Business

NGO World central kitchen offers meals to New York hospitals amid pandemic

New York, Feb 26 (EFE), (Camera: Alba Vigaray/Jorge Fuentelsaz).- Luis and Alex work at the Addictive Wine and Tapas Bar in New York preparing 250 trays of bolognese for health workers at the Lincoln Hospital in the Bronx. It is part of an initiative by Spanish chef Jose Andres that provides a service for medical workers during the Covid-19 pandemic while doubling up as a business strategy to help restaurants weather the financial hit of coronavirus restrictions. “If there is an emergency, those restaurants are closed, so what better way to put them to use than to serve those who need it,” Andres tells Efe in an interview. In the last month alone, the chef’s NGO World Central Kitchen has offered 16 public hospitals in New York some 30,000 meals per day at a price of $6 to $8 per plate.FOOTAGE OF FOOD PREPARATION AT THE 'ADDICTIVE WINE AND TAPAS' RESTAURANT AND ELMHURST HOSPITAL IN QUEENS, NEW YORK.SOUNDBITES OF:-FRANCISCO DIEZ, OWNER OF 'ADDICTIVE WINE AND TAPAS': "During the pandemic, we closed on March 15. We closed completely because we did not have a take-out service, when people can pick the food up, since the concept of tapas (...) the beauty of it is to eat them at that moment because they come with bread."-GRACE RAMÍREZ, RESPONSIBLE FOR THE COVID-19 RESPONSE IN NEW YORK AT WORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN:"In this specific initiative, all was quite different for us: we were facing a pandemic and, in the beginning, nobody knew what was going.""We have worked with more than 250 restaurants until today. We are really proud to say that we have literally saved over 250 restaurants from closure."-RUSSEL BERMEL, RESPONSIBLE FOR SPECIAL PROJECTS AT WORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN:"We are helping people so they do not have to cook at home and think about what they have to prepare during the day."-ANTHONY JARZEMBOWSKI, ASSOCIATE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR AT ELMHURST HOSPITAL.