MR. KOJO NNAMDIJose Andres came to Washington, D.C. more than two decades ago as an ambassador of Spanish cuisine. He built a career as a chef and a life in the nation's capital by introducing eaters to a new culinary universe, vegetable by vegetable, a small plate by small plate, meal by meal, eventually making dishes like paella in restaurants like Jaleo every bit as much of Washington's cultural identity as the chili half-smokes on U Street. Chef Andres still carries a flair for the food of his home country.

MR. KOJO NNAMDIBut he's also become the ambassador of the culinary scene here in Washington that he's put on the worldwide map, an effort that culminated last week when he won the James Beard Foundation award for outstanding chef, an honor that's considered to be the Oscar of the food world. Jose Andres joins us in studio. He is a chef and owner of the Think Food Group, the team behind restaurants in the Washington area like Jaleo, Zaytinya, Minibar and Oyamel.

MR. KOJO NNAMDIHis newest venture here is called the America Eats Tavern. He's the author of several cookbooks and the host and executive producer of the PBS television series "Made in Spain." Jose Andres, good to see you.

MR. JOSE ANDRES(laugh) So happy to be back, Kojo.

NNAMDILast week, you were honored by the outstanding chef award by the James Beard Foundation. We have had the chance so far to offer you congratulations on the air and online, but we have not had the chance so far to say congratulations in person, and this is something that we have to do with a fanfare.

NNAMDI(laugh) Congratulations.

ANDRESThank you. (laugh) This is like the soccer song...

NNAMDIExactly.

ANDRES...we sing when we go to see the Spanish team on a soccer team play.

NNAMDIWe thought it would be appropriate. A lot of people consider this award to be the highest honor that a chef can receive in the U.S. What does it mean to you?

ANDRESWell, you know, it means a lot. James Beard Foundation carries the name of Mr. James Beard who, without a doubt, was probably the person that began the culinary movement in America, we may say. And so, to receive this award 21 years later after I arrive America, it's almost like a dream come true, right? Everyone says America is the land of opportunities. And, my dear Kojo, I only can be thankful because America really dreams of your heart dreams -- can happen.

ANDRESAnd in a moment that we are almost talking about immigration and immigration reform that, you know, a chef that came from Spain but now -- and knows where I come from but I also know where I belong used to receive this award is almost like to say, well, immigrants also can have a very positive contribution to the making of this great country. And I'm honored of the opportunity I got, and I hope I'll keep working hard to make this country even better.

NNAMDIIf you'd like to join this conversation with Jose Andres, you can call us at 800-433-8850. That's 800-433-8850. What do you think Jose Andres winning the James Beard award for outstanding chef means for the culinary scene here in Washington, D.C.? 800-433-8850. Go to our website, kojoshow.org. Ask a question, make a comment there, or send us a tweet, @kojoshow, or email to kojo@wamu.org. It wasn't long ago, Jose, that a lot of people thought of D.C. as a town of steakhouses.

NNAMDIWe didn't have much of a reputation as a food city. That's changed since you've been here. What do you think this award says about the culture, the culinary culture we now have in D.C.?

ANDRESWell, when I came Washington almost 20 years ago, you know, maybe we didn't have hundreds of each. But when I came, I remember, we had the great Jean-Louis Palladin, without a doubt, the greatest French chef in America. And we had great Ethiopian restaurants in Adams Morgan. And we had Roberto Donna, the greatest Italian chef in America. And I can keep going and going -- and Michel Richard. So I will only say that, you know, I'm happy I just put my little contribution -- opening a tapas place and then few others and somehow making Washington, D.C., the tapas capital city of America, where everyone else around the country has kind of applied the small-dish concept to their own.

NNAMDIAnd changing the way so many of us eat. We follow you on Twitter. It's actually part of how we arrange for you to join us today. But we noticed that you recently came to the defense there of one of your fellow chefs, Spike Mendelsohn, who's been a guest on this show also, the former "Top Chef" star who's been catching a lot of flack lately for suggesting in an interview that Washington is a second-tier city in the food universe. You said that his comments were not meant to be disrespectful and that he loves this city and its culinary scene.

