Marcus Samuelsson

Marcus Samuelsson (born Kassahun Tsegie in 1970 in Ethiopia) is a Swedish chef and co-owner of Aquavit restaurant in New York City and C-House Restaurant, located in the Affinia Hotel in Chicago.

Chef Marcus Samuelsson is an internationally acclaimed chef who has thrilled the food scene with a blend of culture and artistic excellence. Chef Samuelsson is a three-time James Beard Award winner. He has also been celebrated as one of “The Great Chefs of America” by the Culinary Institute of America. He has launched his career as a graduate of the Culinary Institute in Gothenburg, Sweden, with apprenticeships in Switzerland, Austria, France and the United States.

Chef Samuelsson was raised in Gothenburg after his parents adopted him and his sister from Ethiopia at the age of 3. They encouraged him to fully pursue his talents without geographic bounds. At the early age of 24, Chef Samuelsson caught the attention of the culinary world at Aquavit, New York City's award winning Scandinavian restaurant. During his tenure there as executive chef, he received consecutive four-star ratings in Forbes and two impressive three-star ratings from The New York Times, the youngest person ever to receive such an accolade.

Chef Samuelsson continues to break new ground, connecting contrasting geographies and palates while lending his exceptional voice to the evolving conversation of food and culture. A collection of successful cookbooks, including Aquavit and the New Scandinavian Cuisine (2003), and The Soul of a New Cuisine (2006), have won him numerous awards as well as recognition from The New York Times, The Washington Post and Chicago Tribune. His submersion into the local farms and kitchens of the American landscape have inspired a new zest for merging worlds. His findings and interpretations can be found in his top selling new book, New American Table, awarded "Best Cookbook of the Year" by Epicurious.com.

Chef Samuelsson has been featured on a number of media platforms including CNN, Top Chef, Iron Chef, Martha Stewart Show, and frequent guest appearances on the Today Show. He previously hosted his own television shows, The Inner Chef and Urban Cuisine. Most recently, Chef Samuelsson has teamed up with AOL to produce Kitchen Daily, a web-based program, where Samuelsson will deliver bi-monthly culinary segments to millions of viewers on line. Chef Samuelsson was recently honored as Guest Chef of the White House under the Obama Administration, where he planned and executed the administration's first state dinner for the first family, Prime Minister Singh and 400 of their guest.

While Chef Samuelsson has been honored by the prestigious James Beard Foundation with the awards "Rising Star Chef" (1999), "Best Chef: New York City" (2003), and "Best International Cookbook" (2007), he continues to maintain humility to the art of food and to his UNICEF endeavors, working towards immunization and curbing malnutrition. He is also committed to his work with C-CAP a non-protfit organization that provides inner city high school students with training scholarships and jobs in the restaurant and food service industry.

External links

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• StarChefs.Com Biography