or in Mars, that's a brownie. And if you are, Elon Musk, if you're listening to this conversation. Space food will look like this kind of...

circle, this circumference, because that machine, what it does is centrifuge, like G-forces can go up to G-14. That's a lot of Gs. And the reason is... that we will send ingredients, but the ingredients will float. If you don't achieve the centrifuge that will move the ingredients to the sides of this kind of kitchen where you don't cook in the bottom, but you cook on the sides, you will not be able to cook. Zero gravity cooking.

That gravity, that G forces to bring the food to the edges. Then you can do mac and cheese, brownies. And this will be great because especially if one day we go to Mars. Astronauts are going to have to be doing something to keep their minds. And one of the things will be cooking. Why not? And better quality cooking. This amazing guy, Mr. Sears.

is the guy that just came up with the kitchen. And I feel like I'm Forrest Gump in a chef heart. Then you get the opportunities to get something like a kitchen that one day could be the kitchen that will fit. humans in a space. And that would be so great for morale too, because instead of eating goop out of a tube, you're eating delicious food. So you can enjoy a real meal in space. What a genius idea to cook in a centrifuge.

To spin it around so that it has gravity. It's only an early option. You'll have like my rice floating in this. Floating everywhere. And they're like, excuse me, hey, hey, chicken leg, come back here. Hello? Hello? Oh, the fish is going away. Red Snapper, come back to me, baby. Yeah, you got it. But that's cool.

So, yeah, listen to me. I love science fiction, comics about science fiction. Oh, my God. I have a big collection of comics, of manga, and it has to do with food even more, but about the space even more. And yeah, one day I hope, yeah, we'll meet aliens and they'll be good people. And we'll be great people.

We will not charge them any tariffs so we can do good commerce. And maybe they will bring a different species of animals to increase our diet. Well, I would imagine. Let's hope it's that, okay? Let's hope it's that and it's not, as I said. that they are waiting for planet Earth to be 10, 20 billion people, all of us obese. That's why the best way... People of America, the best way to fight against an alien invasion of planet Earth is that we all stay fit. We don't get overweight and we are lean.

A lot of muscle, not a lot of fat. Because that day, that alien civilization will learn that we are not, we are not a harvest worth having. Because we're too lean and they cannot feed their own planets. Well, I don't think that's a good strategy because I think some of the most delicious food is wild game and wild game is very lean.

Okay. I think it's a terrible strategy. I think what we really— You're right. Our real hope is that they've moved beyond that. I think our real hope is that they've moved beyond commerce. That's the real hope. I mean, everybody's all— Look, I'm not saying communism is good because it's terrible. Communism doesn't work with human beings because we're not prepared for... But I do think that if we evolve past these primate instincts that we have and we genuinely...

develop some sort of a sense of real intimacy and community with everybody on Earth. We would share resources. Yes. And our real fascination would be in contributing to whether it's contributing to knowledge, contributing to art, contributing to whatever it is. Instead of constant competition, our competition would be with ourselves to make better things and to do better and to achieve better. But that's going to have to come with, we're going to have to evolve past.

I think human beings are slowly but surely doing that. And when you have like well-minded people who want to embrace... and socialism, I think that's really the heart of it. It's like, well, it's a good idea at a bad time. We're not prepared for that as human beings. But I think if we get to a point where we could all read each other's minds, which I think is on the horizon, we get to a point where information is in.

We get to a point where how do you have money? If money is ones and zeros and then there's no such thing as encryption anymore because you have quantum computing. And so you can't just keep money. We're going to have to develop a way as we advance as a society, as a species. to share resources, to share resources in a genuinely equitable way. It's beyond our comprehension now as territorial apes, but I think that's the future of the human speech.

is that one day we reach this peak where we realize that our true competition is within ourselves, within our own minds, and to do the best that we can for the overall greater good of the species, and then hopefully the greater good of the universe. Building longer tables. Building longer tables. What is good for you is good for me. Yes. Take a look at India and Pakistan right now. Right now, it's many issues. Religion. territory, but one of them is water.

Resources. Resources. Yeah. Which is really everybody. the world's resources. And what do we do to make sure that, as you said, what is good for me might be good for you. What we have to do is stop making the same mistakes over and over and over again. conflict brings it back to conflict and war and you know and people leading groups of people that don't understand

And forcing them to do things that are horrific. Do you think if more women will be in power? No. Will be less war? No, no. That's not going to do it. I mean, it's a great idea, but you're... They turn into tyrants too. It's human beings. Human beings should not have power over large groups of human beings because power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely and almost always. That's why there's so many checks and balances in our system of government.

To try to mitigate the impact of human psychology when they achieve great power over everyone else. Because people just become tyrants. And I think that is the hurdle. That's the hurdle to becoming a part of the galactic civilization. The hurdle is we have to get past that. We have to evolve. And my suspicion is that somehow technology plays a part.

And the interconnectivity that we're achieving through technology is going to advance our ability to understand each other. And it's going to advance our ability to communicate. And it's going to force us to come up with some sort of a new way. Obviously, the biggest resource for me is food and water. But then we have everything else. That's the one thing you absolutely need for survival. You need fossil fuels because of the way society is in.

That's why you need fossil fuels, because we've gone in. You know, this is the real suspicion about ancient civilizations is that they figured out a way, a different way to achieve great. They did like the civilization, like ancient Egypt. To this day, we have no idea how they did that. How did they... How did they do it? How did they do it at the very least 4,500 years ago? Many people suspect that's far older than that.

I think civilization has been around a long, long time, and I think there's been catastrophes, and there's a lot of physical evidence that point to those.

But the idea is that at one point in time – so our technology has evolved at a very specific – Our technology has been the industrial revolution, the invention of the internal combustion engine, electronics, and all these things have led us to this incredible level of sophistication that we enjoy now that's so much different than people that live just 200, 300.

My suspicion is that the people of Egypt, the people of Turkey, there's a lot of other places in the world, they achieved very similar levels of sophistication with completely different methods that are lost, that are lost in history. We know for a fact that there was an immense...

catastrophe. This is the catastrophe that's written in the Bible. This is the Epic of Gilgamesh. This is Noah's Ark. This is so many cultures share these stories of a great civilization that was wiped out by a great... And science now believes that that is the younger drive. The Younger Dry's impact theory is this theory that we were hit by comets somewhere around 11,800 years ago, and it essentially wiped civilization out, brought us back to base.

tribal hunter-gatherer people again and then we reinvented civilization 6,000 years. Food was wiped out? No, food was here. Food's always been here. We've always needed food. But if you get hit by comment. And there's been much recent events on volcanoes. Sure. Covering very much the high parts of our atmosphere. Oh, yeah. And that then we had very bad harvest because there was not enough sun to produce enough food.

And those were very dark moments for humanity. One of my big worries is precisely that. Yes. That right now we live in a moment that, yes, we have wars, we have conflict. But still, I believe we live in a great moment of humanity that is full of opportunities. If we have the right leaders that want to bring the best angels within all of us and not just to rely on cheap politics of bringing the worst demons.