ANDRESI mean, Spike is a great guy, I know. He and his family call Washington home, and I know how proud they are to be here. And sometimes, when you are giving interviews and you talk about everything, you know, he didn't imply, by me reading the interview, that this was a second-tier city. But, you know, we are a small town. We are 600,000 strong. And, yes, we have Virginia and Maryland around, but Washington is 600. It's no more. And I think what he implied with that is we are a small town, but what happens is we have a lot of muscle and a lot of power, especially when they give us representation in the Senate and Congress level. (laugh)

NNAMDIAlways putting his foot in the political scene, Jose Andres. Your fellow Beard award winner, Tim Carman, also defended Spike. He wrote that for all the great things happening with our food scene here, we are still in the process of building culinary traditions here in Washington, D.C., that are competitive with the New Yorks and the San Franciscos. Would you agree that we're... ?

ANDRESNo, I don't agree with Tim at all. I think we have already many traditions. But I think Washington is still a young city. America, you could argue, is still a young country even if it is an old democracy. I do believe that what we have to be doing is not complaining or not kind of wishing we had something. But what we need to do is to realize what we are, to realize what we have and empower those things. So, me, I get very upset when someone always says, well, I've been here 30 years, but I don't really belong here.

ANDRESI'm from Wisconsin. I'm like, what are you talking about? I've been here 20 years and no one is gonna take away that I am a true Washingtonian. You belong to where you decide you belong, not to where your birth certificate says you belong. And this is a reality and, well, I'm very happy that the way I belong is through being a citizen of the neighborhood I live, of the community I live, of the city I live. And I'm gonna embrace it no matter what. I believe we have amazing culinary traditions.

ANDRESWhat happens is, some of the traditions are Ethiopian, some of the traditions are Italian, some of the traditions are American. And, you know what, we should be happy to be able to celebrate when we talk about food that we have so many things to choose from. Our melting pot doesn't make us weaker. Our melting pot only make us only stronger.

NNAMDIJose Andres, fast becoming a Washington institution himself, even though that does not imply that he's getting old as it does with most people who are called institutions. If you'd like to talk to him, 800-433-8850. What do you think you can learn about Washington's cultural identity from eating its food, both on the street and at the restaurants made famous by people like Chef Andres? 800-433-8850. Jose, to bring things full circle, you made a name for yourself here by serving your customers a taste of Spain by introducing them to small plates.

NNAMDILater, you branched out to Greek, Turkish and Lebanese recipes at Zaytinya. But your new venture, the America Eats Tavern, will connect diners to a quintessentially American kind of menu. What are you trying to do here? Where did your vision for this project come from?

ANDRESI will explain the history of the world through the history of the foods that humanity eats.

NNAMDII'm so glad you think small. Go ahead. (laugh)

NNAMDIUnfortunately, we always explain history through the wars, through the things that separate us, and I love to tell the stories about the things that unite us, and food is the perfect thing. So America Eats -- I don't open restaurants to make money, quite frankly. I'm doing okay, but I open restaurants to tell stories, Kojo. You have a mic every morning and you tell your stories.

NNAMDIYup.

ANDRESI have a kitchen and a plate and a chair, where people come in and want to start this conversation with me. So to me, to the America Eats, it's almost my trying to have a little contribution about opening a door, about asking ourselves exactly what America is related to food. And that's the dream of America Eats. I'm gonna only try to plant a seed where everyone is gonna take every food they eat, not lightly anymore, but almost asking themselves, where are you coming from? Why are you -- the ketchup I'm eating today, where this ketchup came from? Why are we eating a mac and cheese? Why are we even eating for breakfast Eggs Benedict? Because I do believe having answers to these questions only give us a sense of belonging.

NNAMDIAmerica Eats will be a pop-up restaurant, though it will take over the space currently occupied by Cafe Atlantico, right?

