Yes, Chef in Around the World

Jun 10, 2012 Jenny (Reading Envy) rated it really liked it

Shelves: foodie, read2012, audiobook, around-the-world, location-sweden

I only really knew Marcus Samuelsson from shows like Top Chef Masters, and vague references to a chef who was combining Swedish and African flavors in his cooking back when I was thinking about working towards being a chef myself. I didn't know much about him, but was interested in hearing his story.

I have to admit to being impressed. Marcus has always been incredibly driven. As a child, it was to be a soccer player, and when it turned out that he wasn't going to be big enough to cut it, he turn I only really knew Marcus Samuelsson from shows like Top Chef Masters, and vague references to a chef who was combining Swedish and African flavors in his cooking back when I was thinking about working towards being a chef myself. I didn't know much about him, but was interested in hearing his story.

I have to admit to being impressed. Marcus has always been incredibly driven. As a child, it was to be a soccer player, and when it turned out that he wasn't going to be big enough to cut it, he turned all that energy into cooking. He somehow knew when he needed to push more, to learn more, even from a young age, and his skill and persistence placed him in key restaurants from Sweden to Switzerland to Austria to the United States to France to cruise ships and back to New York, where he has recently opened his newest restaurant, Red Rooster.

Listening to the audiobook enhanced the story quite a bit for me. Sometimes he misreads the words, and it doesn't always flow. Still, what ends up happening is that it feels like he has pulled a chair up to your table to tell about his experiences. By the end, I was completely rooting for his success, as well as for anyone he'd be able to have an impact on. I found a warmth to him, a compassion even, that I wasn't expecting. His love of flavors and how they connect to a community's history inform his cooking, and I think his perspective is important to our culinary world.

I feel like I'm gushing. Chefs do tend to make me that way, but I think unless you've worked in a restaurant, and served 200 tables with a third degree burn, you can't really get it - how much you pour into it; how much it energizes you. For an alternate perspective, Eddie Huang from the Observer offers a much more critical eye. He focuses on the issue of race, but to be fare, Marcus is not born American, and has learned about race relations in the states only through his own experience. I wish Huang had instead looked at what he had to offer. I think he missed Chef Samuelsson's intentions with the Harlem restaurant. He never intended to recreate what Harlem already had, but to tie it into the wider culinary experience, and his own. ...more

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Aug 09, 2012 Marieke rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2013, europe, memoir, non-fiction, kindle, africa, united-states, e-book, race-in-america, food

Where do i begin? I guess first--i wanted to read this because i like food and i spend a lot of time reading about Africa. Then i found out that Samuelsson had actually published a cookbook about African food, which i couldn't believe i didn't already know about. And then friends recommended this book very highly. i didn't quite know what i was in for, but this, to me, is a very special memoir.

It's not just about food; it's also about family and race. In this memoir, Samuelsson strikes me as in Where do i begin? I guess first--i wanted to read this because i like food and i spend a lot of time reading about Africa. Then i found out that Samuelsson had actually published a cookbook about African food, which i couldn't believe i didn't already know about. And then friends recommended this book very highly. i didn't quite know what i was in for, but this, to me, is a very special memoir.

It's not just about food; it's also about family and race. In this memoir, Samuelsson strikes me as incredibly humble and forgiving, non-judgmental, and accepting. His Swedish family also struck me as incredibly special. On a personal note, i have been in the sad situation to have to take classes about foster care/adoption (of other family members). In those classes we spent quite a lot of time discussing race and what is needed when a family adopts a child of a different race. It was remarkable to me to read about a family back in the 1970s doing everything just about perfectly for their children. I was also incredibly touched by the connection Samuelsson made with his birth father and other birth family members as an adult, and that his Swedish mother was included. On a similar note, i really felt sympathetic towards Samuelsson in his difficulties figuring out how to have a relationship with the daughter he accidentally fathered at the age of 20. I admired his Swedish mother and the daughter's mother for laying the groundwork to make a relationship possible, once Samuelsson was ready. I noticed that some reviewers here are critical of Samuelsson for his behavior in this part of the story, but i appreciated his honesty about how he felt about the situation and how well he handled himself once he started taking steps to get to know his daughter. He never once invalidated her feelings.

I could go on and on about that stuff but there is so much more to this book than those family relations...I loved how frank Samuelsson was about race and his way of navigating racism. I love how he has embraced American food and all its ties to African-American history, and therefore African cooking, in all its complexity. He made me feel really hopeful about race relations here in the U.S. as we continue to struggle through the post-segregation era. As a foreigner, he has a very interesting perspective of American history and i loved reading how well in tune he is with it. Also, he never once shied away from the uncomfortable aspects of racial history and race relations here. i do hope he achieves his goal of raising America's consciousness about food, especially food so heavily influenced by African flavors and traditions, because i think it could help us a great deal in moving forward, together. ...more

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Dec 13, 2012 Suzanne rated it really liked it

Shelves: memoir, non-fiction, foodie-cooking

This autobiography was recommended by a friend, and since I love "foodie" books, I knew I would like this one. I admit I hadn't heard of Marcus Samuellson before - he was an award-winning chef of Aquavit in New York, had done some television, and had the honor of preparing the Obamas' first State Dinner at the White House.

His story is fascinating. Born in Ethiopia, he and his sister were adopted by a Swedish couple and raised as a Scandinavian. He grew to love cooking and food due to the influen ...more

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