Chef José Andrés added to his list of career accomplishments in the culinary field on Tuesday when he was named the fifth recipient of the Julia Child Award.
The Julia Child Foundation for Gastronomy and the Culinary Arts announced the nomination, which includes a $50,000 grant that Andrés will give to his nonprofit food organization World Central Kitchen.
“It is such an honor,” Andrés said in a statement. “Her influence is everywhere. … She took her cooking seriously but at the same time knew how to have fun with the food. This is what cooking is all about.”
Andrés, who lives in Bethesda, will receive the award at a National Museum of American History gala in November, kicking off Smithsonian Food History Weekend. The chef and his team will create the menu for the evening.
French chef Jacques Pépin, who won the first Julia Child Award, will present it to Andrés, and the previous winners will be in attendance at the gala.
The foundation, created by Child, supports the field of culinary arts through grants to private foundations. The award was established in 2015 to recognize individual or teams who have “made a profound and significant difference in the way America cooks, eats and drinks,” the foundation said in a news release.
“We are delighted the Julia Child Award jury has recognized the profound and significant impact José Andrés continues to make on the way America cooks, eats and understands its relationship to the rest of the world,” Eric W. Spivey, the foundation’s chairman, said in a statement.
Andrés has been named one of Time Magazine’s “100 Most Influential People” on two occasions and received “Outstanding Chef” and “Humanitarian of the Year” awards from the James Beard Foundation.
Andrés opened his fifth Jaleo restaurant in Florida in March, joining locations in Virginia, Nevada, Washington, D.C., and Bethesda. The Bethesda location opened in 2001.
Andrés launched World Central Kitchen in 2010 after an earthquake struck Haiti, and the organization has provided food for people affected by natural disasters for the past decade, including victims of the wildfires in California, volcanic eruptions in Hawaii, and earthquake in Indonesia.
The nonprofit partnered with local fire services in February to provide a free dinner in Silver Spring for government employees affected by the most recent government shutdown.
“José’s passion and ability to act independent of conventions or the status quo, combined with his commitment to the greater good, has made him not only an innovative and supremely influential teacher, but also someone Julia would have both admired and applauded,” Spivey said in a statement.
Charlie Wright can be reached at charlie.wright@moco360.media