ANDRESYes, pop-up restaurant is gonna be open only six month in partnership with an amazing institution that I've been 20 years walking around, the National Archives, which is funny because they made me the senior culinary...

NNAMDIChief culinary advisor...

ANDRESChief culinary advisor.

NNAMDI...to the exhibit, What's Cooking Uncle Sam?, of the National Archives.

ANDRESThat's the idea how I decided to do so quickly America Eats. The National Archives is doing exhibition about the influence of the government or our politicians and presidents in the way America eats, sometimes, good, sometimes, not so good. But what is amazing is that in a year that we are already discussing the next farm bill that is gonna be so important in making sure no kid is hungry in American overseas, making sure no one is obese in America, making sure that we are able to use food to create employment.

ANDRESThe farm bill is gonna be so important reminding -- the day I found out that the National Archives are doing exhibition, that is opening a door and asking questions and showing history over the last two or three centuries about how the government influence the way we are today when we talk about food. I thought that that was the moment, too, at the same time partner with the National Archives on opening this restaurant where we're gonna be showing the history of America through cooking, announce or tell America about, we need to care. We need to care when we vote. We need to care about what's the food policy of our presidents and our senators and congressmen, because it depends on their policies. We're gonna be a better society.

ANDRESSo, from now on, I hope every president, every congressman, every senator will have a food policy next to them, because they're gonna have to start answering the right questions to -- the right answers to all the amazing questions we had ahead to find -- ahead to find someone how to feed America better.

NNAMDIWe're gonna talk a little more about that. But I'd like to go to the telephones now and start with some callers. Here is Eric in Bethesda, Md. Eric, you're on the air. Go ahead, please.

ERICHey, Kojo. Thanks for putting me on. I just wanted to congratulate Jose Andres on his James Beard Award, and tell him that I'm Jose Andres' groupie according to my wife. (laugh)

ANDRESHola.

ERICI'm a 64-year-old retired guy. I watch his show and cook his show's meals on my stove. And I love pimenton. And I also appreciate him taking me back and forth to Spain on those little planes, coming back and forth to Washington and introducing us to new dishes every day. So, Jose, again, congratulations. You're the man.

ANDRESThank you very much. Give a kiss to your wife.

ERICI will do that.

NNAMDIEric, is this something you started doing after you started becoming a Jose Andres' groupie or were you into cooking before?

ERICI was into cooking before, but Jose got me hooked on Spanish cooking. And my wife works for Food Research & Action Center in Washington trying to keep children with -- in the WIC program, the CHIP program and the...

NNAMDISure. Yup.

ERIC...food stamps and all of that alive. So, you know, we're into food. I'm into Jose.

NNAMDI(laugh) Thank you very much for your call, Eric.

ERICYou're welcome.

NNAMDIJose Andres, you said at a press conference earlier this week that you wanna show that America is more than hotdogs and burgers and that you love hotdogs and burgers. But what is America about, food wise, to you?

ANDRESWow. It's so many things. And we need to go back in history and start looking for books. For example, he -- the caller mentioned pimenton, Spanish paprika. And so, it's this amazing recipe from 1931 from Irma Rombauer, the creator of "The Joy of Cooking," the most successful cookbook in the history of America. She has an amazing recipe, which is cocktail of a shrimp, S-H-R-I-M-P...

NNAMDIYes.

ANDRES...where it calls for a grapefruit, it calls for shrimp, for French dressing and for paprika. For some reason, this recipe is not found anywhere. And I do believe that this is a recipe that remain in the book, so in the history of America. And I wanna make sure that this dish is not forgotten. That will be a dish from the south (unintelligible) of America. That if, for some reason, didn't made it into the world, I'm gonna give opportunity to open that book to America and make sure that the histories of Irma Rombauer and the reason why she put the recipe on the book comes to life. That will be one of the recipes.