Not making each other fight each other, but making each other respect and love each other, even when we disagree. And that's why for me, food... is the ultimate uniter. Yes. Because especially in emergencies, I've seen that in the worst moments of him, the best of humanity shows up. Yeah, you're right. It's true. Because as we mentioned at the beginning,

lovely mother-feeding moment that unites you. Food is the best way to tell somebody, I love you, I'm here with you. I'm going to respect you and I'm not going to let you alone. Yeah. And this is why for me going to emergencies through my lifetime, in the last 15 years especially, is the moment I've been seeing this moment of light, of hope. I'm saying in these worst moments of humanity,

is so much love. Where there is no religion, no color, no political party, it's only people helping people. That tells me that food is this thing that... People in a table can have a conversation about more meaningful things and then gets deeper than that. Yeah. Gets deeper on. Food, I said before, I think is the biggest power anybody can have. What's the one thing we all need? The power of feeding others.

And I think we're taking this power for granted. Governments are being cocky. I think we feel like it's enough food to feed planet Earth. And you mentioned before about this. How do you say it in English? Cataclysmic? Cataclysmic, yeah. Moments? Yeah. Let's say for a second, because I've been there. that the perfect storm happens you know you know how much food we have more or less on planet earth to feed the eight plus billion people we are

90 days, let's say it's 120. It's no more. It's no more. 120, let's say. It'll be different people. I would like to know the number because I think that's very important for national security. But I've seen in the first year... In the same year, I've seen back-to-back Category 5 hurricanes. here in Central America, big food producer. parts of the United States with big food production, the Caribbean. I've seen typhoons in Asia at the same time hitting very big foot.

production areas at the same time droughts in south america at the same time that we had hurricanes with a lot of water in central america droughts in asia wiping out rice production at the same time Three, four countries in Africa. with a couple of insects wiping out the entire harvest of that year. Wars like Ukraine. Ukraine, the grain they export feeds close to 500 million people a year. And a few other things I'm forgetting. Put everything together in the shaker.

We go from we have enough food to feed humanity, but the problem is that we are not good enough in making sure that the voiceless and the very poor get their share of food. to one day the newspapers of the world will say, today we don't have enough food to feed.

obviously i want to think about the happy moments about my restaurants and all the restaurants of the world full the supermarkets full and everybody eating and every mother and father being able to bring a plate of food to their children in america and in every country When everybody has food on the table, the place is a more peaceful place.

And a happy place. And a hopeful place. But I'm worried that day that may be happening and that's no science fiction. No, it's not science fiction. That one day we wake up. Remember America, the richest country in the history of humanity. with the most talent in the history of humanity. American talent and talent that came from overseas. Wow. Looking at the stars and dreaming about going to the moon and Mars and who knows what else.

You know, I'm just worried we are taking food for granted in the way that not too long ago America ran a baby formula for baby. The United States of America had no baby formula for every American family to provide baby formula to them. And that seems, ah, it's a little thing. But it was an issue. It became an issue. And we could read it in the press, but this was real. Families with money, no problem. We could get it. Somebody will bring it from overseas.

But poor families, they were having a hard time finding that baby formula. That only tells me that we take food for granted. And that's why I've been always asking that we need to have a national food security advisor near the year. of the President of the United States near the President of every country to make sure that food is not an afterthought. But food is something we give it more importance. Well, I think we have a real hard time imagining things going.

when things aren't going badly. When things aren't going badly, like right now, we concentrate on getting more. I want more stuff. I want more this. I want more that. I want to get better. I want to make more money. I want to be more famous. I want to be more popular. Whatever it is.

But all it takes is one super volcano. All these things that you're saying, these are all possible. War, famine, disease, pestilence, all that stuff is possible. But you know what else? One super volcano. Yellowstone. Yellowstone blows every six to 800,000 years, and it's a continent.

If it goes, the whole world's fucked. We have nuclear winter for decades. Like, who knows how long it lasts with the dust in the sky and there's going to be no crops. And people are just going to starve to death. There's no ifs, ands, or buts about it. If it blows, most of us here are dead. Most of us and most of us like there's a there was a super volcano the Toba volcano in I believe it was 70,000 years ago they think brought humanity down to a few thousand

And that could happen again. But it's very difficult for us to think that way. It's very difficult for us to imagine. How things could be bad. That mean, people, that if you have a good bottle of wine that is very expensive and you are waiting for it to that moment in your life. Remember what Joe Rogan said here? Drink it tonight. Drink it tonight. Don't keep it for tomorrow. Drink it today.

I mean, it makes sense. Right. But I think you're right, too, that we should probably prepare for the worst and also figure out ways to mitigate it. Put some resources to figure out ways to mitigate the negative. like this, like maybe have some massive food storage somewhere. If we have enough money to have massive weapons storage, why don't we have enough money to have massive food storage? You know, food storage that could keep the human race alive for years while we figure things out.

100% agree. Obviously, we have seats, like almost the... That's great, but if there's no sunlight... Correct. But we've done things, like we have a library of seats. Yeah. Okay. Not huge. We need a library of non-perishable foods. Totally, somewhere on the ground. Again, as I said, we have only food for so many weeks produced around the world. Japan right now. has, like in the same way in the United States, obviously, we have the reserves of fuel, right?

gas reserves in case something happens. And then the governments and the presidents use that reserve. In Japan, they have right. And those rice reserves, they are not barely ever top. They're there because in case something happens, the government wants to have the possibility to... Japan has been releasing those rice reserves for different reasons, because it's been...

The harvest of rice, they've not been as good as they were supposed to. It's a shortage of rice. The prices are going up. So it's a whole bunch of things. So they released those. rice reserves and they're able to control the price. But here is more than controlling the price. because inflation and other issues. This is because the rice has not been flowing through the market in the ways the Japanese society is used to. So it's only food for thought. China has 7% of the farm land, but has 15%.

We need to make sure that 7% of the farmland, but they have to feed 15% of the world population. When you see that China is very interested in buying land in Africa, in America. that they have ports in many countries in Africa. Well, if you are the leader of China and you want to feed your people, what will you do to make sure that You don't only produce at home, but if you cannot produce enough at home, even every country should do more to be... a better food producer on the land we have.

America has done well on that front. But China is smart. They're investing overseas. Why? Because they need to make sure that they keep feeding their population. It's a smart thing to do, especially in... in a regime that we could argue is non-democratic regime and it's authoritarian. Even every time I've been to China, my God, I can never wait to go back. I think it's a beautiful country to be. It's a country that, as a tourist, I don't know, it's an amazing place to be.

I cannot wait to go back because I think it's a very cool place. Good food, ancient civilization, great culture, great learning. But going back to food, food is one guy called Briad Sabaran. A guy that died that year or the year after. I own a first edition. I bought it when I was very young. I had to work like three months just to save the money to buy.

I collect all... What's the book called? The Physiology of Taste. La Physiologie du Gut. And Thelm Briyat Sabaran. He's the guy that said, tell me what you eat. And this is a book from 18 what? 26. When was the printing press created? I don't get it. Is this a handwritten book? No, no. It's a printing press. No, no, that's a printing press. This is it here? And I own a first edition.

Wow. Physiology. Yeah, that's one of the later, this is a much later version in English. Transcendental gastronomy. What language is yours in? French. Wow. And I had the first one printed in Spanish that was not printed in Spain, but in Mexico City. Oh, wow. And he said, tell me what you eat and I'll tell you who you are. But he said something more important. My French is not very good, but more or less. The destiny of the nations will depend on how they feed themselves.

