44: Marcus Samuelsson on His Journey of Becoming a Top Chef and His Mission to Highlight Black Stories in the Culinary Space

The path to success in the culinary world is almost never an easy one, and reaching the top of the game in New York City as a black chef is undoubtedly even more difficult. 

Today, we are joined by the amazingly inspiring and energetic Marcus Samuelsson, world-famous chef, the founder of Red Rooster, and author of several great biographical and culinary books, including his latest, The Rise. 

In our conversation, we chart Marcus' winding and challenging journey, from his earliest memories in Ethiopia, to his adoption in Sweden and the journeys he made across the globe chasing his dreams of working in the world of high cuisine. 

Throughout our chat, Marcus' progressive perspective and positive outlook shine through. Even when faced with hurdles and unfair circumstances, he has managed himself and his aspirations in a way that has clearly paid off. He talks about the importance of community and how he tied that into Red Rooster, the failures that preceded his bigger successes, and the legacy of great black chefs that he hopes to continue. 

We also talk about the influence of family, making it on a shoestring budget, and why he forgot about how hard he was working! Listeners can expect to come away with great insight into the life of an activist chef, someone committed to excellence as well as social change, so make sure to tune in!

Key Points From This Episode:

• Marcus' awareness of his early years, losing his birth mother, and his adoption. 
• The focus that Marcus inherited from his Swedish mother, and how this has served him through his life. 
• The moment that Marcus realized his calling was bringing new flavors to the world around him. 
• Developing a strong work ethic and the prioritization enabled Marcus to live cheaply. 
• Marcus' mentality around working outside of his comfort zone in the early years. 
• What it meant to find a groove, work hard, and forget about the hours and labor it took.  
• The professional failures that helped Marcus with his eventual success with Red Rooster. 
• How Marcus brought together his past and present, and the community in his restaurant.   
• Moving on from a difficult dispute over the intellectual property of Marcus' own name!
• The bumps in the road; losing and gaining friends, and persisting through tough times. 
• Community work in Harlem and Marcus' involvement in responding to the pandemic. 
• Marcus' view of the opportunity presented by the pandemic for a potential reset. 

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