Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

Unavailable
Yes, Chef: A Memoir
Unavailable
Yes, Chef: A Memoir
Unavailable
Yes, Chef: A Memoir
Audiobook11 hours

Yes, Chef: A Memoir

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

()

Currently unavailable

Currently unavailable

About this audiobook

JAMES BEARD AWARD NOMINEE • NAMED ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY VOGUE • NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

"One of the great culinary stories of our time."-Dwight Garner, The New York Times

It begins with a simple ritual: Every Saturday afternoon, a boy who loves to cook walks to his grandmother's house and helps her prepare a roast chicken for dinner. The grandmother is Swedish, a retired domestic. The boy is Ethiopian and adopted, and he will grow up to become the world-renowned chef Marcus Samuelsson. This book is his love letter to food and family in all its manifestations.

Marcus Samuelsson was only three years old when he, his mother, and his sister-all battling tuberculosis-walked seventy-five miles to a hospital in the Ethiopian capital city of Addis Adaba. Tragically, his mother succumbed to the disease shortly after she arrived, but Marcus and his sister recovered, and one year later they were welcomed into a loving middle-class white family in Göteborg, Sweden. It was there that Marcus's new grandmother, Helga, sparked in him a lifelong passion for food and cooking with her pan-fried herring, her freshly baked bread, and her signature roast chicken. From a very early age, there was little question what Marcus was going to be when he grew up.

Yes, Chef chronicles Marcus Samuelsson's remarkable journey from Helga's humble kitchen to some of the most demanding and cutthroat restaurants in Switzerland and France, from his grueling stints on cruise ships to his arrival in New York City, where his outsize talent and ambition finally come together at Aquavit, earning him a coveted New York Times three-star rating at the age of twenty-four. But Samuelsson's career of  "chasing flavors," as he calls it, had only just begun-in the intervening years, there have been White House state dinners, career crises, reality show triumphs and, most important, the opening of the beloved Red Rooster in Harlem. At Red Rooster, Samuelsson has fufilled his dream of creating a truly diverse, multiracial dining room-a place where presidents and prime ministers rub elbows with jazz musicians, aspiring artists, bus drivers, and nurses. It is a place where an orphan from Ethiopia, raised in Sweden, living in America, can feel at home.

With disarming honesty and intimacy, Samuelsson also opens up about his failures-the price of ambition, in human terms-and recounts his emotional journey, as a grown man, to meet the father he never knew. Yes, Chef is a tale of personal discovery, unshakable determination, and the passionate, playful pursuit of flavors-one man's struggle to find a place for himself in the kitchen, and in the world.

Editor's Note

Refreshing & inspiring…

Orphaned, adopted & raised in a strange land, Marcus Samuelsson rose from apprentice to star chef. His story is one of humility, discipline, drive, and passion for food, and it is refreshing & inspiring in this millennial age.

LanguageEnglish
Release dateJun 26, 2012
ISBN9780449008621
Unavailable
Yes, Chef: A Memoir

Related to Yes, Chef

Related audiobooks

Cultural, Ethnic & Regional Biographies For You

View More

Related articles

Reviews for Yes, Chef

Rating: 3.901337770234113 out of 5 stars
4/5

299 ratings55 reviews

What did you think?

Tap to rate

Review must be at least 10 words

  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Very interesting. If you like food and culinary shows or restaurants interest you, this is a good book to listen to. I had no idea Chef Marcus had such a hard time getting into the culinary world and getting the experience just because of the color of his skin. I forget that not everyone thinks like me that everyone is equal and everyone deserves a chance to excel in their given career. My daughter is in culinary and I'm sure she will face some blocks just because she is female and she's short so I think sometimes she won't be taken seriously.

