Marcus Samuelsson

“I don’t distinguish the music I listen to from great music – it’s just music. There shouldn’t be an announcement that divides our food between what tastes good and what is good for us.”

“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.”

“Clean water and access to food are some of the simplest things that we can take for granted each and every day. In places like Africa, these can be some of the hardest resources to attain if you live in a rural area.”

“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.”

“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.”

“Like all food, whether you’re talking about Persian food, or Chinese food, or Swedish food, it’s always a reflection of wars, trading, a bunch of good and a bunch of bad. But what’s left is always the food story.”