NNAMDIYou're talking about history, and you're talking about politics. There are pretty lively political discussions taking place across the country about everything from nutritional labeling to school lunches. How do you feel about the current conversation in America about that when it comes to food and public health?

ANDRESI think, over the last years, the last -- especially the last five, this conversation is happening at the higher and a higher level. The Atlantic, the Economist, you name it. Everyone is doing food conferences nonstop. Congressmen are coming on board. Senators are coming on board. Nutritionists -- so we have, you know, people like Michael Pollan. He has a couple of books out there. I recommend anyone to buy any of his books for you to understand what this situation. You may agree with some things. You may disagree with some things. But he gives you a very unique perspective. You know, Michael Pollan has said something about that -- what's the true meaning of civilization.

ANDRESWhen we talk about food, the very, very basic is the true meaning of civilization should be that no one is hungry. The goodness of the Earth should be shared by all. And this is not socialism or communism. This is pure morals. It's very hard for me to be serene the wealthy and the few. And knowing that not too far away from the capital of the United States of America, there is people, that even if they want to, they don't have a way to belong to the same society that I and you belong. And so they're gonna make a living. And so they don't have food to provide to their loved ones. Imagine food should be almost very much something that everyone should have access to as a way to start a conversation.

ANDRESSo hunger will be an important one, not only overseas, in Haiti and in Africa, but hunger in American people. We don't know them. Because if we know them and they were hungry, we will be very bad people. We don't know those people. But I can guarantee you they are out there somewhere. And we need to make sure that as a society and as a civilization, the basic thing we need to do is to make sure that we are able to provide basic food for everyone on this Earth. And this is something that we are not able to answer yet.

NNAMDIBack to the telephones. Here is Henry in Vienna, Va. Henry, you're on the air. Go ahead, please.

HENRYHi. Thanks for having me on, Kojo.

NNAMDIYou're welcome.

HENRYJose, great to be speaking with you. Congratulations on the award.

ANDRESThank you, Henry. And thank you to all Washington, D.C. Thank you because everyone is being so nice in the streets. Oh, my God, the police stopped me the other day. I thought I was getting a ticket. And they say congratulations. I was, like, woof, woof.

HENRYYeah. It's great. I was actually just at Jaleo last week. Great, as always been, in all the restaurants. And I'm a huge fan, especially of Cafe Atlantico. I need to make my way over to Minibar soon, but I just wanted ask you. My girlfriend and I love of all of your restaurants, and I love to cook for her. When you bring food to life, do you have a favorite dish that you like to cook as a romantic type of dish that you would be cooking for somebody else?

ANDRESEvery dish I cook for my wife is a romantic dish. Very much will be the mood you're on and the love you put in to doing it. Believe me. I mean, I don't wanna be sexist here. But when a woman sees a man cooking, even if the dish is inedible, believe me, believe me, that woman is yours. I wanna believe that my lovely wife, Patricia, she didn't really care about me or about my looks or about my accent, but I think the day, really, I made it through was when I cook for her. And believe me, that day was eggs baked in the oven with tomatoes and green peas. And when I took the tray out of the oven, the tray fall down to the floor. (laugh) So even a James Beard Award winner achieve chaos in the kitchen.

NNAMDIAnd believe you me, Henry, that the James Beard Award that Jose Andres won this year gave him the opportunity to make up for something that he forgot to say when he won the James Beard Award back in 2003, when he forgot to mention Patricia's name and he's been living in eight years of guilt ever since. Then, he got the opportunity to correct that this year. That must have felt good, Jose.

ANDRESYeah. That felt very, very, very good because really, you know, it's not only an homage to my wife, but I think in this profession, especially in the -- but in any other profession, someone is working and someone is at home and taking care of the house, of the children, of the cooking of all the different needs that a family needs, it's something to be congratulated for every day. So this goes to my wife, but this goes also for anyone that stays always back home, making sure that the others can work. But one is no more important than the other. Everyone has a different role in the family environment, and we need to always remind ourselves of that.

