Yes, Chef

A Memoir

By: Marcus Samuelsson

Narrated by: Marcus Samuelsson

Length: 11 hrs and 47 mins

Publisher's summary

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.

Praise for Yes, Chef

“Such an interesting life, told with touching modesty and remarkable candor.”—Ruth Reichl

“Marcus Samuelsson has an incomparable story, a quiet bravery, and a lyrical and discreetly glittering style—in the kitchen and on the page. I liked this book so very, very much.”—Gabrielle Hamilton

“Plenty of celebrity chefs have a compelling story to tell, but none of them can top [this] one.”—The Wall Street Journal

“Red Rooster’s arrival in Harlem brought with it a chef who has reinvigorated and reimagined what it means to be American. In his famed dishes, and now in this memoir, Marcus Samuelsson tells a story that reaches past racial and national divides to the foundations of family, hope, and downright good food.”—President Bill Clinton

©2012 Marcus Samuelsson (P)2012 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

"The Red Rooster's arrival in Harlem brought with it a chef who has reinvigorated and reimagined what it means to be American. In his famed dishes, and now in this memoir, Marcus Samuelsson tells a story that reaches past racial and national divides to the foundations of family, hope, and downright good food." (President Bill Clinton)

"I've read a lot of chefs' books, but never anything like this one. Marcus Samuelsson has had such an interesting life, and he talks about it with touching modesty and remarkable candor. I couldn't put this book down." (Ruth Reichl, best-selling author of Tender at the Bone)

"Marcus Samuelsson has an incomparable story, a quiet bravery, and a lyrical and discreetly glittering style - in the kitchen and on the page. I liked this book so very, very much." (Gabrielle Hamilton, best-selling author of Blood, Bones, & Butter)

Enlightening and Inspirational

The journey of Marcus Samuelson is one that encapsulates the story of many people into one. It’s incredible how through his passion for food, he learned and teaches all of us about sacrifice, heritage, love, inequality, opportunities and humanity.
Beautiful book!

Great story, his talent is amazing

Marcus is not only a great chef, but also great story teller.
This book of journey is probably just scratching the surface of all his experiences.
Would love to hear another book is his in the future.
Tack Marcus för en fantastisk bok.
Thank you Marcus for a fantastic book.

Fascinating and insightful.

All I knew of Marcus was a few times I have seen him on the Food Network show Chopped. I was fascinated to hear Marcus's story, to learn of his childhood, of his growing up, what it like to become a chef and all of the struggles that he went through to get there. It was also a wonderful insight into the world of being a chef. His description and love for Harlem was enlightening. A wonderful benefit was hearing Marcus narrator book in his own voice!

great tale, distracting narration

I was going to write that another narrator should have been chosen, but any pauses or stutters in the dialogue can be forgiven, as no one else could have told this story but the man who lived it. An inspiring journey of self and purpose through the median of a culinary career, Marcus shows you challenges most of us could never fathom, and then guides us through each endeavor as though we were right by his side. There was a personal family revelation that took me by surprise and complicated my view of the man, but all that, as well as the honest if imperfect narration, all added to a wonderful story from a human you can't help but root for.

Amazing life story--Love Marcus Samuelsson's voice

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

This is the story of an extraordinary individual, with drive and ambition, but also with a humility and an honesty that allows the listener to find themselves rooting for Mr Samuelsson like a family member. He speaks from the heart about a punishing, take-all industry. At the same time, his reverence for family(s) and cultural influence is remarkable. He is obviously talented and intelligent with a bit of luck at just the right times; but he is also a culinary figure that truly deserves all that has come his way. I think he has more than made 'his people' proud. You have to listen to his story to understand the nuance of that last phrase. He voice, accent, and reafkng style adds temendously to the listeners expetience. HIGHLY recommend this book to anyone. Cant wait to go to the Red Rooster!

Interesting Life Story

I found it interesting to hear about the steps this man took to become a top-ranked chef. It was funny in places, and overall a well written story. Unlike some other reviewers, I did not have any trouble understanding the author/reader. I did ding him because he isn't an actor, and therefore there was no voice change between characters, but that never made the book difficult to follow.

If you are interested in regional cuisine and the food world in general, then you will probably enjoy this book.

A real memoir of a real chef

Where does Yes, Chef rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

This is one of the better audiobooks i've had the pleasure of listening to. The combination of a great story and personal narrative should appeal to any fan of memoirs or foodies.

Rich, beautiful story

Fantastic description of this man's journey from orphan to amazing success, with so much wonderful detail and feeling.

So nice to learn about this Chef

Where does Yes, Chef rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I really enjoyed it but there are other books I enjoyed more. So I would say maybe a 7 out of 10

Who was your favorite character and why?

Duh Marcus

What does Marcus Samuelsson bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

His charm and his accent

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes it was

Nice memoir

An accomplished chef's memoir, much less food-focused than others in the genre, and much more human. Samuelson is very honest about hard periods and dumb choices and it's very touching to watch his late arrival at accepting his fatherhood. Obviously a very talented chef & very driven man, I'm most struck by his absolute acceptance of grunt work and hierarchy- without those being continually woven into the story you could think he's a jerk, instead you realize he's extremely hard working and not afraid that doing grunt work harms him in any way. That alone is a powerful message. The book is well told and enjoyable, if a little long.