>> c-span has your unfiltered view of government divided by these television companies and more. >> we believe you should have access to fast, reliable internet. >> supporting c-span as a publ service, giving you a rep -- thing you a front row seat to democracy. >> this post in gaza says they delivered hundreds mealsn saturday. they areporting the food needs of medical centers all over gaza.

world central kitchen, founded by chef jose andres resumed operation earlier this month, serving around 2 miion meals their first week back. they continue to grieve and mourn the loss of colleagues who were killed in an attack on april 1. they join the national press club for addressing global food and water security before the deaths of world central kitchen staff.

[applause] [laughter] >> you are not? i'm out of here. no. hello, everyone. thank you all for coming this evening and welcome to the place where news happens. i am a congressional reporter and the 117 president of the national press club, which gives

me the absolute honor tonight of chatting with mr. jose andres. we do have a couple of quick housekeeping things. we are happy to accept your questions. to submit a question online, please email us and put jose in the subject line. please be aware that they are members of the general public, so any reaction is not necessarily from the working press. we take the generalist things seriously here. [laughter] let's talk a little bit about why we are here. more than 783 million people worldwide face chronic hunger, a decision made more acute by geopolitical conflict, climate

change and economic instability. a spanish-american chef plunged into the crisis in 2010 following a cash ethic earthquake in haiti. he realized the power of a hot meal to relieve suffering. he founded world central kitchen. now, world central kitchen is truly a global organization with operations now underway in ukraine, gaza and chile. an outspoken voice for immigrants, inclusion and human rights. barack obama awarded him the national humanities medal. where some people talk about building higher walls, chef jose andres to talk about letting food connect us. we are eager to hear more about this.

there we go. i just want to start with a little bit. what was your vision then, 15 years ago and how has your vision and aspirations changed over time? chef andres: my mom -- they showed me the amazing people we have every day. they seem always to make the impossible possible. they were a very big influence on me. but for me, an important moment

in my life. it was the first time i saw -- being aware that there was any quality. moments like when i did the military service. i was with 300 people. i was able to see the wall and i saw the disparities. and first time i came to america, first time i saw the big american flag on a very beautiful -- it was almost like the lights in this room. i was looking at the stars. and i thought, man, america is amazing. they think it is much more

romantic when you see the stars on the american flag. everything is possible. for me, coming to america, i came with a visa. that is another conversation. and then i came in 1993. from the very beginning, it was an opportunity. first customer, who is this guy? he knew every word. your favorite customer is him? i am in trouble. senator thompson from tennessee, i was volunteering.

not a stiff kitchen. fighting for food, bringing everything to the kitchen and learning that it was not about food waste but the important thing was -- he said philanthropy and charity is always the redemption of the giver. philanthropy should be about the liberation of the receiver. i was volunteering. people like me, we are part of

the many. it helps us to impact the lives of the many. with that simple idea that food is a powerful engine of change, then i began seeing certain moments that happened in front of me. the clara barton home and office was discovered. the woman that was single-handedly working behind the hospitals, both sides. fascinating process. clara barton and people like my mom taking care of the many. i was in all of what she did.

and then came hurricane katrina. do you remember katrina and the superdome? forget everything else. it was mayhem. thousands of americans in the superdome without food or water. how could america leave thousands of people -- i'm not talking all of new orleans, the superdome. you know what it is. everybody thinks it is a place where you go to see dolly parton for your favorite david matthews band or your favorite nfl team but no. they entertain with the sports and the music. we did nothing.

