Written with Osayi Endolyn with recipes with Yewande Komolafe and Tamie Cook, the sheer depth of research is astounding. Over the years, Samuelsson, a married father of one, has used his ever-expanding platform - TV shows, podcasts, best-selling books - to champion causes near to his heart as well as share his story and that of those like him: immigrants and chefs of color.īut, The Rise, which features 150 recipes alongside profiles of Black chefs, writers, and activists, is perhaps his most ambitious project to date.

By 2003, he garnered that nod from James Beard as Aquavit’s executive chef, and he went on to open his critically acclaimed signature restaurant, Red Rooster, in Harlem in 2010, which has expanded to Overtown, a historically Black neighborhood in Miami. In 1994, after studying at the culinary institute there and apprenticing in Europe, Samuelsson came to the United States at age 23, apprenticing at Aquavit in New York. Born in war-torn Ethiopia, he was adopted by a family from Gothenburg, Sweden, where he was raised. The story of where the James Beard Award-winning chef - once named Best New Chef in New York City by the foundation - started and where he’s gone is equally complex. Released on October 27, it’s also a call for society to recognize the contributions of this cuisine, a mission standing on three pillars: “ authorship of our food and rituals memory of history, where we started, and where we’ve gone and aspiration for the future.”

Part cookbook, part history book, part chronicle of today’s Black chefs, Chef Marcus Samuelsson’s new book, The Rise: Black Cooks and the Soul of American Food, is an ode to the complexity of Black cuisine.

New American Table by Marcus Samuelsson