Bringing paella to prime time
Chef José Andrés is recognized for his contribution to gastronomy in America
Americans discovered Spanish cuisine through José Andrés, who popularized tapas in the United States. The country is acknowledging his contribution to gastronomy with the equivalent of a culinary Oscar, which is awarded each year by the James Beard Foundation in New York.
The brand-new Outstanding Chef of the Year, an Asturian who was raised in Barcelona and has lived in the US for more than two decades, gets credit not just for his culinary know-how, but also for his business acumen. Andrés, 41, owns restaurants in Washington, Los Angeles and Las Vegas, and Michelle Obama regularly consults him on issues of food policy.
"I arrived in the United States 21 years ago, and I have fulfilled my dream of showing this country all about Spanish cuisine and the great creative movement currently underway in our country. That is my small contribution," says Andrés, who trained under star chef Ferran Adrià in the 1980s.
As humble as he is forward-looking, Andrés immediately sought to share the credit for the prize - one of many he has received over the years. "If this is a tribute, it is a tribute to the work of the master, Ferran Adrià, who gave everything for Spanish cuisine. And also to the father of national gastronomy, Juan Mari Arzak," he said, in reference to the Catalan and Basque chefs. Asked whether the award should serve a purpose, he noted that "it should serve to make the government keep encouraging the presence of Spanish cuisine and products abroad. Our cuisine exists thanks to a great community of cattle breeders, farmers, fishermen and everyone else who keeps the sector going."
Each year, the James Beard Foundation nominates several chefs who have been working for at least five years and "have set national industry standards and served as inspiration for other food professionals." A jury of 500 experts voted for Andrés over other big-name contenders, such as Gary Danko and Paul Kahan.
Andrés' flagship restaurant is Jaleo, a hugely popular tapas bar in Washington that recently opened a branch in Las Vegas, where the most requested dish is paella.
Endowed with an overpowering personality, Andrés leads a hectic life inside and outside the kitchen. Known in Spain for hosting the cooking program Vamos a Cocinar (or, Let's cook) on Televisión Española (265 episodes in three years), he owns seven restaurants in the US and is also the founder and director of a food program for the homeless called DC Central Kitchen.
Every week he meets with politicians, participates in symposiums and delivers speeches at international institutions. His goal is always the same: to encourage healthy, sustainable eating habits that eliminate both hunger and obesity. Back in Washington, he has managed to get nutrition viewed as a matter of national security. His upcoming restaurant, Bazaar, is set to open soon at the SLS hotel in Miami. But even that is not enough: "Now I'm working on the creation of a Spanish Culinary Institute."
![José Andrés, ambassador for Spanish cuisine in the United States, in his restaurant Minibar.](https://imagenes.elpais.com/resizer/v2/LOR2AQGNLLFD64UR5JR7VLTYDI.jpg?auth=2a4e68ff23cee1d9b29a098cb5f7af3bf32d446ffc06e289453493090c1b1a43&width=414)
One man's culinary mission
People who have been to both cities say that if the United States had a Valencia, it would definitely be Las Vegas. The gambling capital has a taste for the monumental, and a tendency toward exaggerated reconstructions, much like the "Fallas" of the Mediterranean city. Now, a casino is devoting space to that most Valencian of creations: the paella.
The idea came from celebrity chef José Andrés, who suggested opening a branch of his popular restaurant Jaleo inside The Cosmopolitan. He invested 750,000euros into building an old-style, firewood-powered stove in the middle of it, where a chef flown in from Alicante, Rafael Salines Català, prepares authentic paellas with rabbit, chicken and green beans; paellas with seasonal vegetables; arroz a banda with lobster; and rice with Iberian pork ribs. Most of the ingredients are imported, and the main element, the rice, comes straight from the town of Sollana.
Valencia and its food have found their most enthusiastic supporter on US soil in José Andrés. In 2006, the chef appeared on one of the nation's prime-time morning shows, Today on NBC, to prepare a rice dish with lobster and chicken live on the set. Paella is on the menu of his three Jaleo restaurants in Washington.
Andrés has told the media time and again that he "will not rest until every American family has a paella cooking in their backyard."
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