Perhaps it’s appropriate that the chef considered one of the nation’s most visible food ambassadors is Spanish.

Chef José Andrés has found his moment in the sun during this time of new Hispanic awareness, of our national love affair with small-plates and tapas-style dining, of our chorizo obsessions and sangria dreams.

The chef and restaurateur, who last summer opened the whimsical Bazaar eatery in Miami Beach’s SLS Hotel, is in many ways an ideal poster boy for the very international South Beach Wine & Food Festival.

The festival, the nation’s hottest such affair, invades the Greater Miami area from Thursday through Sunday, bringing some of the biggest names in the food and entertaining biz: Nobu Matsuhisa, Marcus Samuelsson, Michael Symon, Anthony Bourdain, Hugh Acheson, Martha Stewart and dozens of others.

And in that constellation, there’s Pepe. That would be Chef José Andrés, a cook-turned-corporation with close to 10 restaurants and a career that includes lecturing on world hunger and teaching Harvard students on science and cooking.

Before coming to the New World, the chef born in the northern Spanish region of Asturias earned his chops in Michelin-starred restaurants, including the very temple of molecular gastronomy, elBulli.

“All of José’s restaurant concepts stay true to his spirit,” says Lee Schrager, festival founder and director, “but I do love the twists he puts on his menu items that are also reflective of the local market – like his cubano sandwich on the menu here in Miami.”

We caught up Andrés by phone recently, when his people (yes, these days chefs have “people,” and often glam squads) allowed us a few minutes:

What inspires you about South Florida?

Being from Spain, we are always celebrating the 500 years of our arrival in Florida. The Spanish is part of the DNA here. It’s a special place.

You are known to have a cuisine that has a voice and a sense of humor — where does that come from?

Life is about enjoyment and fun and it should be that way with food… I approach food the way I live life – I like to enjoy life.

You seem to have a grander mission when it comes to food – can you speak about that mission?

Our motto is ‘Changing the world through the power of food.’ As a company, we are committed to this. Yes, we like to make sure our guests are taken care of and have a great time, but also we make sure that our business contributes to the cities and neighborhoods that we live in. We are a company of restaurants of conscience.

What do you want Americans to know about your native Spanish food?

Spanish very often is confused with Mexican, and I guess this is the issue with all of our Latin American countries. But we are all very different, with many countries and many regions and many influences. The cooking in Catalonia and the cooking in Galicia have nothing to do with Peru or Argentina or Chile.