    This book will definitely make me look at the celebrity chefs differently.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I was very much engrossed by Samuelsson’s memoir. It provided not only new views into restaurant kitchens, but also glimpses into other cultures to which he was exposed. Informative and educational.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I don't generally read memoirs, but I've seen this author on several cooking shows and he seemed very personable and his food looked really good, so I tried his book and enjoyed it. The audiobook was read by the author and he did a good job. He writes well and seemed to be trying to avoid being too easy on himself. Marcus and his older sister were adopted by a Swedish couple after the children's mother died of tuberculosis in Ethiopia. Marcus was about 2 at the time so he has no direct memories of his mother, but she was very brave in saving her children by getting them to a hospital. Much later in his life he discovered that his father and many step siblings were still living in Ethiopia. Food connects Marcus to both his Ethiopian and Swedish roots and along the way he has added influences (and languages) from Switzerland, Austria, France and Africa. He has led a very focused life, which is what it takes to succeed in the world of high end cuisine, where "yes chef" is the only acceptable response. I first heard of him when he became the head chef of Aquavit in NYC when he was only 24. Later, he had to buy his way out of that relationship and is now the owner of restaurants in Harlem. Along the way, he won Top Chef Masters and executed the first Obama state dinner. Charmingly, he also cooked the identical meal in his apartment for a group of Harlem grammar school students.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    An easy read. Especially enjoyable if you have an interest in Sweden, Ethiopia, or NYC food and culture. Good overview of the road to culinary success, operating restaurants, and managing a small business in stiff competition. Insightful family dynamics. I consider Marcus Samulsson a magnificent success commercially, but somewhat self-centered personally. He has led a very interesting life and it was compelling to understand the connections between an Ethiopian orphan, a Swedish adoptee, and an American culinary star.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Inspiring and eye-opening view of Marcus Samuelsson as a chef. Gives a better understanding of his culinary point of view and his belief in food as a way of bringing not only different flavors together but also different global cultures.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I've been reading a lot of chef memoirs recently. While enjoyable enough to read all the way through, Yes, Chef seems just a little bit too smug and self-serving. Most book in this genre include a few recipes, but Yes, Chef does not. And it suffers as a result.

    Marcus makes a big deal about his cookbook "The Soul of a New Cuisine" being revolutionary and bringing unknown recipes to the American public. Perhaps because I already cook a lot of Middle Eastern food, and North African and Middle Eastern foodways overlap, I found many of the recipes in Soul of a New Cuisine to be things that are already common dishes in my house, rather than revolutionary new ideas.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    An entertaining look at what it takes to succeed as a chef and how brutal the restaurant world can be. The section of the book that covers his early years is much more engaging and thoughtful than the more recent material. It would be a good book to give the foodie in your life.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    nonfiction. A nice cooking memoir, once you get into it (i.e., past the author's childhood, which is unusual and important backstory, but not all that interesting). I have read other chef biographies before, but did not realize (or had forgotten) just how much work it is to work your way up to the top of the kitchen hierarchy.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Thoroughly enjoyable read. Fast, well-written and the author has a real voice.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This was fine. I think I just don't really care for memoirs/autobiographies. Not the fault of the book.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This was better than I'd expected, although I didn't know much about Samuelsson apart from him being an adopted Swede who's made it in the USA.

    In this book, he takes the piss out of himself a lot, which is great; he rarely - if ever - takes the piss out of his profession, even though he once berates the harshess of the system in restaurants, where the hierarchy decides the pecking order. And the peckings are gruesome. Other times, he accepts it and even seems to like it, as I've found a lot of cooks do, masochistically. Maybe they should look up to "high-echelon" chefs like Thomas Keller, who seems to run their kitchens with respect and no stress as top priorities.

    Samuelsson writes about being an outsider, not only in Sweden (as a black person, he was subject to racism as Sweden is still a xenophobic country in a variety of ways) but also in the cooking world. Still, time and time, he shows that hard work and dedication pays off. Always.

    And he does this without braggadocio or any kind of loud-mouthed pretentiousness, which other chefs - notably Gordon Ramsay, who called Samuelsson and called him a "black bastard" according to this book - display all too well.

    All in all, a seemingly honest portrayal that wears thin towards the end, but during the first 75% is very readable.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    I didn't finish this book at about 35%, not because it is particularly bad, but because I completely lost interest after the first few chapters.

    I've never heard of Marcus Samuelsson before (I don’t live in US and I've never watched American Master Chef). And although I rarely read autobiographies, this one perfectly suited one of my reading challenges, so I decided to give it a chance. Besides, it's the chef's autobiography, what could be wrong with it?! At least, that's what I thought.

    And I really liked the first few chapters about Marcus' childhood. They are interesting, even vivid. And I really liked how he looks at his early years through the prism of tastes and dishes that he remembers from that period, his first culinary experiences and what he learned. That was what I expected.

    But after these initial few chapters, everything started to go wrong. Exactly at the moment when Marcus began studying at a culinary school, so at the moment when everything should start. As if up to this point he had an idea for this book and suddenly lost all his inspiration and had to simply finish it because of the deadlines. Which wouldn't be that bad if it wasn't for the next 90% of the book.

