Catching up with Marcus Samuelsson
MARCUS SAMUELSSON REFLECTS ON HOW THE FOOD WORLD HAS EVOLVED SINCE THE 1990S
When Marcus Samuelsson entered the food world decades ago, it was a different much different place.
“When I started cooking, it was a very, very anonymous field,” says the chef, restauranteur, author and TV personality. “Today, it is a very visible field.”
Samuelsson is a prime example of that trend.
Not only does he have multiple restaurants — including Red Rooster Harlem, Red Rooster Shoreditch, and Marcus B&P — but he’s also written multiple cookbooks, the memoir “Yes, Chef,” and has appeared on multiple TV shows, including ABC’s “The Taste,” Food Network’s “Chopped,” PBS’s “No Passport Required.”
Samuelsson was scheduled to speak at the Westport Public Library as part of its Trefz Newsmakers series, which seeks to connect intellectuals, foreign policy experts, artists, athletes and other newsmakers who are involved with the issues of the day. His March appearance, however, was postponed over coronavirus fears.
Once the event is back on the calendar, the talk will be moderated by CBS correspondent Jeff Pegues.
Samuelsson, 49, says he’s looking to forward to the event, and to exploring the journey he’s taken as a chef and food personality.
“Having been a chef for several decades, I’ve faced many challenges,” he says. “I think it’s important to share those challenges.”
Samuelsson has seen many ups and downs in the restaurant world since he began in the industry in the early 1990s. Some of those challenges have been good.
For instance, Samuelsson says, when he started in the food business, not only were chefs anonymous, but they largely looked and sounded the same. “They were mostly male and French,” Samuelsson says. “Those are still important voices, but they’re not the only voices.”
Today, he says, there are more influential chefs who are women and people of color. Samuelsson himself is part of that evolving identity. Born in Ethiopia, he was adopted by a Swedish family and grew up in Sweden, and learned that country’s cuisine. He actually rose to prominence cooking Scandinavian food at the New York City restaurant Aquavit.
But, over the years, he has incorporated a variety of influences into his cuisines, including not just Swedish and Scandinavian, but also Japanese and African foods as well.
“Food is about identity,” Samuelsson says. “Everybody’s journey is different. And everybody has to think about how food works for or speaks to them.”
Samuelsson has been working to bring different kinds of food to people regardless of who they are or where they live. He’s the co-founder of the Marcus Samuelsson Group, which now includes 31 restaurants throughout New York, New Jersey, Bermuda, Scandinavia, London, Chicago, and Canada.
“Great food shouldn’t all be in the same zip code,” he says.
Right now, restaurants are facing a unique challenge, in the form of fears about a type of the respiratory illness coronavirus, which is spreading throughout the country. Nearly every industry has been affected by coronavirus panic, including restaurants, which might take a hit as many people opt to stay home.
“We were one of the first businesses affected,” Samuelsson says. “We’re doing everything we can to educate the staff and communicate to them that we aren’t taking this lightly.”
However, Samuelsson says, he’s optimistic that he and the food industry will emerge from this latest crisis as they have from other crises that affected the business. And when it does, the business will continue to evolve.
“We’re all on a creative journey,” Samuelsson says.