NNAMDIGot to take a short break. When we come back, we'll continue this Food Wednesday conversation with chef Jose Andres. How do you think the culinary scene in Washington has evolved since the early '90s, when people like Jose Andres arrived to the city? Call us at 800-433-8850. Send us an email to kojo@wamu.org, a tweet @kojoshow or go to our website kojoshow.org and tell us your opinion there. I'm Kojo Nnamdi.

NNAMDIWelcome back. It's Food Wednesday. Our guest is Jose Andres. He's a chef and owner of the Think Food Group, the team behind restaurants in the Washington area like Jaleo, Zaytinya, Minibar and Oyamel. His newest venture here is called the American Eats Tavern. We're taking your calls at 800-433-8850. Jose, you have become an advocate for the science of food. You've lectured at places like Harvard about it. Even a lot of people who really love to cook never bothered to invest much time in learning about the science behind what they're doing. What window or what opening do you see to get more Americans, particularly young people, to appreciate science by going through their kitchens and their stomachs?

ANDRESWell, you know, I believe science in cooking is very important and specifically today that we are talking about obesity in children. We cannot impose a menu to the children, but I believe that education can help plant the seed into the brains of the children of caring about food on their own. And when you show them the science behind vegetables, why an apple, when you cut it, oxidizes, why you are able to fill a glass of water and put a piece of paper on top turning the glass of water upside down and all of a sudden the water doesn't leave the glass -- the cup because water surface tension.

ANDRESOr, if we start applying science at the school level and in relationship to food, could be one of the many ways that we can get children genuinely interested in food because you are not imposing anything on them. They are deciding to care about it. So we -- this is very early on, but we are working with the George Washington University precisely on trying to -- we are gonna start right in this summer a curriculum where food and science is gonna be put together to be taught to the high school students. So this is a project I'm very fond of. I've been -- I taught at Harvard last year.

ANDRESI'm gonna be teaching again in the fall, but what I'm fascinating is that I cannot impose anymore -- anything, but I need to be creative. We need to be creative to make sure that, in this case the children, they will, in a genuine way, you know, find other kind of interests. So if they don't care about broccoli, let's be creative on finding ways that they can say, well, I wanna know about broccoli because look at how cool it is, look at how green it becomes when you put it into hard water with salt, why is that? OK, we need to be creative. We need to be finding these ways. And science and cooking can be one of the great ways.

NNAMDIWhen did you yourself start developing a true appreciation for the science behind the cooking?

ANDRESYou know, I'm a guy that left the school very, very young. I was 14. But I always had that need to know, so for me Internet probably was what opened my mind to the world because I had the access to almost anything. I didn't have to go to a library anymore if I didn't want to. Not like it's not great to go to a library, but science is something like the asking myself, the why I always fascinated with Steve Hawking. I read, you know, his books very early on. Always fascinated of what's behind of what we don't know. And imagine, I love cooking so I almost apply the same concept of learning about Mr. Hawking to cooking.

NNAMDIThe fact of the matter you all need to know is that Jose Andres is curious about everything. He insisted on being in the studio during the first part of this broadcast when we were talking with a reporter about hotel room journalism in Libya because that subject also fascinates him. But it's my understanding (laugh) that El Bulli, the restaurant in Spain where you learned so much of your trade, is going to be closing soon.

ANDRESYup.

NNAMDIHow do you -- how did you react when you learned of Ferran Adria's plans?

ANDRESWell, I -- we're very good friends and he's like an old brother to me, and we talk often so I know about these plans for years. El Bulli, without a doubt -- I don't know if it's the best restaurant in the history, but I can tell you it's the most unique restaurant in the history. And it's not really closing. What is closing is the business model as today of -- he opens and 50 people come to eat. He's transforming El Bulli into a foundation. Into foundation that precisely science, humanities, answering how we can fight obesity or answering how can we feed the world is gonna be part of what he does every day.