    The problem is primarily the writing style. Marcus Samuelsson may be a great chef of world renown but he is a very poor writer. This book has as much emotion as the daily report of the head of security of the hotels where Marcus worked. It is more like a ship captain's logbook or encyclopedic entry. Dry facts, no humor and God forbid any anecdotes. The style in which this book is written is so dry that it looks more like a poor biography written quickly for money than a memoir. Samuelsson has no funny stories to tell from his childhood and youth (it could be understandable if he had a really tragic life which he didn’t). He hardly tries to look at his past from the perspective of today. There is even nothing as simple as reflection that in this or that situation today he would have acted quite differently. And the description of the emotions that accompanied the most important events in his life are limited to the absolute minimum and described in such a colorless way that it is difficult to spot them.

    I could get over it all if Marcus had an interesting personality, if I was interested in his story. But from the twelve (out of 29) chapters of his own memories(!) emerges the image of a mean, ambitious son of a bitch completely focused on his career and not paying attention to anyone else. A man obsessed with competition and being better than others, who despises people who are not as good as him. I have read over a third of his memories and this whole part is dedicated to one goal, showing how ambitious and how brilliant Marcus is. There is nothing nice about him, nothing human that would interest me enough to get through the emotionless chapters describing his stunning career.

    Paradoxically for the memories of the chef, surprisingly little space is devoted to food. After the initial chapters about childhood, food goes to the background. It rarely takes more than one paragraph in a chapter and is mentioned as on the margins of the main story. I'm not talking about Marcus work in the kitchens but about what dishes and flavors he remembers from that period, or if any of those flavors influent his today's kitchen. But of course there is nothing like a look from the present days here, it would certainly disturb the perfectly boring and dry writing style. As a result, there is not what I liked so much in the first chapters of this book.

    And then there's the race issue, Marcus is a black Swede. And I think he sometimes has a bigger problem with it than the people around him. Of course, I have no idea about the treatment of black people in Europe at that time. But despite this, sometimes it seemed to me that Marcus's skin color was a convenient explanation for his failures. It also seems to me that sometimes he was looking for racist context where there was no such one.

    Anyway, this book could use a co-author. Someone who can write well and would add some life and color to this boring report on the life of Marcus Samuelsson. Although, as far as I was able to get to know the character of the author, he is probably convinced that he will do everything best alone. Which is clearly not true. I'd be able to finish reading this book but I didn't see any sense in it. What is the point in reading the autobiography of a person who does not interest you and whom you do not respect?
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I really wish this book had included a few recipes (I know, I'm supposed to go buy Samuelsson's cookbooks now), because I typically ended each chapter either hungry or at least curious to taste the food and favors described. Born in Ethiopia, adopted and raised in Sweden, Marcus Samuelsson becomes a talented chef and his account of the journey is moving and well-written. I feel like this book taught me a lot about the cooking industry, with the hierarchical nature of professional kitchens and the training ambitious chefs receive. I have always loved good food, but I now have a much greater appreciation for what goes into creating good food and the nature of what happens behind the scenes in restaurant kitchens. I'd highly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in the dining industry, but also anyone who simply enjoys good food.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I've read a lot of memoirs about cooking from Ruth Reichl to Anthony Bourdain but this might be the best one yet. If you can you should listen to it - Samualsson's reading makes it so personal to listen to but he remains humble throughout. This isn't the cocky book that usually comes from the celebrity chef world.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    * Yes, Chef* is Marcus Samuelsson's story: his journey from Ethiopia to Sweden, and beyond. His search for *home*, his highs and lows, his creativity, his tenacity and accomplishments. He orchestrated President Obama's first state dinner, he has won numerous awards, and he opened his own restaurant in Harlem, New York, called The Red Rooster. Listening to him read his story to me was lovely, with his lilting Swedish accent. He is a man of vision, integrity and a genuine passion for what he does, and every bit of that comes through in his honest telling of his story. I'd highly recommend this book, especially the audio version (unabridged on 10 discs).
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I've read a number of chef's memoirs, but this ranks as the best. I was lucky to meet Mr. Samuelsson at the Tenement Museum in NYC where he was to speak about his experiences as an immigrant. Other chefs were there as well, friends of his who spoke of Mr. Samuelsson's compassion and humility. Both those show brightly in this book. It's not just a book about becoming a chef, it's about growing up black in Sweden, the love of his adopted family and his coming to terms with what his homeland and birth family were in Ethiopia. Its a story of his finding his true home in the vibrant New York City and his food philosophy of bringing one's heritage to food.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Ok, go ahead and judge me, but I will admit I started this book not having a clue who in the hell Marcus Samuelsson was. Not one. I won this audiobook in a competition and it sounded interesting, I like watching and reading about people cooking, but I am no chef. On a good day I make mac n cheese. I'm pretty pathetic. Anyways, I'm glad I read this, it was a really inspiring story. Hod does an Ethiopian orphan raised by Swedish parents become one of the greatest chefs in the world? Well you have to read to find out. Marcus put all of his energy and talents into becoming the greatest chef he could be, and over the years traveled to different countries chasing flavors and developing a unique spin on cooking. He hit it big in America which is where he now resides as a celebrity chef.For those that don't care squat about cooking this book may still interest you, this memoir touches on a little bit of everything from growing up as a little black boy in a mainly all white country, to family, to the value of hardwork, forgiveness, and love.I would also recommend listening to the audio version which is narrated by Marcus himself, his accent and annunciations help make the story.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Marcus Samuelsson has lived a very intriguing and interesting life. His story is amazing and his love and almost reverence for the gentle complexities of food is infectious. However, I liked noticing the difference between the culture I am familiar with being a resident of the United States to Samuelsson's Ethiopian/Swedish upbringing. It was seeing how the other half lives.

