SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — When the chef José Andrés took one of the first commercial flights into Puerto Rico five days after Hurricane Maria hit last month, his intention was to help cook a few thousand emergency meals, donate some money and head back home.

A month later, he has fed more Puerto Ricans freshly cooked meals than any other relief organization working there, and become the public face of the effort. What began with makeshift pots of the classic island stew called sancocho, served in front of a damaged restaurant, quickly grew into a network of 18 kitchens around the island.

Under the banner of his nonprofit group, World Central Kitchen, his crew of chefs, cooking students, pastors, food-truck drivers and hundreds of volunteers has served, as of Tuesday, close to two million meals and handmade sandwiches. Staff members keeping records of the project say people in all of Puerto Rico’s 78 municipalities have eaten Mr. Andrés’s food. His Twitter feed became a steady source of news and commentary on the state of the island’s recovery.