Wow. Right. And America's destiny is fat people. Fat people eating processed food. Well, I think if we are not careful, it's the destiny of the world. Right. If we're not careful. But take a look at now. Come on. You go to the gas station. I remember when I was young and I went to the gas station. The gas station had a little restaurant that was not even a restaurant. It was like a diner.

But for me, it was like a high-end restaurant. And once every two months or three months, my father would take us there. The restaurant in the gas station. And I thought it was great. Like, are we going to a restaurant? This is the days that we always cook home. We never went to restaurants. But I'm only saying this because when we went to the gas station, to go to the restaurant... happened was next to the gas station, but when my father went in to pay for the gas,

He paid for the gas and that's it. There was nothing else there. This was the place to pay for the gas. And it happens the restaurant was there. That was their only food. Go now to the gas station. You live with 25,000 calories. So you are feeding your car and in the process you are the Cheerios and the M&Ms and the sneakers and the... Oh my God, it's like...

The gas station now is, I'm telling you, those gas stations are owned by those aliens that are to make sure we are really, really overweight so one day they harvest us and they take us to their planet. I do believe the gas stations of the world are, they belong to the alien species. It's trying to make us all fat. But put that. So yeah, why are we so overweight? Because... I used to walk to go to school. Walk.

Walk for an hour. One hour to go, one hour to come back. My father worked in the morning. My mom worked at night. We had one car. But for me, I could do it in 20 minutes. It took me an hour because my life was... walking through cherry trees and the forest and the farms. But I will go walking. It's not like my father. It's not like I'm going in Uber. I will be walking. Right. I'll come back walking.

And life had changed. I'm going to the train, walking, and then from the train to the subway, I had to take a train and the subway, and then from the subway, I had to walk. It's other times. Now life is very easy. You have calories everywhere. Calories everywhere. You wake up in the morning and you open your eyes and you are already calories. And that's one of the problems and that's why we are all...

fighting against those calories that are not making us any healthier. Yeah, it's not calories. It's the type of calories. It's processed food that you can keep on the shelf forever. Because food's not supposed to be able to sit on the shelf.

And the kind of food that can is not healthy for you. That's why it doesn't rot. It doesn't rot because it's not alive. But eating too much of anything. I could argue with you that it's a big conversation. And I'm not going to come here. Actually, I'm going to. Disagree with myself because I can agree with myself because we can have the same conversation and use the conversation from two different points.

It's been, obviously, the very easy attack to the fast food industry, to the young food industry. to call it whatever, on the pandemic and the obesity to the soda industry. And again, I'm not going to be the one here now becoming the Robin Hood defending that. But at the same time, they are not the only ones part of the problem. I promise you by the end of this year, 2025, I'm going to get close to 210 pounds. And I'm never going to move from there. I've been fighting. I used to be 280.

I was able to bring it down already to 2.15. I went up. Right now I'm in 2.45. But I'm going to bring it down to 2.10, and I'm never, never going back. because I own it to myself, to my wife, to my children. I own it. In a way, a chef, we are also an example. And I'm not going back. I'm not overweight because young food. I'm not overweight because fast food. I'm not overweight because sodas. I'm overweight because I eat too much.

Because the food I eat is very good food. You can get fat on carrots and gazpacho, too. Sure. So... We leave this conundrum, right? People that are poor right now that use not to happen. And if you were poor, you were skinny and maybe you were hungry. And now we are in this situation that you have people that are poor and it's difficult to explain. Because though the food they are able to buy is very cheap, because it's all this junk food, you say, and that's part of the problem.

And they are not only overweight but unhealthy because they're bad calorie, bad quality food. No nutrients. They cannot afford anything else. And sometimes it's not only about affording. It's because they don't have access to anything. And there goes again about one of the big conversations. And it's a superpower the governments need to use for the betterment of the lives of their citizens. And goes beyond putting foot on the plate.

When I tell every American, when I speak in every state, red or blue, urban areas or rural areas, every time I say every American children deserves to be fed. And no American family should be poor and hungry ever again. This is the truth that brings everybody together. Yes. And you could argue why we have people who are poor or hungry. And then we talk, OK, and what is the role of government making sure that we don't have poor and hungry? If we have a government.

I would say, in part, is to make sure that we take care of the less privileged and the poor and the hungry and the ones that lose their jobs and the veterans that come back home. I think we need to have government for that. And government should do a better job in making sure that every children... And making sure that it's not throwing money at the problem, but invested in solutions. Yeah. Let me give you an example. Okay. I was 23. A charity called...

A barman, crazy guy. You need to invite him to this show if I can recommend you people that will give you amazing conversation about these issues. And he saw that Footways was wrong. But he was talking about food waste before anybody was talking about food waste. On President Bush's inauguration day, he got a truck. And he went to every hotel that they had these huge quantities of food on the parties after the inauguration that nobody...

And he got them in the truck, brought them to a central kitchen, repackaged everything, and began feeding the homeless. 30 plus years later, that organization is doing 15,000, 20,000 meals a day. But it's not about feeding. It's an organization that began bringing homeless into their kitchen, ex-convicts into their kitchen. People couldn't find a job because they were there. Those combits, those homilies, all of the sudden.

the dignity that society, for some reason, was not giving them. American-born citizens that were not receiving the same opportunity to belong as this young immigrant called Jose Andres that came from overseas. Very often I got many doors open. People that for whatever reason in life fall behind. The kitchen gave them a place to belong. And in the process they began learning how to cook.

The organization, This Is Andra Kitchen, was teaching them how to cook. In the process, they were making the meals with that leftover unused food. that they will produce, and then the organization will feed the local homeless. In the process, CEOs and volunteers from around America will come to join forces, volunteering next to those ex-combits and those homeless.

that they were not convicts or homeless anymore. And in the process, food was becoming a place of building longer tables. So the $1 to feed one homeless... was also the $1 to give hope, was the $1 to give training, was the $1 to rescue food, was the $1 that those men and women, when they graduated,

Restaurants like me will hire them. So $1 for human resources. All of the sudden was not $1 thrown at the problem. We feed the poor and forever we'll have to spend the dollar to feed the poor. But no, was $1. to build up the entire economy of a city in the process of taking care of the most vulnerable. Robert Edgar told me that philanthropy seems it's always about the redemption of the gift.

when actually that's the wrong approach. Philanthropy always must be about the liberation of the receiver. When you tell me what the role of our government should be, our government should be here to make sure that they invest. in their citizens. And food is a good place for our government to be investing in our citizens.

It's looking at the long game, too, because the rising tide lifts all boats. The more people contribute to society, the stronger the economy is. Even though it would cost money, it would bring in more money. You would have less crime. You would have less poverty. You would have less everything. You'd have less need. You'd have less have-nots and more haves. Everything would be better. Snaps. Yeah. It's a big conversation right now. Yeah.

SNAPS, which is what people call as food stamps. SNAPS is a temporary, can be a day, a month, a year, for families that fall behind. that the government give you that food dollar, that dollar assistance for food. And it's been very... and his politics around it. That's the way Democrats want, that's the way Republicans want. But everybody forgets really about the right talk, which is what is the right policy? How do we, if somebody complains, oh, food stamps has not.

fulfill its promise. It's like, okay, but let's not fight about cutting it down. Let's fight about how to make it better. And let's make sure how those dollars in the process of feeding American families in blue and red estates equally. That helps those families that fall behind to be able to put food on the table, are able to do it with the dignity they deserve. What happens?

