In his elegantly written new memoir, Marcus Samuelsson chronicles his remarkable journey from near death in an Ethiopian tuberculosis epidemic to celebrity chef. Largely, "Yes, Chef" reads like a personal tale about the bonds Samuelsson forms with his family: his adoptive Swedish parents, the biological father he had long thought dead, his half-siblings and the estranged daughter he fathered during a fling as a young culinary student.
But above all, this is a tale of hard work. Samuelsson applies himself to cooking with boundless love and devotion. He pushes himself through cooking school and into starter jobs and unpaid internships in increasingly prestigious restaurants all over the world. Landing in New York, he joins the kitchen of Swedish restaurant Aquavit and, at the age of 24, becomes executive chef and receives a three-star review from "The New York Times" restaurant critic, Ruth Reichl. He goes on to win a James Beard award, appear on “Top Chef Masters,” and create the Obamas’ first official state dinner.
Anyone interested in a career in the kitchen will benefit from the anecdotes and advice in “Yes, Chef.” Anyone interested in food and the restaurant industry will thoroughly enjoy Samuelsson's story. It strips away any misbegotten notions of glamour that aspiring chefs may have gleaned from food television. Instead, it offers a model of how to comport oneself in the kitchen, with humility and endless effort. The memoir also offers insight into how chefs think, build flavors and create dishes.
Samuelsson eternally champions the flavors of the world and challenges the dominance of French cuisine. “Food and flavours,” he writes, “have become my first language.”
