Jose Andres

José Andrés is an internationally acclaimed chef, culinary innovator, author, educator, and advocate. Named "Outstanding Chef" by the James Beard Foundation, he is the chef and founder of ThinkFoodGroup and its renowned twenty-three restaurants in DC, Las Vegas, Miami, Los Angeles, Mexico City and Puerto Rico. A pioneer of introducing the United States to traditional Spanish tapas and avant-garde cuisine, Andrés teaches at Harvard and George Washington Universities, and co-founded and is dean of the Spanish Culinary Arts program at the International Culinary Center. In 2015 he launched Beefsteak: Vegetables Unleashed, a veggie-centric fast casual concept dedicated to bringing market-fresh vegetables to diners in colorful and customizable bowls.
As a committed advocate of food and hunger issues, Andrés was named to TIME magazine’s “Time 100” list of the most influential people in the world, and has addressed audiences at the World Economic Forum in Davos, The Atlantic, and TED. Known for championing the role of chefs in the national debate on food policy, he is the founder of World Central Kitchen and chairman emeritus of DC Central Kitchen, a spokesperson of First Lady Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” anti-obesity campaign, and writes regularly for National Geographic’s food blog The Plate on food policy.