That because I said before, the government doesn't see food as a whole. And usually everything is handled through the Department of Agriculture, which it's okay, but it's not the right way. what happens that when a family in a poor suburban area in any city in america receives the food stamps money In the place they live is so poor that they don't even have a market.

Because their neighborhood is so poor that nobody wants to open the market. So even those poor families, they have to go to another neighborhood. to spend those dollars, even when they have no transportation sometimes because they don't own a car or they don't have police. So they don't have easy access even to that food. So imagine if all of a sudden the government, yes, they help the people through the food stamps, but also in the process, urban housing development is able to help.

building a market that is run by the city, is run by the state where the local farmers can come. In a way, you are subsidizing that business because no other private business wants to do it. But somebody has to be taking care of that shortfall. And all of a sudden we build there a market. All of a sudden that family has the dignity to be able to shop in their neighborhood where that shop actually hired local people.

that all of a sudden there are employees in the neighborhood and that neighborhood stops being poor no longer. And all of a sudden, that one dollar, as the example I gave you of this essential kitchen, is not only the dollar that the government throws money at the problem, I'm going to feed you today, but that dollar of the government, if the government is smart and works as a whole.

creates local employment in the same poor neighborhood, gives dignity to that neighborhood because all of a sudden it's a little bodega, a little market. All of a sudden that place comes. That's a wonderful idea. Is there an example of a government in this world that's doing that? It's working places in the world that, you know. Local places. It's important that in America we have something we call the food deserts. Yeah. In Spain, the country no more, we have our own share of problems too.

It's never the perfect city, the perfect state of the perfect country, because if one place is perfect, please. Call us right now. Call us to JoeRogan.com and tell us the place and Joe Rogan and I will move there tomorrow, right? But in Spain, I grew up in public. public markets that were available everywhere. Public markets were public markets with the smallest stalls. that local business owners could have their little chicken place or the local farmer could have.

A place he could afford and be not only a farmer, but a local businessman by selling his product. Right. Here we have farmer's markets. Farmer's markets, which are great. In the forgotten, sometimes voiceless places in America. Right. In a lot of suburban areas, in a lot of rural areas that sometimes...

They are totally forgotten. And food could be a great way to make sure that they are not forgotten. Every school in America should have a... with good cooks, that they are well-trained, that they are well-paid. Investing money in infrastructure to build those kitchens. Buying from the local farmers who run in those.

In the process, $1 to feed the children, but $1 to invest in infrastructure, $1 to buy food from the local farmers, $1 to pay for the local cooks that work in that little... a rural community, all of a sudden in the process of feeding better quality food to our children, food that is fresh and made from scratch and that when you can is local. That $1 to feed the children is also $1 that indirectly through the investment of the federal government.

invest in the economy of that forgotten poor rural community. That's why those are examples of how food can be making our system better. Yeah, absolutely. France invests a lot of money in feeding their children. Spain invests money in feeding the children. But America, I know we can do money. especially because what you mentioned before. We have issues with obesity. We have issues with hunger at the same time. And the government has to play a bigger role in how to be...

Solving those issues that, to me, there are no problems but opportunities. Yeah. No, I agree. I think one thing that this administration is doing well under... Bobby Kedeny, is that he's trying to educate people on what is healthy food and what are the problems. And one of the ways you start is by eliminating harmful ingredients that are banned in other countries. and that we use everywhere in this country.

and to slowly but surely make people aware of these problems and make people aware of what these foods are doing to the overall metabolic health of these people and why we have these crises. why we have these crises of obesity and diabetes, type 2 diabetes, which is food-caused, and environmental issues that people have because of pesticides and herbicides.

to slowly clean that up so it's a good step in the right direction. I think one of the things that you do that's really beautiful is when there's crises in the world, you go there and you cook. I know that you were doing that during the Ukraine war, and I know you did a lot of that in Gaza. I think that's very beautiful. That's an amazing thing that you do.

Because I know you don't have a lot of time. You're a busy guy. No, I have nothing to do. My day is dedicated to Joe Rogan. No, I mean, normally, you're very busy. Well, so for you to do that, that's an amazing thing that you do. Well, I got you there a book that tells a little bit of what we do. I got you a cigar. Before we get into this, I want to mention something about Secretary Kennedy. and about why politics is bad, but policy is good. Because good policy is good policy.

I don't agree with everything Secretary Kennedy. is doing vaccines. I mean, my mom was a nurse, my father, my family doctor. But I'm not going to get into that. Everybody is entitled to their opinions and obviously... truth hopefully will always prevail and the best decisions will be made. But I 100% support what Secretary Kennedy said. 100%, 110%. Secretary Kennedy and one more person joining your willingness to make America happy.

It's not like the first time we heard before from Republicans saying, why the government has to decide why we... And in a way, Secretary Kennedy is doing that too. So I 100% agree that sometimes government has to intervene. Okay? And that's where policy that is bipartisan in these issues is what I believe food can be bring in both parties. Because I'm going to say everybody in America needs to be supporting whatever initiative Secretary Kennedy has in the next four years to feed America better.

to have America fitted, to make sure every children is fed with more fresh fruits and vegetables, with less young food, and et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. But I'm only going to go back then to President Obama, and I'm going to be talking about Michelle Obama. She created a movement called Let's Move. And very much is aligned with a lot of the things Secretary Kennedy was doing. And the conversation back then was, why is the First Lady having to tell me if I need to eat spinach?

Or hot dogs? Who is she? And the only thing she was trying to do is exactly what Secretary Kennedy is doing now. So what I'm only saying is, let's put politics aside on those issues that is about... every single America. Yes. And let's agree once and for all in the things that actually

Both parties always should be supporting each other. I used ways that Secretary Kennedy back then would be one voice next to Michelle Obama in trying to do fresh fruits and vegetables in the schools and children and American families. And so the same people that supported Michelle Obama initiatives back in the day...

I want them to be supporting now Secretary Kennedy. For sure. But also Secretary Kennedy needs to promise me that if one day he's not in power and another party come, another president come. that should be always the same. That's a mother who is in power. America should be eating better. America should be healthier. America has children.

should be producing the best qualities of food because we are the richest country in the history of mankind. America exports more food than any country in the world. America should be feeding every children, every family. with the best possible food we have on planet Earth. Therefore, everybody should be joining that movement. But again...

Let's put the politics on the side. And let's make sure that we come up with smarter policies that will allow not only Secretary Kennedy and this administration, but every administration in the years to come with bipartisan support. in the right way to feed America with the right food that makes us healthier and that makes us stronger.

and where food is part of the solution. I think we all agree. I think the issue was with Michelle Obama was back in 2008, I don't think people were as aware of the consequences of food choices. I don't think they realized how many metabolic health issues. I think some people did. But I think... Because of podcasts and because of documentaries and because of a lot of discussions and articles that have been written on the issues that people have with food and the additives in food

preservatives and the real problems that people have and not exercising. I think people just weren't as aware. I think one of the good things about... The Internet is that it is exposed people to a lot more voices of people that are living lives that are more interesting to follow in terms of. their health choices and whether or not they're... Well, it's okay. It's already done that. Pulling out bricks. What do you got there? You got food? I just don't think it's a...