i did nothing. everything began building. 2010, haley happened. it was a big influence on me. i came back. i had partners. they said, where are you going? i had this necessity to start learning and getting involved. when i arrived, there was a local. i began cooking next to a man and a woman. that is the moment i began

learning how my profession could be not only the service of feeding the few and the good times but how it could be a service of feeding the many. that is how the kitchen came to be. >> when that happened -- now that you started that, it is a great origin story. it is very moving. what had the last few years taught you, the dozens of crisis is that you have looked at? how has it molded over time? chef andres: the more we know -- me as a cook, people call me chef, but i have great chefs running my kitchen. the more i know, the more i know nothing. it is very important because it

is very important because you think that you know it. you bring down the voices of people in front of you. one of the great things is that while we have an amazing team, these people coming out one at a time. they came randomly. they began helping us in the middle of the night. it is almost like they hired themselves. who do we have? great. one thing i learned, i think everybody was learning. every mission is a mission of learning, of more experiences. i do not think we responded twice in the same way. the lesson is that we do not

plan. i'm sure in the functionality of the conversation, the people that they have, they had a plan. but in the core of who we are, the pure emergency, showing up after volcanoes, earthquakes, tsunami, fire, you name it. when you follow a plan, the plan of life, you graduate, you find somebody like, you want to live together, you have babies and then a wedding, you are a grandpa or a grandma. in business, every business has a plan. we are taught to plan.

if you rely on the plan, there are only so many plans you can plan for. what happens if something happens that you never have the time to plan for? if you are only taught to follow a plan, you freeze in the face of a disaster. when you embrace the complexity of the moment you adapt, that situation, that mayhem is an opportunity for you to come with something that nobody thought of. every time something happens, it is not something you freeze or you shake your head and say, we are doomed. in a strange way, of happiness, of knowing that you're going to be adapting and rise to the

circumstances and be able to produce. bringing people together. a week from today, in this moment, the urgency of now is yesterday. this is the lessons we have been learning. that is how we reach so many meals already. more than six kitchens waiting to be opened. an organization that had no experience in a complicated place. we have been behaving like the bigger organization. why? we did not follow a plan. that is why we have been able to

respond. the mayhem has been going on. what happened and the terrible thing that happened is why we responded. the terrible thing is happening. we are in chile. that is not following a plan. we have tried to transform mayhem into an opportunity to serve others. >> how do you decide where to go? do you respond to everything? >> some of the team is led by the ceo. i do not run the organization. i funded it.

i became chairman and you know and they name you chairman, it means move on. i say i am the first volunteer because i was the first one, the only one. i see myself as that. i see myself as a whisper. i have ideas of what we should be doing. but that is why we have great teams that collaborate. they win the day. we use logic. i do not know. we are trying to learn from the bigger organizations and they have an amazing men and women. but they become so big that they

do not know what they are supposed to be doing. i think we need to be finding and being nimble enough that we are, but >> to grow enough. one day, we will. hopefully we will say -- at times we have been responding. sometimes not a lot of people go. but because we have a talent, because our ideas are simple. we are trying to do this as fast and as quick as we can. you are empowered to do whatever it takes to do that. with that simple rule of engagement, teams are usually successful because they are empowered to do whatever it takes.

that is why we had more than 5000 ukrainians feeding ukraine. obviously, they support from poland, but we had very few people. in gaza, only one team member. obviously they support, but only one member went inside. my friend and amazing leader. sometimes it is only one or two people. but you do not want to send too many people into a war zone. if we are able to send a few people and gathered the community, and make them stronger, and they make it successfully, then we are becoming very good. where do we respond? anywhere there is a need. there have been fires in texas.

within six hours, these were already delivering. [applause] it is a small operation. >> how are you able to move so quickly within six hours? chef andres: because the world has never been more connected and because -- i do not know if you know, but the world kitchen is the biggest organization. we are bigger than the biggest government. we are bigger than the biggest private company. we are much bigger than the u.n. we are the biggest organization in the history of mankind. why? because every person that wants to volunteer -- every restaurant, every food

drive, every arena, every stadium, every helicopter, every amphibious vehicle, every submarine -- they all belong to the kitchen. what happens is they do not know it yet. that is what we think. that is by we needed helicopters and one-vote with two landings. did we deliver meals -- we did. if we do one point 5 million meals in ukraine? yes, we did. are we doing over when 50,000 meals a day in gaza? yes, we did.