ANDRESSo El Bulli is not closing. El Bulli is transforming itself into something unique that has no limits. So, you know, I'm gonna be there very soon in 10 days. To me, it's always going back to my origins and so always a great moment to go back.

NNAMDIAnd Ferran Adria is going to be here pretty soon to help you teach your class at Harvard, your culinary physics class at Harvard.

ANDRESYeah. Well, very much. The Harvard class, it wouldn't happen without him. We organize -- we began organizing the Harvard classes. We've called the Harvard professors over three years and a half -- three years ago. And, finally, last year, you know, we were able to do that amazing course. And Ferran, this year, is gonna have a lot of time so he's gonna be spending probably two or three weeks at Harvard himself. So he's good. We need to keep him busy.

NNAMDIIf you have called, stay on the line. We'll try to get to your call. We still have a couple of lines open at 800-433-8850. Here is Elizabeth in Washington. Hi, Elizabeth.

ELIZABETHHi. I was just about to walk upstairs and say, I can't wait no longer. I'm glad to have a chance to talk to you. I love the show. And why I called is because I, a couple of months ago, prepared food for a memorial service. And I started thinking about all the favorite things that we had eaten together. And then last week, I participated in an auction for Miriam's Kitchen. I'm an artist. I make glass bowls. And I donated a bowl and it was bought. That was really a lot of fun.

ELIZABETHIt raised money for the kitchen. But I thought about it, and I thought, you know, people don't make food without hope for the future. When you're depressed, you don't eat. And I think that's kind of my keyword these days when I think about how everybody should have enough to eat. And with that, I'll say goodbye.

NNAMDIJose.

ANDRESWell, when you're depressed, you don't eat. Probably depression in the middle of Washington will be different than depression in the middle of Port-au-Prince. You know, food for some people is used that way to establish a relationship and to feel better, but I believe will be different to take on that issue, depends in what part of the world you are.

NNAMDIIndeed, the last time we spoke in the fall -- and, Elizabeth, thank you for your call -- this show was about to embark on a trip to Haiti...

ANDRESYeah.

NNAMDI...where we did our broadcast from...

ANDRESYup.

NNAMDI...you just mentioned, Port-au-Prince. It's a country that you visited multiple times last year, including a stint in the wake of the devastating earthquake. What did your experiences in Haiti teach you about how food shapes our lives and what you and other chefs can do to help improve life on this planet?

ANDRESWell, out of my trip to Haiti, I -- and after all my experiences working next to Robert Egger at DC Central Kitchen, the best organization to fight hunger and create opportunity in an urban environment in America, with all this learning I went to Haiti and I brought with me solar kitchens. Why? Because I thought that we were providing certain things to people -- food and shelter and basic things. But at the end of the day, we are not telling them how to cook.

ANDRESAnd why is it important to tell them how to cook, what kind of cookstove to use? Well, because they are only using charcoal and they are only cutting trees, and they don't have trees left. And when they use charcoal, the mother gets sick because -- inhale the fumes. And the children get sick. By the year -- by the time they are two years old, they have chronic asthma. So, man, we gotta give them rice and then tell them what's the option to cook that rice without using charcoal or using less charcoal.

ANDRESSo, you know, one of the things I'm the happiest is that, around September 2010, Hillary Clinton announced, in partnership with the United Nations, the Clean Cookstove Alliance. It's an alliance that many more countries are joining in. I heard that China used the site also to join in the recent trip of the president here to Washington. And what this alliance is gonna be doing is to make sure that we are able to provide to the people of the world that cannot afford any other way of cooking cookstoves, that gives them hope into the future.

ANDRESSo, you know, the learning experiences in Haiti, Kojo, were many. But one of them is that we have to stop giving food for free. We have to stop giving food away. This is only throwing money into the problem. We need to start thinking how come we invest into the right solutions. When you give rice to Haiti and you feel good because you gave food, you know what you're doing? 70 percent of the population leave out of farming. If you give food for free, you're putting out of work all the farmers of that country.