It's certainly, I agree with you, it should be an issue that has nothing to do with politics. It should just be about the care of people. So it's just good. It's solid advice. So let's agree on that, everybody. We need to agree that what Michelle Obama was trying to do was the right thing. For sure. I remember she brought over a thousand chefs to the lounge. Oh, really? In the first weeks of her administration.

with no agenda, only telling everybody to make America a country where every children can eat and every children in every public school across America can eat better. We need the help of everybody. Yeah, and anybody who's against that, that's an anti-American thing. Correct. Yeah, you should be 100% for that. All of us. All of us. What's in that tube? What do you got there? Cream? Yeah, some creme fraiche. Oh, creme fraiche.

some caviar. Great. You brought caviar? I had to. I like caviar. I'm on a diet, man. The guys didn't put me, I told them, I'm coming to your robot. I don't know. Guys, and if you can hear me outside, they hear me outside? Yeah, they do. Carlos, are you there? Bring me some ham and bring me a spoon, man. Do you need a knife? No, don't worry. I'll figure out. I have a knife. We'll figure out. I have a bunch of knives.

i know now we're talking about feeding the poor and feeding the hungry and now we're gonna be having caviar but that only shows you And that's what it is. Here we go. Plates. This guy's got a suit. Carlos, no, put it in front of him. We got ham here, ladies and gentlemen. Yeah. We're eating creme fraiche, caviar, and ham. No, but just for the record. I mean, ham is for vegans. Oh. They only eat acorns. You know why this ham is so good? Why? That's the beauty about food.

every dish shut those doors yeah oh he's coming back every dish every dish has a story every ingredient Every ingredient. So ham is for vegans how? I don't understand what you're saying. Well, I mean, if the pork and the cattle eat grass, technically they're vegetarian too. So vegetarians should be eating vegetarians. I think you're missing. Okay. Their message is animal suffering. I know this story sounds very strange, but I think here in your podcast, we heard people with even...

more, more strange stories. I think this one is as good as any story. If the pork eats acorn. Therefore, the pork is vegetarian. Right. Therefore, a vegetarian should eat the vegetarian. Let me use that logic on you. No, you're very smart. If someone is a vegan, that means you can eat them. that's what you're saying there we go no no i can't say that well

Oh, my God. You know, I helped to the script writers and the director of a series on NBC called Hannibal many years ago. Was it about Hannibal Lecter? Hannibal Lecter, when he was young. Oh, okay. I was... I was helping them with the menus, the food, the scripts, the crazy conversations. Why was he a chef? Not that he loved. Remember, he was a good man. Fabi.

And so this was the early years of Hannibal Lecter before he was caught. Got it. When he was... the story happens in baltimore and he's this so amazing fascinating And anyway, I don't know why I'm telling you this, but that was amazing. That was a lot of meat on that movie. Yeah, he ate people too. That kind of goes with my argument. I don't think vegans are going to agree with you. That's all I'm saying. Yeah, and that happens. But the good thing is I have a vegetarian cookbook.

Do you? Vegetables and leash. Okay. I love vegetables. Well, vegetarians should really eat eggs. You know, I mean, vegans should eat eggs too, especially if you have your own chicken. It's like karma-free food. Jamie, come get some caviar and creme fraiche, brother. We feed everybody. There we go. Get in there, Jamie. You eat that, right?

I'm sorry. Some people are very squeamish on certain types of foods. So we were. We were eating food. We were eating food. What is your favorite food to cook? Do you have a favorite food to cook? Okay, in this book, it's not like I'm selling the book. Trust me. It's okay. We did okay. In Change the Recipe, those are stories for my daughters, right?

You know, I think everybody has to write their stories. I have so many stories of my dad and my mom, photos, moments, that now we have questions of what happened, but nobody is there to answer them anymore. So this book was a little bit that, a few little stories. I had some time during the summer, and the publisher thought, yeah, write those stories and we'll publish them. I was like, okay. But I had to put some.

One of the recipes I did during the pandemic, in the pandemic, I was cooking with my daughters. If I was not feeding people around the state, so in India or in Spain, I would be. And they will be studying when everybody was online. And then late at night, 7, 8, we'll cook. We'll put one song. And we'll all start cooking and dancing at the rhythm of the song. And I will be making a dish with that.

Eggs, very quickly. Daddy, we only have three minutes. I have a meeting. I have a meeting. I have this. I have that. Okay, okay. I get the eggs. I get mayo. I mix one egg with one big spoon of mayo. I put it in a shallow kind of crystal plate. A little bit of fat. I put oil and butter, I think, a little bit. I put that egg mix of mayo and egg. I put it in the microwave, 30, 40. the best omelette in the history.

Really? Microwave omelette was the best omelette in the history of mankind. I mean, listen, in Spain we say I don't have a grandmother anymore. My grandmother is dead. You know when you are the one that you... You say how good you are yourself. You say you don't have a ground. It was so good. Fluffy. Egg on egg. Egg on oil. Together. That emulsion of mayo and egg that has so much air was like putting a lot of air inside the egg.

Oh, my God. Try it. It's the quickest omelet anybody can be. And then you can top it with caviar. You can top it with mushrooms or smoked salmon or sauteed spinach. Delicious. But what is your favorite thing to cook? do you have a favorite thing to cook or do you just like cooking everything i i like the big pot a big pot i like to go like paella yeah

I love paella. Like paella on an open fire. Ooh, yeah, like a big cast iron pot. When I was young, my father, my father was a cook at heart, but he was a nurse. But when he was not at the hospital, he would be cooking for friends on the weekends. My mom was more Monday through Friday. My father was more the weekend cook. And the paella is something he will invite 10, 20, 30, 40 people. He had different sizes.

My father will invite everybody, but he will never keep count of whom. Ten could show up or thirty. My mom always was like... But how do we prepare? My dad said, ah, big problems have easy solutions, simple solutions. If more people come, we add more rice to the pan. But he always brought extra pans because he never knew the size. He put me in charge of making the fire. He will send me to the forest. I'll gather the wood. I'll make the fire.

One day I got very upset because I wanted to cook. I knew how to do the fire. I was tired of doing the fire. I wanted to cook the paella. But the fire required somebody dedicated. My father got upset with me because I was very persistent, sent me away. He cooked without me. When he came back, when I came back and everybody ate, he told me, my son, everybody wants to do the cooking. Everybody wants to stir the...

Nobody seems to be interested in making the fire. Actually making the fire is the most important thing. Control the fire. And then you can do any cooking you want. I don't know if my father worked. were as deep as now, many years later, I made them to become in my brain. But I think my father was trying to tell me that. That obviously was a great... The Red Lesson for a Young Cook in the Making.

But I think my father, in a way, that was a great metaphor for life itself. Find your fire, control your fire. Master. And then, my friend, go and do the cooking. When you set up Bizarre Meat, In Vegas, what made you decide to cook? Over open fire that way with hardwood the way you which I really love those grill works grills with the Argentine style grills with the wheel you raise and lower the grill over the natural wood fire I love that. I've seen that since I was a little...