why? because everything belongs to us. that is our attitude. every asset is ours. we take that responsibility to deliver, that way we can be nimble. we do not need a lot of power. we own the power, spiritually. that is why we are able to be so big, so quick. we think everything belongs to us because we can think that way. this way, we can be -- we believe we can one day respond everywhere. that is if we use the resources at our disposal, in the right way. i endorse this message. >> i know you talked a little bit -- [applause] it sounds like you could run for politics but this work is the

primary. i wanted to talk a little bit about the work that you are doing in some other places but particularly in gaza. the u.s. will be dropping aid into gaza. what is your take on what it means and why the u.s. is only now getting involved? >> sometimes it takes time to warm up. obviously, they have been doing -- we began saying that we were doing air drops. i myself was in an airdrop. the airdrop that we did, we did it because we were working very closely with military of jordan.

they were providing important things. i can say that members in the kitchen, lever relate three times. i will tell you that in many ways, air drops is not our invention. it was done before to great success. i would say that leaders are pushing for the government to do air drops. sometimes it is not what we do but what we push others to do. now, finally, i can show you and he will understand one day. they do more strategic air drops

and it is essential. it will also be, if you follow my twitter, we are working to go to the beaches of gaza. is it smart to be doing air drops? smart it is, but is it necessary to be doing air drops and thinking about landing on the beaches in the middle of a war zone? i wish we didn't have to, but we cannot control the circumstances of the war. i wish i could stop the war tomorrow. that i had the power with my finger and find peace and give the people of palestine what they deserve and release of hostages to their feals and one day israelis and palestinians will be forever living in peace and especially palestinian people will dream of having the future they deserve like every other free country should.

we can make sure we provide food and water because the circumstances, the political situation for a lot of reasons is not enough humanitarian aid going in. that's why we need to be thinking boat and finally u.s. is joining. specifically i was talking about this. i am very proud and happy in a finally u.s. government is joining the initiative of king abdullah and other countries and hopefully doing not only one massive air drop in the north but continuous massive air drops in the north. we have put in jordan that that food, we bought it with the idea that we could be dropping it from the air. i am very happy that this is happening but it it needs to happen every day massive ways. people are hungry. it's already a humanitarian disaster. the least we can do is make sure everybody is fed, everybody provided with food and water. that's the least we can do for the people of palestine. >> you mentioned the boat.

i believe the boat's name is called open arms. it's been ready to go with the food, with the water. what was your thinking as to sort of when to launch this boat? >> well, i don't know if you remember but in ukraine we were the first people to arrive by boat. we didn't have to. we had enough food in ukraine. ukraine never needed food. ukraine is a country that exports food, but why we did it because we wanted to learn the situation of why ukraine was not able to be sending the grain. we wanted to learn. so for me it was great to have these good friends, they saved, rescued people in the mediterranean and bring them to a safe port. oscar, leader, i called him like we need to go to use rain, to see other sources in case

something happens that we can bring food to odessa. we made it happen. we did four, five trips. when this happened and we saw that the number of trucks going into gaza was never enough and these people especially to bring food to the north. we thought what if we put together the plan of having the boat, not just a boat to go in but to help push for barges that they can be coming from cyprus that hopefully the israelis can check all this stuff in cyprus making sure everything is what they want and bring it to the beaches. again why are we thinking in such a bold way? because right now the people of gaza don't deserve anything else. in moments of great need is when the best and greatest ideas need to be considered. so will you see maybe soon the arrival of a boat to the beaches or many boats to the beaches of

gaza? right now it seems almost impossible but the air drops also seem impossible not too long ago. many people were saying it was impossible. now it's happening. if we are not able to bring big quantities into gaza, we need to consider the beach and maybe before you know it, you will see a bunch of boats arriving to the beaches of gaza. >> i know that usaid said in recent days they're calling for the opening of more channels into gaza. currently as far as we know, there are only two crossings, maybe this boat is opening up a third. but how optimistic are you that israel would agree to opening up enough crossings to allow food to flow in to stave off the food crisis there? >> again, i wish i could stop the war, but i can't. it's only person who can do that. it's one person.

