José Andrés, the Puerto Rican-born celebrity chef and restaurateur known for high-end cooking at expensive addresses, says The Grapes of Wrath inspired World Central Kitchen, the nonprofit organization he founded to feed victims of natural disasters like the fires that ravaged northern California in November. In a December 4, 2018 Washington Post interview, he explained his decision to extend the charity’s reach south, to Baja California, to feed refugees from Central America tear-gassed by the U.S. government and living in temporary housing provided by the city of Tijuana. “In the end, it’s very simple,” he said. “Our motto comes from John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath. ‘Wherever there’s a fight so hungry people may eat, I will be there.’” José Andrés has been nominated for the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize.
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Bravo, Jose! The film, Grapes of Wrath, featuring Henry Fonda as Tom Joad lends a touch of visual humanity to the phrase. It’s not surprising that Steinbeck and Fonda remained friends for years.
I am surprised this article didn’t mention that Andres’ World Central Kitchen worked tirelessly to feed thousands of meals in Puerto Rico in the aftermath of the devastating hurricanes of 2017. They stayed for weeks if not months and fed far more people than any other relief effort, including our so-called U.S. government’s. That he took the model to other disaster-ravaged people, not just his own homeland, after that is heroic at the least. I’d heartily endorse his Nobel prize and I believe Steinbeck would too.
As an old (82 years) educator, I have often said that readng ˆThe Grapes of Wrath” should be a requirement for graduation from any public school (K-12) in America.