You know. How good is that ham, Jamie? Prometheus. Oh, wow. Pretty damn good, right? Have you eaten at that place with us before? Yeah. Yeah, we ate that, right? How good. Yeah, the ham there is this ham. Prometheus, one of the titans, Prometheus gave In a way, they will say that man was created from clay. And Prometheus gave also men the control of fire. Right. That was the gift from Prometheus. So we come from clay and we control the fire.

Nothing for me as a young boy was more fascinating than seeing the very big clay pots on open. The paella my father made with this very big metal paella pan. But we will have also our terracotta. If you come to my house right now, I have terracotta pots everywhere. I also have the biggest grill wall that any human can have in their private home. Do we have a photo of that? Of your grill wall? Do we have a grill wall there somewhere?

But me cooking with fire, with vines, orange tree, making the fire in the countryside. with the terracotta that you put the water and you put the meat and you put the pork and you put the vegetables and you put the chickpea. and you boil it and you are doing what you do when you are in the forest or in the countryside and do you like the big pots because you know you're going to serve a big party of people with it so it's like the communal aspect of it It's the closest thing.

If the man is the cook. I have a grill like that at my house. But look, it's one, two, three, four. I have a fifth one. I have another one behind. I have a smoker from Texas behind. I got one of those too. Yeah, I got a smoker, I've got a pellet grill, I've got the Grillworks grill, and I've got an infrared grill. And those two at the end, they are from Spain. They are amazing. They are also...

I like that. I like that moment. You know when I like to do that? I don't even have it covered yet, but even when it is snowing, I love to do that. It's nothing more amazing than... having an open fire with the snow falling down and you cooking there yeah it's just fascinating it's very it's very prime

It's like being in the cave. Yeah, well, I think there's something. I think human beings have been cooking over fire for so long that there's something incredibly comforting about cooking over fire. Very satisfying, rewarding. It's different than anything. When you see the actual wood and you make the fire yourself, so you start it from the very beginning.

Little tiny pieces of cut wood, you know, the little kindling. And you lay the sticks over it and you get that going. Then you lay larger and larger pieces of wood over it. Then you get a roaring fire and break it down to coal. And then you start to sizzle the salted meat over the coals. You know, at the beginning, when I came to America, I didn't understand smoke.

Because, you know, the first smoking I had, the smoked foods I had was in New York. Probably were no good places. And it took me time until I came into the... smoke meets culture of America. Right. Oh, my God. Barbecue. Here was huge for me. Oh, baby. In so many places. Obviously, I came. One of the first places, again, was Franklin. Franklin's is incredible. And listen. All the time, the hours, the precise temperature. Yeah.

The juiciness of that piece of meat in contact with your tongue. Before it is in your tongue, obviously you cannot eat barbecue with fork and fork. Fork and knife people, they were created for you to protect your food from others. The fork and knife was not created for you to use it. You cannot eat barbecue with fork and knife. You cannot. But it has many reasons.

you get a fork and you're getting no information you're seeing the color or the usiness maybe the smell in the distance but but when you start using your fingers the moment your fingers get in touch with that piece of meat already the meat is being talking to you directly like if it's an alien form telling you hey baby here And you know the temperature and you know the juiciness and you know the fatiness. And as you are grabbing it with your two fingers already, it's...

It's so many things happening in the process of you bringing your two fingers with a piece of barbecue into your mouth. Already your mouth is salivating. Already your tongue is activated. Already your stomach is flowing with juices. Already your brain, your eyes, everything is just pure joy. Use the very...

simple thing of using your two fingers to grab the piece of barbecue. That moment itself, even if you don't eat it, you can make a movie out of that simple, humble moment of grabbing the piece of barbecue. Mmm. I love to eat with me. Clearly. Sushi. Oh, yeah, you got to. I love ribs. Ribs. There's no other way. You're holding on to a big beef rib. Have you ever seen the beef ribs at Terry Black?

Terry Black's have beef ribs that look like they came from a prehistoric animal. Big, massive, juicy beef ribs that take a day to cook. and you just sink your teeth into it it's like oh it's so moist It's so huge. You can't even, I don't know how anybody can eat a whole one. It's hard to, you get three or four bites in, you're like, stop. I can't. It's just so fatty and juicy. so before obviously i came i came to the united states

Baby lamb, baby pig. In Spain, we love babies. The baby lambs. Suckling pigs. The suckling pig. I was watching a documentary today on this restaurant in Spain that's known for suckling pigs. they were cooking it all over open flames and you know that takes two hours and that being only water only salt and the little animal You know, a happy day for me. I remember coming. So I was in the Spanish Navy. First time I come to America, I was cooking for the admiral. And I'm like, really?

I was a young cook already, talented. I won a little championship here, and they are already working some high-end restaurants in Spain. mandatory military service, but for me, the military service changed my life. Service to your nation, service to your country, be part of a group of people with a very clear mission, working as one. But anyway.

I cook for the admiral. I tell him, really? I'm having the best life. He has two, three daughters. I have my own apartment. I'm only cooking for the family. They're treating me like a son. Life was good. But I wanted to go on a boat, not on any boat, in the training ship of the Spanish Navy. The training ship for the mission. a sailing ship a tall ship de juan sebastián

Technically, Magellan was the guy that began the circumnavigation on the world, but he died. And the guy that finished the circumnavigation was Juan Sebastián del Campo. The boat was called in his name. Beautiful boat. Four mast, white. If you could find a photo, it would be amazing if people could see it. 300. Now it's women that go in the old days 300 men. Now, actually, the princess, future queen of Spain, is on this boat right now on the train trip. First time I leave Europe.

First time I visit Canary Islands. First time I visit Africa, Ivory Coast, Abidjan. First time I visit Brazil, Rio de Janeiro. My first caipirinha, my first papaya. First time I visit Dominican Republic, Santo Domingo. First time I arrived to Florida, United States, Pensacola. The city of the five flags. Hello, one of the five flags, the Spanish-Castilian flag. Hello, of sure I belong here. Yeah, I already was in love with America since I was a little boy.

The NBA, the Westerns, the history of America, the Civil War, I was fascinated with America. There is first time I had soft-shell crops in my life. Those are the moments that every time you... I remember when my father brought the first Kiwi home. I was a little boy and my mom was so upset because he paid like... 4% of his monthly salary to buy five kiwis. But my father was like,

I guess that's why I became so crazy. For me, finding a new product is like the happiest moment of my life. Softshell crab for me was like, holy cow, softshell crabs are amazing. A whole crab that you can eat like a seal. that is soft oh my god those moments i remember like it was yesterday but one of the most beautiful things is i moved to new york in the next segment of the trip, and I remember coming under the Beresono Bridge. Lady Liberty.

I'm an immigrant. Even I'm not an immigrant. I'm just a soldier, a Navy guy visiting America. I became an immigrant later. And that night I'm watching the American flag before we go to shore. I'm looking at the stars, same stars we were talking before. I'm looking at American flag. I'm looking at the stars, the dark blue color, the white stars. And me, I'm like, holy cow, America is amazing. Look, they put in their flag. The same blue sky at night.