the administration, one thing is a public message. either we believe behind the doors, been doing a push to make sure that obviously achieve and more humanitarian aid. i want to believe this has been happening, but the humanitarian disaster could be stopped tomorrow if israel will open more spots in the north immediately because then we can get enough track from the south, from the north and we can be covering all of gaza, quick and fast. why it's not happening is always politics. if you think about politics, politics is the worst thing of democracy. the worst politics should be eradicated from the language. the onl -- only thing we need is policy and common sense. politics is becoming something i have no idea of what to run the country or how to run democracy.

i am going to throw all this to you and you are going to throw all this to me. no ideas will be put on the table to solve the problems of the people. we are fools because we follow the game of politics. what are good policies that solve the problems of the people? because we have a group of people that keep the president in power, those few people are able to make sure that no israeli -- any entry point will happen from israel itself. therefore we have a crisis in gaza. obviously putting on top what the cease-fire will achieve to start moving in the right direction. so what can we do? should we be opening those extra one or two entry points toward the nor? totally. can it be happening tomorrow? totally. why it's not happening?

because politics. that's why i don't like politics. when i go to disasters in america or around the world, i don't see people that have the red or the blue. i don't see people that they are christians or jewish or muslims or -- i just see people. unfortunately, i see the best of people and in the worst moments of humanity. the best people in unbelievable ways show up. when we go to disasters we only see people helping people. the world should be like that all the time. people helping people. what is good for me must be good for you. ened-- and unfortunately that is not what is happening. in every situation i think you will agree with me that can be

many truths at the same time. but very often people are selfish and they only want their truth to be the one. i don't -- i want my people safe. i want my people safe. great. no, but my people need to be safer than yours. or you kill my people. why did you kill mine? you kill more than mine. one death is one too many. we need to be bringing in more pragmatists and more empathy, more understanding but the simple truth what is good for me must be good for you is something we need to start endorsing at all costs because if not we are going into anarchy, into mayhem. we can have many truths. you can be in favor of saying that no more children in gaza should be dying, but at the same time you can be saying that no more israeli people should be

dying if there are missiles fired by hezbollah. more people -- true, nobody should be dying. but sometimes it's only one truth versus the other and therefore we never find a common ground of peace, of understanding, of working towards a better tomorrow. that's the sad reality. when you tell me in israel and gaza, when i speak to people i don't see, hateful people. i didn't see hate. i see people that want peace. people that want to live with hope. that's what i see. unfortunately, that's not a conversation we hear, but when you are on the ground most of the time, you have people on both sides that they have compassion, that they will tell you we were not supposed to kill those. we are not supposed to be killing them. we are not supposed to be hungry

on both sides. i can give you phrases without telling you who said it, israeli and palestinian and you will be surprised. you will not be able to say who said the phrase. that means that it's a lot of goodness out there more than we think. but it's always mayhem. why? because sometimes the voices that control the conversation seem highly interested in the mayhem because that's how they keep in power. majority of the people don't want mayhem. they want hope. they want peace. what is good for me must be good for you. [applause] >> i know you were at the white house the other day and i know it was for a different initiative and i will ask about that in a second. but i am just kind of curious after everything you just said, did you have the chance to talk either to biden or to someone in the white house about some of these concerns with being able

to get food into gaza, about the administration's response? was that something you were able to talk about at all yesterday? >> you can ask them. >> so it is something that you did bring up? yes? what was their response? >> you can ask them. listen, everybody knows that washington was a blessing in more ways than one. but one of the blessings is in certain moments that i believe are important for different reasons, able to do my little voice that hopefully contributes. listen, in the pandemic, the first thing i did was visit the department of agriculture and visit the white house. meeting with mrs. trump and her

