2021 Reading Challenge: The book set in multiple countries

Yes, Chef by Marcus Samuelsson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


(3.5 stars but good enough to round up)

James Beard award winning chef, Marcus Samuelsson is not your ordinary chef.

Born in Ethiopia, he was adopted as a toddler and moved to Sweden where he was raised with his sister and their sister adopted earlier by the family. He had dreams of being a professional soccer player but that was dashed when he did not make the upper team in school.

But the one thing he also loves if food. Cooking with his grandmother and learning traditional Swedish dishes, he chooses to enroll in the professional training school focusing on cooking. There he learns the basics of French cuisine.

Deciding he wants to explore tastes, cuisines and see where the world of food could take him, he travels, serving in some of the best kitchens in the world.

When he returns to Ethiopia, he discovers the flavors of his heritage and that moves him to look for ways to bring the tastes of Africa, and other unusual cultures, to fine dining AND break stereotypes in the kitchen

****

I only knew Marcus Samuelsson from him being a judge on the TV Show "Chopped". But I was always impressed with how he focused on flavor profiles on the show. So when I saw this audiobook available right away for borrowing, I figured why not.

The author read the book and you can tell that he's not a native English speaker or trained voice actor with where he pauses for breaths and emphasis of words and syllables. That's not a bad thing but I honestly think I would have enjoyed this book more as a book and not audio.

All in all, a good book.




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