Chef José Andrés urges Biden to think of food as 'national security issue' as millions go hungry
With a hunger crisis brought on by the coronavirus pandemic threatening to affect nearly 50 million Americans, one of Washington’s most famous chefs is imploring the federal government to take bold action.
Speaking to Yahoo Finance Live, Chef José Andrés, the founder of World Central Kitchen and ThinkFoodGroup, called on the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to deploy its funds to tackle the unfolding disaster.
“This is the biggest emergency as a country that we’ve had in 100 years and FEMA’s responsibility should be, to put those funds that Congress empowers them to have, and to use that money to feed, in this case in an emergency, people in need,” Andrés said.
World Central Kitchen (WCK) has served nearly 40 million meals across the globe since March, while simultaneously deploying its vast resources to keep struggling restaurants afloat. WCK has already put $134 million back in the hands of food establishments, committing to cover the cost of preparing meals at hundreds of U.S. restaurants, so owners can keep employees on their payrolls.
But more than nine months into the pandemic, Andrés said it is time for the federal government to take on the role of “food fighters.”
‘This is not sustainable’
Specifically, he is urging FEMA to tap into its Disaster Relief Fund and direct state and local governments to draw up feeding plans that can be delivered by nonprofits and restaurants.
“This is not sustainable,” Andrés said, referring to the reliance on philanthropic funds. “We need the federal government to make sure that they do what World Central Kitchen has done. The money we receive from donors, we put into restaurants, 3000 restaurants. We pay per meal. The restaurant didn't get rich in this, but they were able to stay open, they were able to hire some of the people back, they were able to pay rent, they were able to pay the farmers. All of a sudden every dollar was invested into the solution in the process of keeping the restaurant industry open. We were able to feed people in need. That's proven to work.”
Lines stretched outside food banks across the nation, point to a hunger crisis that shows no signs of abating. An analysis from Feeding America estimates 15 million more people will struggle with food insecurity this year, compared to pre-pandemic levels. Roughly 17 million children are estimated to face hunger.
In many communities, those seeking help are the very farm workers growing produce for restaurants and grocery stores, Andrés said. The inequity prompted the chef to recently call for the government to establish a new, cabinet-level position, Secretary of Food and Agriculture, to streamline food policy. He has been especially critical of the federal government’s funding of food banks, helping to keep families fed, saying the $500 million annual allocation only amounts to $20 per hungry American every year.
“This is like, two to three cans of chickpeas to feed yourself for a year. It doesn't make any sense,” Andrés said.
A proposal in Congress, to increase benefits under the Department of Agriculture’s Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program as part of a larger stimulus bill, would add just 80 cents to the maximum daily benefit, he said.
‘Food as a national security issue’
Beyond the U.S., Andrés is focused on providing assistance to developing countries, tackling a “hunger pandemic” complicated by climate change and conflict, in addition to the coronavirus pandemic. The United Nations’s World Food Program has warned nearly 270 million people are “marching towards starvation.”
“We need to have somebody near the president, near the power centers that thinks of food as a national security issue. The same way that September 11 happened, the same way that this pandemic happened one day we may be in a moment where all that food that looks plentiful right now is not there anymore,” Andrés said. “Let's make sure we give the importance to food it deserves. The most important energy on planet Earth is not oil. Oil only moves my car. The most important energy on this planet is food, more food moves all of us.”
Akiko Fujita is an anchor and reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter @AkikoFujita