team. why? because america needed all of us to have a good response to make sure nobody would be going hungry. if it's a door that i believe i can knock, that can help us to provide food and water, i will knock on the door all the time. this is not any different. but again this arrangement i am very proud and happy and yes, america can and should be and will do more, and i hope it's something that will continue, equally with ukraine. i am not a fan of war. i am not thrilled of what has been happening with our lack of support from congress to help people that are fighting for democracy and freedom, defend their land. [applause] so i hope this responds to your

question. >> you also mentioned ukraine and i did want to see if you could chat just a little bit about your operations there. world central kitchen now entering its third year in ukraine. what is the status of your operations there? >> in ukraine, we don't have the same -- we have done more than -- i think today the team was sharing the numbers with the board. we have done in the north of 264 million meals. especially the first nine months, i think was unbelievably important because we were first in poland, then in every other country surrounding ukraine with all the people that were leaving ukraine, all the refugees, all the displaced people. we began moving inside quickly.

obviously because we are mainly emergency, we gave time to other organizations. the ukrainian government, the u.n., program, usaid, etc. and it is when we start moving down, but our work if anything right now is even more important. we are doing hundreds of thousands of meals a month. we have an amazing team that responds in less than three hours to any time you see a missile hit that unfortunately more and more people are dying because of it. russia has been increasing number of bombings exponentially. the teams are right there feeding the first responders, feeding the people that their homes have been damaged. again within three hours, we receive photos. so i am very proud of this and we are in these areas very close to the frontlines, where many elderly people or many people that are poor, that because they

are elderly and don't have family they don't want to move. i wish they would move, but at the same time, if they feel that way, we cannot leave them alone. i am amazed that we have ukrainian team members that are risking their lives to keep those people fed. that's very much what world central kitchen has been doing right now besides supporting other -- one of the things i am the proudest that we did the first year which was early on, farmers were not planting seeds because they had a lot of rain in their silos and because the blockade, they couldn't export the grain. without exporting the grain, that's why putin is really beyond -- almost leaving parts of the world hungry. that's why the grain deal was so important and that's why we went by boat to try to find ways to bring awareness to that situation. but we began buying seeds for

the farmers because the farmers would not plant because they had no money. the banks would not give them loans and they didn't want to risk it when they had the silos full and more space for the next harvest. so we said if we put the grain, will you take the risk of producing? they said yes. so we did many seeds we gave them but we did something else that i am very proud. we are on the third year, tens of thousands of families that live near the war zone, they all have a farm in front of their home. they are some of the best farmers in the world. but they didn't have access because of money or infrastructure, access to seeds. so for the third year we have been giving not only the big farmers as we did in the first year but giving the smaller farmers for their home 10, 12 different seeds, what we call the package where families that

have been able to plan the different potatoes that will help them go through the winter, besides selling some of the extra production to make some income so they have some money. this is probably one of the smallest investment world central kitchen has done with the biggest output of food and achievement. so we are right now delivering the seeds to many of these families as we also keep bringing them fresh fruits and vegetables. so this is the type of work we keep doing in ukraine beyond other things like buying tracks for farmers that they had no tracks because all of them were taken by the military but it's making their lives on the farms very difficult and oir few -- other few things we are doing. >> so there is gaza, there is ukraine. i also know you have operations right now in chile in response to wildfires. can you talk a little bit about

what you are doing there? >> i don't follow -- i follow everything the organization does. we have this simple, very powerful what's app systems, and that's why my nights are usually going through my what's apps and it's fascinating to see, especially i am a guy that i am very visual and i like photos. the teams are the best. it's almost like every member of world central kitchen is a journalist. very often you see many difficult places, some of the first videos of the chaos sometimes happens is world central kitchen teams, has happened more than once. i am very proud of that because that tells you how big we are. in chile the same thing has been happening, the same thing happened in japan. i was able to meet with some of the teams a few weeks ago when i