    There were some aspects about his life I just could not believe like him having a daughter and how he didn't really acknowledged her for a good majority of her life. Thank goodness for his mother. I sort of wished that he could have confronted his birth father more about the details of his whereabouts during his birth mother's death and Samuelsson's and his sister's adoption. Although, had I been in his place, I may have reacted the same way.

    Like all people on the outside looking in, I was a bit envious of his life. I liked the passion he has for something and he persued it. He did the same thing before with soccer. However, he's a bit arrogant. I guess with all the awards and accolades he won, he can afford to be.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Remarkable memoir. From Africa to Sweden through Europe to the USA. Very well done. Some confessions, some soul searching, very heartfelt and uplifting!
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I'm on the fence between a 2 and a 3 star rating.I have mixed emotions about this book. I liked it but like all memoirs it left me feeling like the subject isn't the "perfect rock star" that I think they are. I mean there was a couple of things this guy did and said that just screamed what an arrogant, self absorbed douchebag he could be. He seemed so cold hearted and driven that he was able to sweep people and their feelings under the carpet and completely forget about them. Another thing was at the end of the book, he spoke with more compasssion, warmth and feeling about the Harlem community then he did thru out the whole book about his daughter. I keep reminding myself that none of us are perfect so I shouldn't be so judgemental but still I'm disappointed.I did enjoy learning of his background, chef experience, flavor palates and struggles to reach the top. I definitely can't disrespect the man for that,as he is probably one of the best chefs going today, but the dude just came across as a cold fish. Food pun intended ;)
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Had some great points in it. On the other hand, it was fascinating to find him talking about how he is trying to help young men make it in the restaurant and how it was like "you can tell me to shave every day, you can tell me to wear something other than sneakers, you can tell me to iron my pants but it is too much to ask me to do all 3." Yes friends--we live with a generation that really does want to focus on "only me" and then blame others when they fail. For that reason I would like to give them to our highschoolers but the language just doesn't cut it.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I've been reading a lot of chef memoirs recently. While enjoyable enough to read all the way through, Yes, Chef seems just a little bit too smug and self-serving. Most book in this genre include a few recipes, but Yes, Chef does not. And it suffers as a result.

