We Fed an Island

We Fed an Island
by Jose Andres

Book Blurb:
FOREWORD BY LIN-MANUEL MIRANDA AND LUIS A. MIRANDA, JR.
The true story of how a group of chefs fed hundreds of thousands of hungry Americans after Hurricane Maria and touched the hearts of many more

Chef José Andrés arrived in Puerto Rico four days after Hurricane Maria ripped through the island. The economy was destroyed and for most people there was no clean water, no food, no power, no gas, and no way to communicate with the outside world.
Andrés addressed the humanitarian crisis the only way he knew how: by feeding people, one hot meal at a time. From serving sancocho with his friend José Enrique at Enrique’s ravaged restaurant in San Juan to eventually cooking 100,000 meals a day at more than a dozen kitchens across the island, Andrés and his team fed hundreds of thousands of people, including with massive paellas made to serve thousands of people alone.. At the same time, they also confronted a crisis with deep roots, as well as the broken and wasteful system that helps keep some of the biggest charities and NGOs in business.
Based on Andrés’s insider’s take as well as on meetings, messages, and conversations he had while in Puerto Rico, We Fed an Island movingly describes how a network of community kitchens activated real change and tells an extraordinary story of hope in the face of disasters both natural and man-made, offering suggestions for how to address a crisis like this in the future. 

Beyond that, a portion of the proceeds from the book will be donated to the Chef Relief Network of World Central Kitchen for efforts in Puerto Rico and beyond.

I have mixed feelings about this book.  On one hand, it's a fascinating story of Puerto Rico right after Hurricane Maria hit.  Chef José Andrés describes some of the frustrations he ran and victories he had while trying to feed the people of Puerto Rico.  The frustrations seem to stem from the lack of leadership; in one instance, he mentions a meeting where each group reported how much food they had distributed - one group reported pounds of food, another pallets, while he had the number of meals prepared.  This is problematic when trying to find out how much food was actually distributed and the quality of food; a can of green beans, for example, is a pound of food.  It won’t, however, feed someone as well as a meal of chicken and rice.  And he highlights a number of 'victories, like how they were able to feed so many people by leveraging local kitchens — telling school kitchens to make extra food for the community, for example.  He also was cognizant of how to help the economy recover by buying local bread for sandwiches or by buying roasted chickens from a recovering restaurant to serve to a remote village rather than bringing the meals they had prepared out to them.  He was also very careful about not crowding out those recover efforts.  When they started to recover, he knew he needed to start winding down his efforts.

But on the other hand, it was frustrating to read.  The book felt unorganized.  The first few pages, Chef Andrés talks about establishing a line of credit to get supplies, then he doesn’t come really come back to the topic of money until the middle of the book.  He mentions leaving the island, going home, and being treated for dehydration, but the next page he's back on the island.  I'm not sure if he left after everything wound down, or if he went back to Puerto Rico after recovering.  It needed a good editing so that the book had an obvious order - strictly following a calendar, for example.

I realize that Chef Andrés is a professional chef, not a writer, but since he has a co-author, I'm assuming he had assistance writing it. 

Overall, interesting, but difficult to read.