visited japan. just doing the operation, putting the teams together. the same thing happened with world central kitchen -- i don't remember the country, but sometimes something happens and few times we have received a photo of a restaurant or a diner or somewhere far away, and world central kitchen sometimes painted by hand, like man, people, you are quick. you are already here. then calling the team is like we are quick, man. me, i am always complaining we are not quick enough which i shouldn't because the teams are unbelievably quick but it's the way to bring your guard down. we show up in three hours. what should we do? this kind of thing. but sometimes this happens. the fascinating thing -- you remember the postman. the postman, kevin costner, in

this kind of pose, end of the war situation, apocalyptic situation, democracy and very much almost like now. yeah, come on. it's a joint congressional committee -- it's a joke, people. the postman delivering the post cards and the mail, was almost the first sign that democracy maybe was about to start again. the postman became like hope. even kevin costner was doing it only to save his life because they were about to kill him. i am the postman, i am bringing mail. democracy is -- whatever. sometimes word central kitchen is happening like that. they knew what we do, they say

you know what, i am going to start feeding because something is happening in my town. world central kitchen, we didn't know. this happened already few times. what i am fascinating is world central kitchen is not the organization, which is important, but it's an idea. it's an idea that is shared by many and sometimes that idea is shared by somebody using the logo, same i am doing free meals even if we are clueless it's happening. but i am very proud that world central kitchen has been able to become this idea that anybody can belong to it even if they don't know anybody in the main organization. i think this is the power of what world central kitchens are achieving. >> it's like the bat signal. >> it's like the bat signal. >> it's impressive because it takes a little bit of effort to do the logo. you have to have colors and shapes.

>> you know we wanted the logo with colors because some of the logos, they're all so -- so one color. and look at the colors. it's the world. it's happiness. it's hope. if you take a look at the feed of our social media, we don't go telling you everything. we go to tell you how good everything is if you are behind us. we don't look for donors telling them everybody is dying. we know the situation is bad. we are showing you what we are doing and that if you support us, more can be done. we rely on hope, not in darkness. i believe world central kitchen in many ways if you take a look when we began, especially seven years ago to today, what used to

be the social media of other bigger n.g.o.'s and today, everybody has changed because we always -- we never give videos telling you what we were about to do. we always with full warehouses. like what the -- your warehouses for? now it's empty. why? because we are delivering the food in real time. we always show people cooking, delivering, traveling in a helicopter, in a boat, in a horse. always going somewhere. and we have been influencing a lot of the social media which i am very happy don't tell me what you will do tomorrow. show me what you are doing today. this is the least we can do. [applause] >> as you have these teams all over the world in these dangerous places, how do you think about making sure that

your folks are being kept safe so they can continue to do the work? >> well, it's really a question better for the c.o.o. of word central kitchen. we have good systems and parameters, team members that their main role is looking for the safety. but let's face one thing. when people are living in the mayhem of a fire or a tornado, the members of world central kitchen are going toward the earthquake, going toward the tornado. we are an emergency response organization. it's dangerous. i mean, you can be in washington, d.c. not far away from where we are, nothing

happens. i am not making fun of it. it's a reality. when we go to emergencies, it's dangerous. when we are flying over with a helicopter for one hour with no near airport to be able to land to reach the people, it's a danger. when we are in a place that cables have broken down, it's a danger. so it's a danger in much of what we do. that's why the men and women that joined world central kitchen, they join knowing of those dangers. do we send anybody to danger? no. we do it controlled. do we send anybody without their own wishes to go somewhere? no. nobody is in gaza that doesn't want to be. nobody went to ukraine that didn't want to go. nobody goes anywhere that they wish not to go. but i will be -- the first month

