Solidarity: José Andres's fight in Spain against the coronavirus
Roast turkey, truffled mashed potatoes, red cabbage and polvorones, of course.
This is how they will dine tonight in at least 30,000 Madrid homes, the exact number of Christmas meals that have been prepared, pampered and refrigerated since last December 21, when the kitchens
of chef
José Andrés'
Word Central Kitchen
- the magazine
Time
dedicated its cover to him- in the capital they began to bubble.
Nobody can be without a menu.
For this reason, the chefs and volunteers who have worked in the WCK kitchens in Madrid since the beginning of the pandemic have been joined by social entities, foundations and hundreds of other volunteers.
The rush has been great: cooking thousands of menus in record time to meet on Christmas Eve morning at the Metropolitan Wanda and make the delivery, which, in times of Covid-19, is not an easy task.
The Mapfre Foundation, which joined the WCK logistics during the confinement, decided to do it also for these parties, adding its
400 volunteers
-company workers-
, financing and food so that yesterday there would be no loose fringe.
To avoid crowds, it was decided that each of the 60 social entities involved would come with their van, load the individual menus already packed and distribute them in their stores in different parts of Madrid.
And this newspaper, which was in the kitchens of WCK while the culinary delights were being prepared, has accompanied one of these vans, one of these entities, until the final delivery, as can be seen in the images.
Almost the entire family picked up food for all of Christmas yesterday at noon, in addition to the WCK menus.
In a corner of streets near Plaza de Castilla, the
Dual Association
today will distribute a total of 1,350 menus.
When the van arrives the line is already long, although in this entity they do not like the expression queues of hunger.
Before the coronavirus, they worked by appointment, so that no one had to hold cart in hand while waiting on the street.
The family with whom we chatted has been attending deliveries for four years.
During the confinement, the mother says - five children, three accompany her - directly saved their lives because she is unemployed and does not receive any help.
Paco
, the grandfather,
accompanies them
, not only so that they do not feel alone but to help with the transfer.
"They don't have a car so I come, bring them, take them, so they don't carry weight."
It's nice to see you.
There is dignity and gratitude in them.
"This is not charity, it is not alms", clarifies
Raúl Izquierdo
, psychologist and director of this association with which we share Christmas Eve even though it is nine in the morning:
"We all have the right to food," he
continues, "but we must professionalize the processes, in coordination with the social services and the social health network ”, he claims.
"A José Andrés machine, right?", He asks like someone who affirms when we have already chatted for a long time, "the one that has assembled ...".
Indeed, the one that this Asturian chef has bundled up.
A few days ago, suddenly, he called
Carles Tejedor
, who was, like him, in
Washington
(United States) - he is one of his many right hands - and asked him to move to Madrid, to cast a cable during this last week to the many volunteers who, every day, pass through the kitchens of the Santa Eugenia Hospitality School in
Vallecas
.
Tejedor will not spend Christmas with his family in Barcelona, but his smile is tattooed on his wrist.
He explains: "When the pandemic started, it caught us in Washington, we immediately put everything in motion and my daughter made me a mask with a smile, 'Dad, you can't go to distribute food without a smile,' she told me."
The phrase remained for Tejedor with fire and skin.
He is filled with being able to do what he does.
«What José Andrés teaches us, what he tells us, is that
a cook sometimes feeds a few and, other times, feeds many
.
But we are what we are thanks to the volunteers, all those who are part of WCK, it smells like truffles, it smells like Christmas, and this they have achieved ».
Tejedor moves the red cabbage with a giant ladle and a U-shaped path is used to organize logistics: packaging, refrigeration, transfer ...
Beatriz Alonso
is one of the 400 volunteers of the Mapfre Foundation that this year have joined this solidarity initiative.
She, like many others, has spent three days packing polvorones and mantecados.
"Want one?".
He makes everything clear to you right away.
"Rebbe, call me Bea, that you know that this widens my heart but, above all, do you know what I have learned?
That at any moment it's my turn, or it's your turn, life suddenly turns you around and it's you who has to go pick up food
because you don't have any, do you understand?
Life suddenly turns around and around, I have found doctors, graduates in two degrees and even
Poli Díaz
in soup kitchens,
"he says.
Yesterday morning there was Bea too, unavailable to discouragement.
As the trucks loaded, some volunteers offered cups of hot chocolate to the rest.
The logistical challenge has been important and this is highlighted by
Daniel Restrepo
, director of Social Action at the Mapfre Foundation.
"More than 30,000 meals, 400 volunteers, a donation of 80,000 euros ...".
And the feeling of having used time well, and the satisfaction that one feels in the body when, at night, while having dinner, it is known for a fact that there are 30,000 families in vulnerable situations who are doing the same.
Well-roasted turkey, cabbage prepared by a successful chef and another chef in Washington keeping an eye on it.
Beatriz, our Mapfre volunteer, says that these days, she has seen volunteers appear in the kitchens of Santa Eugenia with their children as if giving one's time - and their affection - was a capacity that was transmitted from parents to children .
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
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