    Marcus makes a big deal about his cookbook "The Soul of a New Cuisine" being revolutionary and bringing unknown recipes to the American public. Perhaps because I already cook a lot of Middle Eastern food, and North African and Middle Eastern foodways overlap, I found many of the recipes in Soul of a New Cuisine to be things that are already common dishes in my house, rather than revolutionary new ideas.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Ever wonder how to become a young, outstanding chef? Work your butt off, do everything you can to cook, and work your butt off some more. Samuelsson started life in Ethiopia, and after his mother passed away, he and his sister were adopted by a Swedish family. Reading of his youth in Goteborg (the city from where my mother and her family hail and where I have spent much time) was also nostalgia for me. It felt like I was reading a story similar to something of my own upbringing. Samuelsson learned to cook in the kitchen of his mormor (maternal grandmother) and found a passion for it. Eventually he went to trade to school to become a chef, and his drive pushed him further. To restaurants through Europe, on cruise ships, and eventually in New York City at Aquavit. He would take the restaurant to new levels, through his skill and incredible taste buds. His star will rise, he'll find his way back to his birth family's home, and revive a Harlem tradition.What impressed me most about the book is what it lacks compared to other restaurant memoirs: Samuelsson does not overindulge in drink or illicit substances. An engaging read and I could not finish it fast enough.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I recieved this book from Goodreads as a giveaway (Thanks Goodreads!!). At first I wasnt sure how I would like it. I didnt know much more about Marcus Samuelsson except seeing him on several Food Network programs. But I dove in with an open mind. Just the way the book began was a hook....he didnt know much about his mother but she was always there. The spices, the way she cooked, a whisper...she was there for him. Those images are very moving.

    As a young man trying to break into the culinary world, he had the usual struggles of proving himself, breaking in, showing his skill but keeping his 'place'. Marcus though has the added difficulties of race. He kept moving, changing, growing...adding experiences like the spices to his rack and recipes to his catalog. His drive and determination got him to where he is today.

    The book is rather well done and a good description of the kitchens I have seen - my father was a chef and I imagined some of the similar circumstances he had as a young man.

    Its a story of family, of determination, belief in one's self and staying true to whom you are. Well done Marcus, well done. Your mother would be proud.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    I didn't know much about Marcus Samuelsson prior to reading this memoir. I haven't watched much Top Chef in recent years and my finger has been a bit off the foodie-pulse it used to monitor much more frequently a few years ago. I was aware of his restaurant, Red Rooster, and his name rang vague bells concerning the White House, etc.

    I really respect how hard he has worked to get where he is and it was enjoyable to read parts of his story. That being said, it was a pretty ho-hum book for me. I'm not a big fan of ghost-written memoirs for the most part; often they feel as if they cast the wrong emphasis out into the void - like they're just a tiny bit off the mark and nothing feels quite right. I would say that Veronica Chambers did an okay job of it but it felt bland. Which isn't exactly the direction you probably want to take as a chef who "chases flavors."

  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A beautiful and interesting book. Fine for YA. Adoption, race, strong family ties. Good role model for working hard to achieve your dreams. Content okay for anyone -- but reading level makes it probably best for 9th grade up.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Although I love to read "foodie" books, this is actually the first biography I've read that was written by a chef. I found it an interesting story on many levels. Marcus Samuelsson is an award-winning chef who is a black man, born in Ethiopia, adopted and raised by white parents in Sweden, but who eventually ended up in New York's Harlem as the owner and executive chef of the Red Rooster restaurant. Samuelsson presents himself with his strengths and faults, a clear picture for others to see how his talent helped him rise to his current situation. What I liked least about his life story was his neglect of Zoe, a daughter he fathered out of wedlock, throughout her childhood years. What I liked most about this story was his love for his adoptive parents, his regard for his natural family, and his decision to situate his final restaurant in Harlem to help elevate the cultural and gastronomic contributions of the population of this Manhattan neighborhood.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A thoughtful book from a very interesting person and chef celebrity. My only qualm was that I at times felt he glossed over the more complex moments of his life - his relationship with his birth father, his daughter, even his relationship with his wife. There were either deliberate silences about these relationships or there was a deliberate thinning of the substance behind the less idyllic parts of his life. Still a great read and I highly recommend.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    An entertaining look at what it takes to succeed as a chef and how brutal the restaurant world can be. The section of the book that covers his early years is much more engaging and thoughtful than the more recent material. It would be a good book to give the foodie in your life.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    “It begins with a simple ritual: Every Saturday afternoon, a boy who loves to cook walks to his grandmother’s house and helps her prepare a roast chicken for dinner. The grandmother is Swedish, a retired domestic. The boy is Ethiopian and adopted, and he will grow up to become the world-renowned chef Marcus Samuelsson. This book is his love letter to food and family in all its manifestations”This is an incredible story of how Samuelsson merged his Ethiopian background with his Swedish upbringing and emerged as one of the noted chefs in the world. I like foodie memoirs and this one was a treat. Detailing his memories of his biological family (so sad he didn’t know what his mother looked like), being adopted into a loving and supportive Swedish family, the travel stories (loved those!) and culinary training. A great success story and a memoir that moved from phase to phase of his life without being boring. A+