As we just saw, recycling is about responsibility of what we choose to save instead of throw away.

Sometimes responsibility shows up in far more personal ways.

For many chefs, food is life.

It's their craft, their passion, and yes, their bread and butter, pun intended.

Their days revolve around creating meals for others.

For one local chef, food carries an even deeper meaning.

Before he made a living feeding people, there were times he didn't know where his next meal would come from.

Those memories never left him, and today they're the reason he's committed to making sure no one around him goes hungry.

"Carolina Impact's" Dara Khaalid and videographer Russ Hunsinger show us how that now drives him.

(slaps clapping) (gentle tempo music) - [Dara] That sound, smacking the cornmeal-based dough between her hands until it's flat, is the sound of making pupusas, a thick griddle cake that's popular in El Salvador.

It's a dish that reminds world-renowned chef, Roberto Mendoza, of the flavors of his home country.

So, he had to have them on the menu at his new Charlotte restaurant, La Riviera Marisqueria.

- You make that a special tomato sauce and some kind of coleslaw, and you eat it with your fingers.

- [Dara] Pupusas aren't the only items at La Riviera that give customers a taste of El Salvador.

- [Roberto] We eat a lot of rice and beans.

- [Dara] Roberto also likes to put his own spin on dishes by blending Salvadoran cuisine with American cuisine.

For example, this juicy rib eye sizzling on the grill and veggies sauteing in a flaming pan.

They represent the US, and Roberto serves them on the plate beside rice and beans that represent El Salvador.

- The beauty of blending is you blending cultures.

You give me the opportunity to know your culture, and you have the opportunity to know my culture.

- [Dara] He has another philosophy too when it comes to food, cooking should be fun.

- Every time I cook, I try to be happy.

I try to be smiling, you know, joking with my cooks and having fun and dancing.

- [Dara] When people meet Roberto, they get to see for themselves just how joyful he is.

But what few probably know is that he has every reason not to smile based on what he endured in the early part of his life.

- When I was little, helicopters pass by and they throw 500-pound bombs and just destroy everything.

And you under the table shaking, thinking that it's gonna be your last day.

- [Dara] Roberto remembers the horrors of growing up in El Salvador during the Salvadoran Civil War that lasted from 1979 to 1992, killing more than 75,000 people.

- One day, I went to bed without eating anything, and like one o'clock in the morning and I wake up and I say, "at least a glass of water I gonna take."

When I open the faucet, air came out and... Because they shut the water off.

So I cry and cry and I say, "Lord, when I grow up, "I don't wanna suffer hunger."

(gentle guitar music) - [Dara] Despite those hardships, he persevered until he was admitted into the University of El Salvador to major in accounting.

Just as Roberto was enjoying all the hope that getting an education brings, the perils of the war still found a way to wreak havoc on his life.

- They get inside of the university and took 28 students.

They tied me up... and tied my... eyes, too.

Throw me in the truck.

Finally, like a couple hours later, they throw me in the room... and they start to hit me.

- [Dara] After about a month of surviving a situation that many Salvadorans during that time didn't survive, Roberto was released.

From there, with the help of the Salvation Army, he was moved to Guatemala, then Canada to continue his education.

- They saved my life.

- [Dara] Once his time was done in Canada, Roberto moved to Los Angeles, California, in 1994.

After searching for accounting jobs and not having any luck, he was hired to work at a local restaurant.

- I start to wash dishes and pots and then I start to do salads and cook.

So, I went to the school in Pasadena to become a chef.

I ended up working for Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel in front of the pier.

- [Dara] It was there that he got to cook for the late soccer legend Diego Maradona.

But that was just the beginning of Roberto's journey, cooking for big names.

He eventually became head chef at The Beverly Hills Hotel, where he whipped up a salmon dish for the prince of Saudi Arabia in 1998, who Roberto says loved it so much that he put in a good word for him at the White House.

- He called... former President Clinton for a meeting.

So, I passed the security check and I ended up cooking for both of them.

Then, Bush come in place.

- [Dara] His presidential cooking didn't stop there, even after moving to Charlotte.

- President Barack Obama, at Wake Forest University, I cook for him And then, Trump, Biden, and I still part of the team for the White House, every time they have big events.

- [Dara] Despite making meals for top leaders, Roberto knew he wanted his food to feed those in need like he was growing up.

So, he started Chef Heaven's Kitchen in 2009 to formally feed the homeless and immigrants in the Charlotte area.

Plus, hungry kids in countries like the Dominican Republic, Pakistan, and El Salvador.

- When you see that little face smiling, having food, and say, "Thank you, Chef."

Oh my God, that feeling in your heart.

- [Dara] Between giving to those in need and cooking for folks around the world, Roberto still makes time for his son Duvan, who aspires to be a chef just like him.

- To come so far from that point of not even having a glass of water to drink, to being able to feed the less fortunate, I'm proud of him for that.

- [Dara] Food, the thing Roberto didn't have enough of in his youth, has now given him more than he could have ever imagined, a career, gratitude, and a way to always serve others.

And for that, he's truly thankful.

For "Carolina Impact," I'm Dara Khaalid.