Jose Andres Quotes

“I believe no chef becomes what he becomes without having many people influence him.”

— Jose Andres

“Like many parents after a long family holiday, I usually welcome the moment when my kids head back to school.”

— Jose Andres

“IBM has research and development; so do Microsoft and Nike and even Jose Andres. But there hasn't been enough R&D on feeding people in the Third World. This has to be part of the process; if not, we'll keep throwing money at the problem instead of investing in true solutions.”

— Jose Andres

“The first time I saw America was from my perch on the mast of a Spanish naval ship, where I could spot the Statue of Liberty reaching proudly into the open, endless American sky.”

— Jose Andres

“I'm always looking to the future and what will next be on the horizon.”

— Jose Andres

“If what I have to do is share a sandwich to lift someone's spirits, put a smile on their face - the worst thing that happens is I go broke!”

— Jose Andres

“Me, I'm an encyclopedia. I'm not a very smart guy, but I'm an encyclopedia. You can ask me about anything you want. Probably I have the book; probably I have a first edition.”

— Jose Andres

“Simple ingredients, treated with respect ... put them together and you will always have a great dish.”

— Jose Andres

One thing that makes me very happy is to see the growing activism among chefs in America. Chefs like Tom Colicchio, Bill Telepan, and Rachel Ray and food writers like Michael Pollan have gone to Congress, indeed sometimes even have testified before Congress, have lent this support to Mrs. Obama's effort to combat childhood obesity.

— Jose Andres

“For me, summer hasn't really started until tomatoes reappear in local farmers' markets.”

— Jose Andres

“Tapas is a celebration of life.”

— Jose Andres

“Everyone else in the world still thinks of American food as ketchup.”

— Jose Andres

“As chefs, we work with organizations like Oxfam to enrich their projects with culinary tools, recipes and ideas.”

— Jose Andres

“We still have to keep betting on markets like America that are full of opportunities to grow, even if we have to work our heads off to do it.”

— Jose Andres

“I remember that at the beginning of the month, the kind of menus my mom and father would prepare for us would have fish, chicken. But at the end of the month - because my father would be waiting for paycheck - the refrigerator would get empty. I remember that without a lot of food left, some of the best meals happened right there.”

— Jose Andres

“As a chef and as a father, I am very upset by what's on the menu at most schools: chicken nuggets and tater tots and ketchup and pizza.”

— Jose Andres

“As chefs, we cook to please people, to nourish people.”

— Jose Andres

I started culinary school at a very young age, and really I wanted to be out working, cooking, more than I wanted to be in a classroom. You could say I wasn't a very good student - I wanted to be a student of life and experience.

— Jose Andres

“I always say that I don't believe I'm a chef. I try to be a storyteller.”

— Jose Andres

Simple ingredients prepared in a simple way - that's the best way to take your everyday cooking to a higher level.

— Jose Andres

“Anchovies pair really well with fruit like a nectarines or clementine. The fruit complements the sweetness and saltiness of the anchovy.”

— Jose Andres

“Anyone who knows me knows that I always like to keep moving.”

— Jose Andres

“Our brain, our body, craves fat. We cannot help it. That's why a kid will eat a hot dog quicker than a piece of broccoli.”

— Jose Andres

The history of cooking is my passion, and cooking is my passion.

— Jose Andres

“I eventually settled in Washington, where my partners and I have been fortunate to build a restaurant business that now employs thousands of Americans across the country.”

— Jose Andres

“Let me tell you a story about when I was growing up in Spain. Many Sundays, we would invite 30, 40, 50 people to the countryside, and my father would make a big paella. He put me in charge of the fire and the 'stove' - the rocks that hold the pan. But he wouldn't let me cook. I got so unbelievably upset.”

— Jose Andres

“Meat, to me, it's slightly boring. Hold on, I love meat too, but only once in a while. You get a piece of meat, and you put it in your mouth, you chew, the first five seconds, all the juices flow around your mouth, they're gone, and then you are 20 more seconds chewing something that is tasteless at this point.”

— Jose Andres

“When we are trying to come up with new health laws, you bring doctors, you bring experts in medicine. In urban planning, you bring the best architects. How it is possible that when we are talking about the way we are going to feed America, no chef shows up in the room?”

— Jose Andres

Good things, you can't rush into them.

— Jose Andres

American cooking is one of the unknown cuisines in America.

— Jose Andres

“As immigrants, we understand better than most that to be an American is a privilege that conveys not just rights but responsibilities.”

— Jose Andres

“I don't know any group of professionals that mobilize as fast and as often as chefs do when there are people who are in need.”

— Jose Andres

“Don't put too many chefs to work. Sometimes they get too involved in the ingredients and are of no help.”

— Jose Andres

“Dragon fruit is very subtle, very delicate. So you want to be careful not to kill it with things that have very strong flavor.”

— Jose Andres

“Eating has to be fun.”

— Jose Andres

“I want e by Jose Andres to be a discovery, to be a journey. I want people to find it and be astonished.”

— Jose Andres

“I'm sorry for the ducks; I love foie gras.”

— Jose Andres

Italians allow anything in their cooking.

— Jose Andres

“To feed a nation is never easy!”

— Jose Andres

“We should all be involved in the avant-garde as long as we look toward the past.”

— Jose Andres

When you become an American, they give you an injection so your accent changes.

— Jose Andres

When you cook a sausage, the skin sometimes breaks and the ground meat comes apart.

— Jose Andres

A plancha is just a hot flat surface. So if you think about it, anything is a plancha, like a saute pan or a griddle. A la plancha is the perfect way to cook for a crowd.

— Jose Andres

“America gave me the opportunity to open successful restaurants, start a TV show, and write books. I can even fill an auditorium when I give a speech, which in America is rare for a chef.”

— Jose Andres

“I don't think anybody can claim success at any part of our lives, private or professional, if there are others that don't enjoy the same opportunities.”

— Jose Andres

“I remember being a young boy in Spain and watching my parents cook. We didn't go to a lot of restaurants because we didn't always have the money, so cooking at home was just what we did.”

— Jose Andres

“In Spain, we mainly use red plum tomatoes, but it is always fun to experiment. Try using a mix of colors or substitute green tomatoes for plum next time you make a tomato dish.”

— Jose Andres

“People ask me in Europe, when they do interviews ... they ask me, 'Well, how does it feel to be a cook in a country that doesn't know how to eat?' It always touches a nerve, because Europe and the world think that America is no more than bad hot dogs and bad burgers.”

— Jose Andres

“Steakhouses serve these big steaks. The first piece is hot, and the last piece is cold. The way I like to eat is to try three or four cuts of meat. People should actually be eating less meat, and the meat they eat should be special.”

— Jose Andres

Food is about making an interaction with ingredients. If you talk to them, they will always tell you a story.

— Jose Andres