My only minus is that the book seemed to putter out at the end – maybe the events are too recent and fresh to have gotten as much reflection as earlier in the book. He does talk about food, but even more so he shows how food is a connector to all people and it echoes his own desires to communicate himself and cultures of people through the food he creates. As he travels and explores new cities and new kitchens, he is always observant of the patterns and connections. Marcus is great in particular in being able to step outside a situation to see the why behind the actions of people, good and bad. At the same time, Marcus has always during his life been aware of his outsider status – both railing against it and discrimination against his skin while also accepting and embracing it. His start as an aspiring athlete in his youth keeps him off of drugs and gives him an incredible discipline and ethic I don’t often see in Chef memoir – maybe because he can remember more clearly than others. You often will find yourself more frustrated for some of what he goes through in obstacles then it seems he does – from the screaming chefs above him to paying his life savings to own his name again. He humbly works hard – he’s extremely driven all his life to strive to be the best – and pays his dues as he learns and strives. He does hang out with friends and there are mistakes – including life changing ones.

His viewpoint is different from other chefs in that he doesn’t come off as a work hard party hard type of person, even as a young man. His journey starts with the circumstances of becoming an orphan in Ethiopia to his adoption and warmth of his family in Sweden to his journey in joining the culinary kitchen world through Europe and then his immigration to the US via his entry point of New York City. I found this Chef memoir surprisingly different in that Marcus from the start had such a unique perspective.

For October the book club selected reading is Yes, Chef: A Memoir by Marcus Samuelsson and Veronica Chambers (chosen by Amanda of Omar Niode Foundation ).

Yes, Chef by Marcus Samuelsson