ANDRESAnd if you put the farmers out of jobs, what do they have left to live with? We need to be smarter in the way Europe and America give international aid to the poor countries. We need to think more about investing, not about just covering the bare necessities in the short term, because at the end of the day, 50 years from now, they will still be hungry. They will still be poor. And this is not the way to proceed anymore.

NNAMDIHere is Roberto in Fairfax, Va. Roberto, you're on the air. Go ahead, please.

ROBERTOYes. I just wanted to congratulate Jose Ramon Andres on winning the James Beard award. He is well-deserving of it. I've known him for years, many, many years, though he probably doesn't even remember me. But that's OK. He has not lost touch with the food from Spain and has continued to provide excellent food at the same time. He's become a superstar, you know, all kinds of awards and things like that. And also raising -- for bringing tapas, the concept of tapas to the area, to Washington, D.C., and modernizing the presentation of food, the style needed to do that, to have that.

ROBERTOAnd he was able to do that and bring Spain into, you know, front page, basically, with the food and the type of food. Now there are great chefs in Spain -- Juan Mari Arzak, of course Ferran Adria and all the other names -- but in the United States, I think Jose Ramon, Jose Andres is actually the leader. And congratulations...

NNAMDIWell...

ROBERTO...and hopefully I'd get to see you one of these days.

NNAMDIThe James Beard Award Committee agrees with you, Roberto. Thank you very much for your call.

ANDRESNice to hear you.

NNAMDIWe move on now to...

ANDRESThank you.

NNAMDI...John in Germantown, Md. John, your turn.

JOHNHi. Good afternoon. This is a follow-on to an email, I think, yesterday because your guest also is related to science. Are there any programs with cooking that involve elementary school students? Because so much conversation about teaching science is directed towards sort of high school and above. And, you know, I think you'd do a better catch with kids that are sort of the preschool, elementary school level.

ANDRESI'm not aware of the preschool level, you know, first to eight grade level. I can tell you the classes I've been doing myself, sometimes in partnership with the secretary of Education, the secretary of Agriculture, with Sam Kass. We use very much the food baron of the White House, next to Mrs. Obama. But, yes, what I understand is that -- what I was saying about working with American University, I realize that if I keep working in my children's school, at the end of the day, I mean eight years when they leave, okay, I did okay in one school.

ANDRESBut I have the dream that one day we will have a food and science curriculum probably in every single school of America. So that's why I thought that the partnership with the university will be the best say. So we are gonna start with high school students because it's very good to involve those kind of older minds to also help you develop food and science for the younger ones. But I do believe that's the right way to get the interest of people. There's many ways -- doing a farm in the school.

ANDRESOK. Alice Waters is behind that. I will support that to a degree. But also I know that, one day, I'm gonna go to Congress and tell them, every school of America needs a farm. Some congressmen are gonna look at me, saying, excuse me. I mean, a school is a school. It's not a farming school. So, you know, certain schools are doing the farms and the kids are doing wonderful, and it's having a huge impact in the way they see food. But that's what we need -- to be realistic. We need to work in programs that can be, one day, spanned around the country. And education and science about food could be a great way to do that.

NNAMDIWhen he gets going on these causes, it's difficult to stop him. But we're just about out of time. I'd just like to share this e-mail we got from Frederick in Chevy Chase. "I grew up in D.C. I've seen firsthand how people in D.C. can give in to the temptation to be competitive, to define themselves by their work, by their politics, to judge themselves and their lives on whether they can make partner of the law firm or whether the party they support wins the most seats in a given election.

NNAMDIBut Jose reminds me, every time I eat at one of his restaurants, that the little things in life -- the simple joys of a good meal with good company -- can provide us more joy than anything that happens in the professional universe. Thanks for reminding me about what's really important, Chef Andres, and congratulations on your big award." Couldn't have said it better. Jose Andres, thank you for joining us.

ANDRESThank you. Gracias.

NNAMDIAnd thank you all for listening. I'm Kojo Nnamdi.