of the war, my daughter inez, my second daughter who just graduated from georgetown, came with me to poland. as i was going to go for my second or third time into ukraine, my daughter stayed with a team in poland that we had already a very big kitchen helping us feed all the people in the border in poland. a beautiful operation. my daughter looked at me like i am not staying in poland. i am coming with you to ukraine. i am like, your mom is going to kill me. my daughter was like daddy, how do you want me to be part of solving the problems of the world without risking something? she came. she was my driver. she came for four days with me. i was very proud of that. as a father, i was right to

bring a my daughter into a place that was a war zone, in hindsight maybe not but maybe yes. i believe i will not protect my daughters putting them behind four walls. i am going to be protecting my daughters if we believe build a longer table, what is good for my daughter must be good for others. i do believe it's my way to build a better world. i don't believe building walls around my daughters will protect them more. i do believe by showing them the world we live in and helping make a better world is the way i will keep my daughters protected. i do believe it's the same for every team at world central kitchen. >> i know that we talked a little about the white house but we haven't asked you an actual question about what you were doing there, which was part of an announcement for $1.7 billion in new commitments to end hunger in the u.s. from 140 different organizations. you have been very involved in

this effort as one of the co-chairs of biden's counsell on sports, fitness and nutrition. why? hey, look, question. >> i was trying to be looking for them. i forgot i took them. >> we will try to get to a couple of them. i did want to ask why -- for this white house initiative, why this, why now? >> this was huge. it was big. i don't know if you remember, during the pandemic, vice president biden -- everything was stopped. world central kitchen was not stopped. we were doing millions of meals all across america, india, other places. i remember the u.n. was shut down. we had the entire hotel for us in new york because we were feeding every hospital in new york. that's how proud i am of the team of world central kitchen. yeah, you can clap on that one. we were feeding every hospital in new york. [applause]

>> we fed 100 hospitals in india in the mayhem of the pandemic. but during the pandemic was -- if you remember was elections. because these gatherings were not happening. they invite me to be on the town hall with president biden, vice president biden. the town hall was about food. technically the first time in the history of presidential elections that a town hall happened about food. i was very proud of that. not for me, for him. i believe it was important. out of that was only a very simple ask. can we do a white house food conference? again, the first one and the last one happened in 1969, the

year i was born, president nixon. great things came out of that conference. so i am very proud of the white house then after that town hall took on that challenge. susan rice was a champion. she made it happen, brought out the best of congress, bipartisan and did the white house food conference last year, which i hope we will see great results in we will see great results in the next one to three years. already, we are seeing great results. believing that food cannot only sit on the shoulders of our culture. we need to change the name to the department of food. now you have seen the secretaries working together because food can also be help.

why? because we have markets in places where women especially, single mothers. but hope is different. it is requested. so american boys and girls -- food is everything. remember when we ran out of baby formula?

how much was baby formula? that happened and nobody saw it coming. every president in the world should have a national food security. i spoke to every single resident, every general, every minister of defense. the message was clear. when you take food seriously, i'm sorry. if you take food seriously, chances are that we will have less wars. you can clap on that one. i love china. i love chinese people. they have the best food in the world. i have no issue with chinese people. let me give you certain

situations very quickly. china has 50% of the world population and only have 7% of the farming land. well, how are they going to feed all the people? let's make sure that we are ahead and we make that into an opportunity, not to have conflict and war of control but an opportunity so that everyone is fed. there are many other issues. everybody is talking about food waste. what happens if we wake up tomorrow and the announcement is , planet earth does not have enough food to feed 8 billion people. i will make sure that you are fed. on that, you have my word.

