‘Black food is American food’
Chef, food personality Marcus Samuels son’ s cookbook is roadmap towhat, why and how America is eating
If you want to experience the influence and creativity of Black chefs in America, you’re already living in it. It’s Houston. “It’s the most diverse city in America and one of the most delicious food towns in the world,” said chef and food personality Marcus Samuelsson. “Houston is an example of what America looks like, and tastes like, today.”
But beyond the immigrant-rich Bayou City, there remains so much to discover about the contributions of Black food professionals in this country. And so much more to learn.
In his new cookbook, “The Rise: Black Cooks and the Soul of American Food,” Samuelsson offers a modern road map to that quest — a black- and brown-faced Baedeker for what, why and how America is eating now. At the outset, the six-time James
Beard Award winner states that “Black food is American food.” Through voices rich in multicultural experience and kaleidoscopic self-identity, he shows why.
Written with Osayi Endolyn, also a James Beard Award-winning writer, “The Rise” champions the work of Black chefs, culinarians, activists and writers. Some of the names are familiar, others are not; and some are local (both Chris Williams of Lucille’s and Jonny Rhodes of Indigo are included). But they share a commonality — they’re the faces of the diversity coloring American food, culture and history.
“The Rise” comes at an unprecedented time as Americans grapple with a pandemic and momentous societal issues including race and immigration. In a year when Americans took to the streets for Black Lives Matter protests, Samuelsson notes that food has always been a part of the movement for racial justice. People of color are demanding to be heard and seen, and some are taking their stance through their food.
Samuelsson is uniquely qualified to tell these stories of what it means to be a Black cook in the United States. The Ethiopian-born and Swedish-raised chef rose to the highest levels of his craft as a proud immigrant. Though his story is cinematic in breadth (and well documented in his memoir “Yes, Chef”), Samuelsson gives the platform to food professionals whose stories and recipes he hopes will help educate readers but also make the restaurant/food industry more equitable.
“The Rise,” by its own admission, is a cookbook about “race, class and equality.” And a step toward righting the injustices of Black and brown people who have been “written out of food history,” Samuelsson said.
Some of that righting is happening in the food world in this year of living dangerously. Issues of diversity have toppled the powerful in food media and called into question the leadership of white-led food institutions. Even the prestigious James Beard Foundation’s award program was rocked by charges that Black chefs have been going unrecognized.
“When it comes to food, because of the many complicated layers of race, identity, caste and class, we need to do a deep dive — look at the past and look at the future,” Samuelsson said.
These are important discussions that need to be confronted, however uncomfortable, Samuelsson said. He adds that though COVID-19 will eventually be conquered, “the bigger disease we must fight is the virus of systemic racism.”
Heavy stuff for a cookbook, yes. “The Rise,” however, provides a rich, multicultural banquet. Its 150 recipes and more than two dozen voices offer generous helpings of artistry, passion, history and soulful resiliency.
Samuelsson hopes the reader comes away energized and curious about American food. That curiosity, he said, may lead Americans to begin discovering Black cooking in their own kitchens and within their own communities. Houston is a good place to start.