An already horrible world hunger problem stands to worsen amid the aftershocks of the US conflict with Iran, warned chef José Andrés.
“The cost of food is going up for different reasons,” Andrés told Yahoo Finance at the Semafor World Economy conference, pointing to large increases over the past six weeks in gas and fertilizer prices.
Andrés added, “What is happening right now in the Strait of Hormuz is directly, indirectly already affecting and will affect [food prices] even more. I’m very worried for a very bigger hunger [problem] towards the end of this year, beginning of 2027.”
Nitrogen fertilizer prices have surged more 30% since the Middle East conflict began on Feb. 28, raising costs for farmers. Meanwhile, gas prices in the US have spiked 40%, on average, while diesel is up 50%.
Andrés is a world-renowned Spanish American chef and humanitarian whose career has redefined the role of a modern culinary professional.
After moving to the US in 1991, he popularized authentic Spanish tapas and eventually built the José Andrés Group, which operates more than 40 restaurants.
He’s also the founder of World Central Kitchen, a nonprofit that serves as a first responder for food during humanitarian and climate crises.
Andrés and his teams have served more than 313 million meals in Gaza since 2023 and continue massive relief efforts in Ukraine and Lebanon.
To Andrés’s point, the issue of global hunger already wasn’t looking great before the US-Iran war began in late February.
The World Food Programme (WFP) has warned that 363 million people are now at risk of acute hunger — a record high — driven by the compounding effects of climate shocks and the ongoing Middle East conflict.
Roughly 318 million people entered 2026 facing crisis-level food insecurity, a figure that has more than doubled since the pre-pandemic era.
“The conflict in the Middle East is deepening this food crisis to an alarming degree,” the World Food Programme said.
The current situation is particularly dire, it said, because for the first time this century, simultaneous famines have been confirmed in two separate countries: the Gaza Strip and parts of Sudan.
Andrés added, “Food is not something you can switch [on] overnight. It’s not like you say, I want food tomorrow. No, it takes a long time to bring one seed from the ground to become food that can be used to feed humans.”
