First published 2012
Marcus Samuelsson begins his culinary journey at age three, walking seventy-five miles with his dying mother and sister to reach a hospital in Addis Ababa. After his mother's death from tuberculosis, Marcus and his sister recover and find new life with a Swedish family in Göteborg. His adoptive grandmother Helga teaches him to cook her roast chicken, pan-fried herring, and fresh bread every Saturday. This early passion drives Marcus through brutal apprenticeships in Switzerland and France, grueling cruise ship work, and finally to New York City. At twenty-four, he earns a three-star New York Times review at Aquavit. His career expands to include White House state dinners and reality show victories. Marcus eventually opens Red Rooster in Harlem, creating the diverse dining room he always envisioned. Presidents dine alongside jazz musicians, artists, and working people. The memoir reveals his professional failures and personal costs of ambition. Marcus also recounts his adult journey to meet his biological father in Ethiopia. The book traces how an orphan from Ethiopia, raised in Sweden, builds a home in America through food.
Genres: autobiography, memoir, biography-memoir, food-and-drink, food-writing, culinary
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, immigrant-experience
Setting: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Göteborg, Harlem, New York City, Sweden, Switzerland, France
Period: 20th-century, 21st-century
319 pages · Hardcover · Random House
Content warnings: death