Samuelsson Chef Quotes & Sayings

You know that old expression "It's not whether you win or lose; it's how you play the game". That line was definitely not coined by a chef. Because for a chef, it's only about whether or not you pull through. If you fail, nobody cares how hard you tried. — Marcus Samuelsson

You have to balance, but you can be aggressive as a chef. It benefits the food. You have to be passionate. You can't be angry cooking. — Marcus Samuelsson

It will always be trendy to do the right thing with food. — Marcus Samuelsson

If a law were passed giving six months to every writer of a first book, only the good ones would do it. — Bertrand Russell

Preacher who says that the sweet life is made from bitter parts is more or less telling those who have come to mourn the teenage suicide that this is just one bitter ingredient in the sweet thing foreordained by the benevolent god. To which I want to shake my fist and say: There is not one sweet thing about it. It is only bitter. — Kyle Minor

Taking dishes straight off the restaurant's menu and putting them into a cookbook doesn't work, because as a chef you have your own vision of what your food is, but you can't always explain it. Or you can't pick recipes that best illustrate who and where you are and what you're doing. And if the recipes don't work, you don't have a book. — Marcus Samuelsson

Between the ages of six and nine, my palette was taking shape as well as my identity as a chef. It was then that I learned the difference between salty, sweet, sour and even spicy. — Marcus Samuelsson

Marcus Samuelsson is a chef who inspires me everyday. He has such a deep understanding of flavors and techniques. His food is representative of the diverse world that we live in. What he has done in Harlem with Red Rooster is very special. Marcus is not just a chef, he's a food activist. — Aaron Sanchez

While some people may think being a chef only entails making enticing dishes and pushing the culinary boundaries, being a part of the food industry involves much more. — Marcus Samuelsson

When you're making a reality show, you can't even plan a week ahead now. — Simon Cowell

As a chef and activist, I'm particularly concerned with food politics issues such as the farm bill. — Marcus Samuelsson

Being an Ethiopian-born, Swedish-raised chef, there's nothing traditional about my Thanksgiving spread. — Marcus Samuelsson

Let me offer you, metaphorically, two magic wands that have sweeping powers to change society. With one wand you could wipe out all racism and discrimination from the hearts and minds of white America. The other wand you could wave across the ghettos and barrios of America and infuse the inhabitants with Japanese or Jewish values, respect for learning and ambition ... I suggest that the best wand for society and for those who live in the ghettos and barrios would be the second wand. — Richard Lamm

Mathematics is the surest way to immortality. If you make a big discovery in mathematics, you will be remembered after everyone else will be forgotten — Paul Erdos

I went to London because, for me, it was the home of literature. I went there because of Dickens and Shakespeare. — Ben Okri

Be positive. Believe that you will succeed. See it, go for it. No matter what the odds, most of the battle is inside your own head. -- Bob Mayer — Sue Ward Drake

I am a chef through and through. Everything I do - whether it is cooking for kids in Harlem or cooking in a fine dining establishment - all my days are consumed by food. — Marcus Samuelsson

I'm an American chef. I'm American. I live here. I love being here. But, of course, it is different. A black man's journey is different. — Marcus Samuelsson

They say never trust a skinny chef, but the fact is, to stay healthy when you're a chef means you have to work twice as hard. — Marcus Samuelsson

People come up to me all the time and ask how I stay the way I am, and it's no secret. The first lesson a chef needs to learn is how to handle a knife; the second is how to be around all that food. — Marcus Samuelsson

In Europe I couldn't be anything but a black cook working for somebody. My inspiration was to own, to be the chef. — Marcus Samuelsson

As a chef, I always have in mind how to properly feed the public, but at times it's easy to forget that some people have trouble even getting any food, much less adequate nutrition. — Marcus Samuelsson

But it was now time for her to go away - to find someone who could show her what happiness was. — Lang Leav

I get so tickled when that pilot happens to be an African American because I rarely see that. The same is true when I go to find restaurants. I mean, most places I go, I kind of have some idea who the chef is, which is why I want to go. — Marcus Samuelsson

As a chef, I could not wash my hands - nor clean pots, pans, utensils, meats or produce, nor make soups and sauces - if I did not have clean water. Were this to happen, of course, these would be the least of my concerns. Because water is the linchpin of survival: without it, not much else matters. — Marcus Samuelsson

I love cookbooks for completely different reasons. I love 'The Harry's Bar Cookbook' and Marco-Pierre White's 'White Heat' for their feel. For pure learning, Gray Kunz wrote a great cookbook, 'The Elements of Taste', published in 2001. The first time I read Charlie Trotter's, the Chicago chef's first cookbook, I was blown away. — Marcus Samuelsson