BOOK REVIEW: ‘Change the Recipe’ is a powerfully inspirational delight

Jose Andres pens a new Art of War to take on world hunger

By Forrest J.H.

The world needs you.

That’s the crux of the message behind iconic chef and humanitarian Jose Andres’ new book Change the Recipe.

It’s a short book that takes readers from idyllic Spanish countrysides, to wildly chaotic New York City restaurant kitchens, to war-torn disaster zones in and around Gaza.

Along the way, Andres shares his memories of the people, places, dishes and drinks that have shaped the world as he knows it. His stories are full of mouth-watering descriptions of foods and explorations of the deeper meanings behind them.

The book exudes Andres’ energy. Everything and everyone he comes across is a great source of inspiration. Everyone he meets just might be his new best friend. With the help of co-author and journalist Richard Wolffe, Andres’ voice comes through so well you can almost hear his Spanish accent through the pages.

Change the Recipe reads like the Art of War as if world hunger were the enemy instead of vast enemy militaries. There are many very short chapters with each one bearing a title of advise on how to win the battle and make the most of one’s life. Chapters have titles like Look Closely at the Forest, Look Beyond Black and White, and Don’t Surrender to Cynicism.

Andres is urgent, quoting Martin Luther King Jr. over and over that we need act with the “fierce urgency of now” to feed the world’s hungry. It gives the feeling he has lived his entire life with that fierce urgency, even since he was a kid.

As a young teenager he was a member of the first class of students to attend an incompletely-built culinary school in Barcelona.

“That’s when I started to realize that I loved this idea of dreaming bigger, of doing anything I wanted. Nothing was going to be given to me; I just had to make it happen.”

It is certainly not all tough love life lessons. Andres very compellingly draws in readers with romantic stories from his childhood about the dishes he remembers so vividly; his mother’s roasted red peppers and crispy croquetas, his uncles migas, and his father’s paella. He poetically paints beautiful and immersive odes to these simple foods.

Andres describes a vibrant childhood full of life and meaningful family connections that launches him into a career guided by passion. It was only natural he ended up at El Bulli, a legendary experimental restaurant in Spain that would become one of the world’s most famous. This is where he gains the momentum that establishes him as a world famous chef with a reputation for unconventional cuisine.

His descriptions of hectic late nights in fine dining kitchens followed by big family style meals at Chinatown restaurants into the wee hours of the morning defines a sense of excited camaraderie that makes that kind of work so special. It almost – almost – makes me miss restaurant work.

Andres learns quickly his success and acclaim as a chef would not exactly translate to feeding the hungry in earthquake stricken Haiti. He prepares for them black beans the way he knows how, but finds they are not quite what Haitians have in mind when they think of eating black beans.

“I’m making the best beans in the world! After all, I’m Jose Andres. I had a TV show in Spain and America. I have many restaurants.” (p. 87)

They teach Andres to sieve the black beans through burlap to create thick and rich sauce called sos pwa nwa to eat alongside rice.

“This perfect texture that I had never seen before from beans.”

This moment is exemplary of how Andres approaches many things. He takes no issue being a little bit of a narcissist – he is one of the most famous chefs in the world, after all – but he is also eager to be humbled.

He is not shy about claiming credit for the work he’s done, but he also extends lengthy and gushing thanks to the people who taught him to cook certain things, and taste certain things, and create things like World Central Kitchen.

World Central Kitchen is the worldwide charity of loosely associated communities, cooks and random volunteers that’s fed countless people in disaster zones, both natural and man-made. The organization has become almost eponymous with Andres, but he would credit his compatriots at predecessor DC Central Kitchen for setting him on the path.

Despite Andres undying faith in the goodness of humanity, he does reserve some criticism for people who have made his work difficult. He delivers many criticisms in the form of advice on things people shouldn’t do if they want to make a difference in the world. He specifically calls out American presidents Donald Trump and Joe Biden, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and the United Nations. He essentially accuses American military officials of stealing his idea for a flotilla to deliver aid to Gaza and then messing it all up and wasting a bunch of money.

“The US military spent more than $300 million on a floating pier that broke up several times and was operational for all of twenty days.”

Andres is no nihilist nor anarchist, but he certainly encourages people to consider turning away from the government for help and trusting their instincts and their communities.

“Skip the futile meetings. You’ll learn more from taking action, making mistakes, and learning how to adapt. Before you know it, the so-called experts will be asking you for advice – or just copying what you started.”

His politics is illustrative of the twenty-first century condition. People are cynical, disappointed, dejected. He rejects partisanship but does not hesitate to address the trends that have made inclusive politics seemingly impossible.

Andres looks to the displaced people near the Ukrainian war frontlines cooking in big stew pots over fires who can by their own hand feed countless of their neighbors for no reason other than they knew they should. Through people like this, Andres preaches a kind of individualism that bucks the typical narrative. He tells readers they have the power to do anything in the world, and they should, because their community needs them to.

Andres share a few recipes at the end of the book. The choices speak for themselves; microwave cacio e pepe, tuna salad, the simplest way to make the Spanish tortilla he repeatedly speaks so fondly of. He gives the middle finger to the purists who will complain about the way he writes these recipes, and includes a little love note to mayonnaise.

Andres loves chasing a pipe dream and he wants you to give a go too. His call to action is hard to resist and I can only imagine this book will inspire a new generation of people hell bent on feeding the hungry and creating a better world to share. Like those late-night, early-morning Chinatown meals Andres and his co-workers enjoyed together, we can all look forward to something like that, but there is a lot of work to do first. And savor the moment, because there is a lot of work to do tomorrow too.

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This article’s ingredients

Change the Recipe – Because You Can’t Build a Better World Without Breaking Some Eggs

Published by HarperCollins in 2025

Jose Andres and Richard Wolffe

“... the fiernce urgency of now...” (p. 92)

“That’s when I started to realize...” (p. 24)

“I’m making the best beans in the world...” (p. 87)

“This perfect texture...” (p. 87)

“The US military spent...” (p. 137)

“Skip the futile meetings...” (p. 139)