but 2 million people without food? right now it seems like a science fiction movie, but in 2021, whatever the year was, we had a conflict in ukraine, we had the devastation of three countries. we had drought in asia. we had a fast in africa. -- pests in africa. we may be one day not too far away, it is a national issue, that we will not have food to feed everyone on planet earth. but we may be fighting for food. i hope our leaders is ahead of

the situation. i hope we are an agent of peace and not war. [applause] did i answer your question? >> you absolutely didn't. we are running short on time. we have one final question but before i do, had to take a moment to the organizers of the event. today's headliner event organizer linda ross and cecily scott martin, thank you all for your questions, fear participation today. now very quickly, some upcoming fence. on tuesday we will be hearing from entrepreneurs. they share practical advice on how to become a young entrepreneur. on march 13, this one is really important. we will be hearing from diane foley.

a freelance journalist who was captured and killed by isis will be talking about her new book. everyone who comes to the club, diplomats, celebrities -- i'm honored for you to have this. a key for all the amazing work that you have done throughout the world, here in the u.s. [applause] of course, for the final question, you said that we are all a part of world central kitchen, even if we do not know it yet. now that we know it, what can we do to help you and help your efforts. --help your efforts? chef andres: well, i never know what to do. i am usually terrible.

i collect books, especially old books and especially all cookbooks. there is one from 1826. it is a french guy. i like french people, but you know. spain, france -- do not give water to the enemy. i have an issue. the guy died the same year the book was published and his name was not on the cover of the book because he was ashamed of what he wrote. he said something important that i kept repeating to every member of congress, senate, everywhere.

the future of the nations will depend on how they feed themselves. the day we need your help, you will know, unfortunately. you will receive the call. you will know when it is your time to serve. you will need to serve every hour, every minute of every day. but further world central kitchen, you'll know when you are meeting. the moment is not to be silent in the comfort of yourself, thinking about what you believe in, but move away from your sofa and show up. especially things that have to do with food.

we need immigration reform. even if you do not care about immigrants, if you do not care about the undocumented, fine. do not give a care about the undocumented. but if you want to support immigration reform, this is one way you can be supporting. the farm bill, i -- i would not mind to have a rishaad. i hope i will. if i do not, it is fine. i do not have a problem with big companies, but we cannot have a farm bill that has the only companies benefiting as the big companies. give it to everybody. or do not give subsidies to anybody.

the very big ones are receiving. support the right farm bill. with action in a pragmatic way. putting politics aside and supporting good policies. do not support any leader who does not have a policy plan. if they are playing politics, do not even look at them. support -- one solution at a time for every problem that we face. sometimes, big products have simple solutions. we do it one plate of food at a time. >> perfect. thank you so much. thank you again. chef andres: thank you, guys. [applause]

>> earlier today, president biden of served -- observed memorial day. you can watch the full event tonight on c-span. it is also available on c-span now, our free mobile video app or online at c-span.org. c-span's washington journal discussing the latest issues in government, politics and public policy from washington and across the country. coming up tuesday morning, talking about police community engagement with atlanta based

organizing of the group. and we will discuss health clinic -- health care in the u.s. the chair of the committee to reduce infectious death. joining the conversation live at 7:00 eastern on c-span, c-span now or online at c-span.org. >> on tuesday, fiona hill and others discuss the effectiveness of u.s. sanctions imposed on russia from the brookings institution, watch live on c-spanc-span now or online at c-span.org. ♪ >> today and unprecedented --

landed on the shores of normandy. >> these are the boys. these are the men who took the cliffs. these are the champions who helped to free a continent and the heroes that helped to end a war. >> 2 million suns from 15 countries jumped into a new five filled skies and a bloodsoaked surface and met death on an even playing -- plain. >> they improvised and mounted their own attacks. at that exact moment on these beaches, the forces of freedom turned the tide of the 20th century. >> that road was hard and long, traveled by weary and valiant men.

and history will always record where that road began. it began here with the first footprints on the beaches of normandy. >> more than 150,000 souls set off towards this tiny sliver of sand upon which hung the fate of a war. but rather the course of human history. >> today we remember those who fell and we honor all who thought, right here in normandy. >> watched c-span's live special coverage of the anniversary of d-day, thursday, june 6, featuring a speech from president biden. >> next, former white house chief of staff share stories