You can be free, that everything is possible, that you are welcome, that if you were hard, you can be loved. I look like a fool when I realize a few weeks later or whatever. that the American flag stars actually were the States. Okay, yeah, I had no clue that the stars were the States. To this day, I think my story is much more beautiful. Much more beautiful than the States. But anyway, I wanted to share that story with you because when we dock around 30th Street on Manhattan, 30 years later,

So I finished the military service. I came back to America. I moved to New York. Then I came to Washington. But 30 years later, I opened Mercado Little Spain, which was bringing a bigger piece of Spain to New York, to Manhattan. 200 meters away from the same place I arrived New York for the first time 30 years before. Wow. And when they tell me about the American dream, I want to share the message that...

If anything, the American dream is more alive than ever before. With that doesn't mean that we live in a perfect place in a cocoon where everything is perfect. Actually, no. The American dream is realizing that actually we need to work hard for the things we want for ourselves. that the American dream is recognized that we are a beautiful place. created through centuries by so many different people that contributed so much. The people like me, I'm right now so proud and so happy.

I'm so thankful overall of being given the opportunity to come to this country, to belong as an immigrant, first with an E2 visa, then with a green card, and then becoming an American citizen. Much of what I am, I live 70% and 90% of my adult life in this country. I know where I come from. I love Spain. Everybody knows it. But also I know where I belong. And everybody knows how much I love this country.

and now go back into my first arrival as a sailor, my comeback as an immigrant, and the last 30-plus years. I want to remember that moment with the American flag and the beautiful night sky full of stars. Because it's still the American dream, I want to repeat myself, is here, but we all need to do better to work. towards that dream, where we do it sharing longer tables.

to others, especially to the voiceless, especially to the poor, and that together we solve the problems that we face. The problems are opportunities for us to work together. And that's what our politicians need to do more of. Well, I think America is oftentimes truly appreciated by people who come. The people that are here, it's almost like you're just too accustomed to it.

You feel entitled. There's a lot of Americans that have an entitled perspective about this country. Whereas most of my friends that come here from other places, Russell Crowe had a brilliant thing that he was saying about America. Last time he was here is that the rest of the world is counting on us because this is the place of freedom. This is the place of opportunity. This is the place where anybody.

And it's not the United States owes you. The people here, the people become entitled and they have this perspective. We get too used to the... If you lived in another part of the world, you'd appreciate America. Whenever I travel, I love traveling. I love seeing... I love it here. I love it here specifically. It's just a wonderful part of the world. Austin is a very cool place. Austin is amazing. It's the perfect size city.

I think I talk about it too much with people moving here too much. I try to hedge my enthusiasm a little bit. I think cities can get too big. And when cities get too big, people become a burden rather than your neighbors, your community. People become... You know, you have this diffusion of responsibility. There's too many people. It's not my problem. Too many people. They're in the way. Too many people. Instead of this is my.

And Austin is not too big. People are friendly. And they're nice. And there's a lot of art here. There's a lot of music. Now there's a lot. There's a lot of cool people here, a lot of food. There's a lot of good podcasts, too. Yeah, yeah. There's a lot here, many, many great podcasts. It's a lot changed. That was one of the good things about the pandemic. A bad thing happened and a lot of good results came out of it. People realized they don't want to be places that have restrictive guidelines.

a very restrictive government and got a lot worse. But it's the same thing that we were talking about before about power and tyranny, absolute power. When you tell people what they can and can't do, you tell people they can't work, tell people they can't keep restaurants open. I mean, there was a restaurant apocalypse in California. 70% of all the restaurants in Los Angeles went under.

70%. That's crazy. That's an insane number. Well, I don't know if that number... I know that number. Is it a number? Yeah, it's a number. The official number? 70%. Restaurants are one of the hardest business to keep... Right, which is why it's a huge percentage of restaurants closed in the first year. It's like 50%, right? Even a bigger one. I think it's 25%, something like that, than that in the first year or something like that.

And only a very small percentage make it past five years. Yeah, it's like 50% over three years. So restaurant business is our top business. Very hard, right? Very hard. Very hard. You want to give people economical prices, but you have overhead, you have staff, you have this, you have that. And then everybody complains that you overcharge, but then... Of course. But then... We need to take care of the people and employees need to make a living.

But we forget that the vast majority of the restaurants in America are owned by small business owners who many of them are working as hard as they can to make the restaurants. Yeah. Successful. And we forget sometimes that, right? That the business owner, in a way, is the employee too. Well, it's another thing. People feel entitled to good restaurants. They don't appreciate the people that serve. They don't appreciate the people that cook and the people that...

provide this experience where you can go to a nice place and you have a wonderful atmosphere and great service. You can really enjoy a meal and enjoy someone's art, which is really what it is. Anthony Bourdain, that we mentioned before, obviously was a big spokesperson for all the restaurants. Sure. Especially the immigrants. Especially. He loves street food. More than everybody. Yeah. More than anybody you know. Yeah. More than anybody.

But these are the complexities we live. Listen, sometimes it feels, and we saw it during the pandemic, that the people that feel... America, the people that feed the world, sometimes it seems, and it's real very often, that they cannot feed themselves. Farmers in California. farmers in Florida. People working the farms, picking up all strawberries for you and I to enjoy.

because how little they make. Yeah. And that's the conundrum that we need to be... changing in the food it's a lack of understanding of the effort that's involved in feeding us we're just accustomed to be able to go to the supermarket this wealth of abundance you know you know it's almost It's just a lack of perspective, lack of understanding of the effort that's involved feeding all these people, and a lack of appreciation and real gratitude.

gratitude towards these restaurants and these farms and these people that work so hard. It takes a village to feed the world, to feed America and to feed the world. It takes a village. It's a lot of people, from the fishmongers. In Washington, D.C., I've been very lucky to be surrounded by, you know, Virginia and Maryland. Is that where you live most of the time? Bethesda.

I'm a Marylander with an accent. Why did you choose that area? I think the area chose me. I mean, it was a great school that my wife wanted. Obviously, I moved to Washington, D.C. in 1993. But you have restaurants all over the place. Yeah, Vegas, Chicago, Miami. Yeah. You know, between restaurants, life, books. Trips, TV, the new TV show I have on NBC with Martha Stewart, Monday nights at 10 o'clock after the boy.

My work, my humanitarian work with World Central Kitchen. You know, policy work, which I will not say I work on policy. It's only like when I feel... I can become one more voice to push smart policy on behalf of all Americans. I just try to be. a voice that brings politicians of both parties closer together to move forward, something like I believe makes every single American better.

And that's how I try to divide my time, like all of us, right? For me, coming here was like the highlight, because number one, you know, it's like, shit, will he buy me if I... At the same time, it looks pretentious that you ask. But again... For me, just coming here and get to be with you one-on-one, yeah, it was kind of in my bucket list of, I don't know, listening to you. I don't know if it's your voice, your looks. Easy conversation with no...

No script. I mean, you keep asking questions and you have nothing in front of you. And I don't know how you keep... Oh, you keep every, every single time. I've been doing this forever. I know, but you have... You have super human brain powers. No, no. I just only have on people that I'm actually interested in talking to. That's the secret.

It's very hard to talk to people you're not interested in talking to. If that was the case, if I was hired by some network, I would have to have notes. I'd have to ask you about some shit that I don't give a fuck about. I'd have to talk to you about some nonsense that you're doing that I don't care about and I'd have to feign interest.

