World Central Kitchen Serves Sandwiches and Snapper to Wildfire First Responders

Lately, chef José Andrés’s Twitter feed has been filled with food photos. These aren’t photos of the innovative dishes at his restaurants, but the hearty sandwiches, stews, and vegetables his nonprofit World Central Kitchen and partner nonprofit the L.A. Kitchen are cooking for first responders and wildfire evacuees in California.

Last week, World Central Kitchen, which is still a leading force for relief in Puerto Rico, teamed up with fellow food empowerment nonprofit the L.A. Kitchen to feed firefighters, the Red Cross, the National Guard, and those that have been forced to flee their homes due to multiple fires still burning across Southern California. The operation has since grown to include a kitchen at Mission San Buenaventura run by World Central Kitchen’s network of local #ChefsForCalifornia and many volunteers.

These volunteers are making thousands of meals to distribute for lunch and dinner. On Monday, they prepared roasted squash sandwiches with cucumber slaw on whole wheat bread for lunch, and for dinner, chef Tim Kilcoyne of Oxnard’s Scratch helped the World Central Kitchen team prepare a beef chili stew and red snapper with pico de gallo, roasted potatoes, and broccoli and cauliflower.

Yesterday, the volunteer chefs made orange chicken with bok choy, fried rice, and a kale salad with a sesame peanut dressing. They delivered the meals to the headquarters of emergency operations for the Thomas fire in Ventura.

Andrés founded World Central Kitchen to change lives through food in countries like Haiti, but with this year’s natural disasters, it’s proving to be an invaluable resource right here in the U.S.

• @chefjoseandres [Twitter]