United States Mission to the United Nations
Office of Press and Public Diplomacy
For Immediate Release
April 7, 2023
Media Note: Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield Kicks Off Instagram Live Series with Chef José Andrés of World Central Kitchen
On April 4, Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, U.S. Representative to the United Nations, hosted an Instagram Live with Chef José Andrés, founder of the food relief organization World Central Kitchen. This was the first in a series of Instagram Live conversations Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield plans to hold to discuss a host of global challenges, including the climate crisis and food insecurity.
Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield and Chef Andrés discussed efforts to respond to the global food insecurity crisis. The Ambassador said, “Since I arrived here in New York, I have been focusing on food security, because there is so much hunger in the world. And I traveled to Somalia recently, where they had just adverted a famine, but still people were starving to death. And I announced that, with so much abundance in the world, that we have to end famine.”
Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield and Chef Andrés also spoke about the importance of food diplomacy. “I saw the power of a plate of food to bring people together – when you do it with happiness, but also when you listen to each other,” said Chef Andrés.
“That is exactly what gumbo diplomacy is. It’s food diplomacy … It is taking food directly to the people, so people know that the world has not forgotten them in their time of need,” said Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield.
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