José Andrés — the celebrated Washington, D.C. chef with restaurants around the country —is going to host a keynote session at this year’s South by Southwest (SXSW). The chef will be talking about his and his team’s work at World Central Kitchen, his nonprofit that travels to areas of distress with the purpose of feeding people.
World Central Kitchen goes into areas in crisis — from earthquakes to hurricanes to the ongoing war in Ukraine — and connects with restaurants and food businesses on the ground to feed people impacted by the situations.
Andrés’s SXSW 2023 session is titled “The Stories We Tell Can Change the World.” The description explains that he will talk about the “responsibility that comes with hearing these stories and the power of storytelling to move people to act.” It takes place on Saturday, March 11 from 1 to 2 p.m. at the Austin Convention Center.
Andrés had been at SXSW many times before. In 2018, he participated in a panel about the intersection of food and politics with Andrew Zimmern; in 2017, he cooked dinner with Austin pitmaster Aaron Franklin; and in 2016, he judged a karaoke contest.
In fact, a documentary about World Central Kitchen premiered at SXSW last year. Director Ron Howard’s We Feed People chronicled the organization’s first 10 years, from its start after an earthquake in Haiti in 2010. Andrés didn’t attend the premiere because he was currently in Ukraine.