The only reason this podcast works is genuine curiosity and an interest in the way people view the world. And I think we got that out of you today. We all got a very beautiful view into the mind. Of a guy who really loves food and really loves people and lives life with passion. And anytime people get a chance to hear a person like you talk. and see the world to your perspective, you know, it's inspirational. It inspires people. It excites people. But that's all the people out there, yo. Yeah.

in the last 15 years especially in the last seven eight after maria you know i've been very much in every single hurricane and every single Big earthquake, big tornado. You go and feed people. Obviously, I've been in Ukraine. I was there, what, almost 160, 170 days. in the first year i was there like what 90 days or something like that

I crossed into Ukraine within... I was in Poland within 24 hours. And I was in Ukraine within... I arrived in Kyiv when still the Russian troops were in the north of the city. I remember with Walsh and Drug Kitchen, we were the first NGO used to arrive to Bucha. we never stopped we we reached half a million meal a day in ukraine wow very quickly 500 that all the money we had from donations from people in America that they cannot be more given than people in Europe.

We channel that money through supporting the local restaurants. If they are available, I'm not going to open my own kitchen. The same dollar that is going to help feed the refugees or the displaced people. uh is the same dollar that can help maintain the local economy flurry nobody's getting rich right but the restaurants want to help the people want to help

That's what people don't understand in emergencies, that everybody wants to be part of the solution. What Wilson Dragician does is that allows everybody to be part of the solution. In Asheville. Was no World Central Kitchen helping feed even both other organizations feed the people of Asheville and the different parts in North Carolina and the couple of other states that were here? by the post effects of the hurricane. It was the people of Asheville that helped feed the people of Asheville.

And we then got a helicopter because we wanted to be cool. or another helicopter, or another one, if we had to, is because there was no roads. And the only way to arrive to the people was by helicopter. Like we did in Bahamas. We had six helicopters, two seaplanes, one boat with two helipads. why we did it because it was no airports because was not control towers in the north was 16

Everything was destroyed. And we had to feed 80,000 people. The only way to do it was that way. Asheville, North Carolina was exactly the same. The fires in California were exactly the same. How we did it, for example, in California, in Los Angeles. We are there trying to make sure the firefighters eat. Not like the system doesn't take care of the firefighters. It's in place. Somebody, some organization, some catering is on paper getting paid to do it.

But that's a business. In an emergency, you have to adapt because they're not going to let you go to the firefighters sometimes because it's one guy on the road that is trying to protect you. But we have to go to them because those firefighters probably, they're going to be fighting for 48 hours. Non-stop, no break. You can see their eyes. how tired they are, and still they keep going. And if they have a break, you have to be near them to make sure that in that moment they're able to.

food they need, food they want. And that's what World Central Kitchen does. But at the same time, the people escaping the fires. And the people arriving to the shelter. that sometimes in the middle of the night, you get 3,000 people around to show. Because Altadina was destroyed. And you have to be there with them. So we got a lot of restaurants, but we got a lot of food trucks too. And the food trucks was great because the same way an ambulance is there on a call to bring somebody very quickly.

And after a heart attack, the hospital has an option to save their lives. We use food trucks like an ambulance. Or we use food trucks like a fire truck. We have them there. We have them parked. We have many already feeding firefighters and shelters and people in their neighborhoods. But we have 10 or 20 trucks on weight. Why? Because every truck is full of 1,000 or 2,000. That means at any moment, today, tomorrow, at 3 a.m. in the morning,

If something happens, we can activate those food trucks within a minute. In less than one hour, they can be feeding anybody, anywhere. Wow. So World Central Kitchen is not really an organization. It's a very simple idea. An idea of everybody is welcome, we have the standards, we have the system. We don't plan, we adapt. We don't sit down in a big room where everybody is used.

emailing, you cannot email a plate of food. You have to be with boots on the ground. That's the only emergency. Emergency is when you are next to the people that require your... People in those moments need us next to them. And that's what Wolf Central Kitchen does. That's why we are in Ukraine. That's why we are in Gaza. We are in Israel, as we speak, feeding people because there's big fires around Jerusalem. We are in Lebanon. We are in Myanmar. We are in Thailand after the big earthquake.

Paul Central Kitchen is used as a group, obviously chefs, but it's so much more than that. Sometimes we use restaurants, sometimes we use catering. Sometimes we use food trucks, sometimes we open our own kitchens, sometimes our own food trucks. Sometimes our own bakeries, like the one we have in Gaza that unfortunately stopped working yesterday because we ran out of flour. The situation in Gaza is really very bad. Unfortunately, those hostages, they deserve to be released. They should be free.

What happened in October 7th is something like we can never forget. That's why World Central Kitchen was there in Israel on day one with next to the Israeli chefs feeding all the people in the... Why? Because that was the right thing to do. And I had people telling me, why are you there in Israel when they are now the ones? Because the people of Israel needed our help. At the same time, we were in Gaza. Why? Because the people of Gaza and Palestine needed our help.

What is wrong with these two simple ideas? That when people are in need, we all must be next to them. And hopefully this will be an opportunity of bringing peace and bringing longer time. Food can never be a weapon of war by anybody, ever. Obviously, what Hamas did is terrible. and can never happen again. But we have also to make sure that the deeds of the very few don't end punishing the many who are in. Yeah, it's a complicated situation.

The amazing moments were when I had Israeli friends that also some of them even lost friends or family members in the October 7th attack. Because some of them even had two passports that they said, we'd love to go to help the people of God. Like, there's no way we're going to be bringing you in there. And I had a Palestinian woman that said, you know, we feel for those people. I wish I was given the permission to go there to show them that we don't hate them.

But sometimes what you read is only that it's hate, people that hate each other. Maybe those are the few. The vast majority of the people are not hateful. Right. The vast majority of the people want peace. The vast majority of the people don't want you to be shooting. All over the world. That's what I see in emergencies, even in the worst moments like work. I remember in Ukraine, this older woman in the north, in Kharkiv and in Chernihiv.

woman all that didn't speak Ukrainian speak Russian and she was like They are our brothers. Why are they killing us? They are our brothers. Why our Russian brothers are bombing? When an older person tells you that with that simple sincerity, you know, speaking from the heart, why are they attacking us? Why Russia is attacking us?

at all ukraine is a beautiful country beautiful people they've been under attack and necessary and this war is lasting too long i i wish that that peace will be for ukraine and that hopefully also it'll be a ceasefire in gaza the hostages will be released immediately and hopefully there can be a certain beginning the rebuild of god and giving the people of Palestine the future they deserve in peace and prosperity, equally as what the people of Israel deserve, living in peace and prosperity.

without being afraid of a terrorist attack every other day of their lives. What is good for Israel must be good for Palestinians. and that's something like i believe everybody agrees on yes what i what i want for you i want for me yes and i'm saying this it seems so simple with my my hand in my heart yeah And I do believe that that's the vast majority of the people, Joe. I think you're right. We need to make sure that that is also what our leaders do.

To bring the best angels in all of us. Not to bring our worst demons. We need to be asking our leadership. Putting aside parties, political parties, to bring the best in all of us. Bring us together. Build longer tables. Don't break us apart. Don't break us apart. Here, here. Let's wrap it up with that.

Thank you, sir. Appreciate you very much. You're a beautiful person. You really are. I love you, Joe. Thank you for having me in your house. It was a real pleasure. And until next time. Until next time. Do it again. I can't wait to go to the next restaurant.