Marcus Samuelsson Bio, Age, Family, Wife, Daughter, Books, Net Worth, Restaurants

Marcus Samuelsson Biography

Marcus Samuelsson is a Swedish-American celebrity chef, restaurateur, and television personality of Ethiopian origin. He works as the executive chef at Red Rooster in Harlem, New York.

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How old is Marcus Samuelsson? – Age

He is 52 years old as of 25 January 2023. He was born in 1971 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Marcus Samuelsson Family

Tsegie, his father, is an Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church priest. When he was three years old, his mother died in a tuberculosis epidemic. According to Samuelsson’s appearance on Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations: Parts Unknown During the Ethiopian Civil War, which began in 1974, he and his elder sister, Fantaye, were separated from their family. The siblings were later adopted by Anne-Marie and Lennart Samuelsson, a homemaker and a geologist living in Gothenburg, Sweden. Marcus and Linda Samuelsson replaced the siblings’ names. Anna Samuelsson, their adopted sister, is also present.

Tsegie, Samuelsson’s biological father, and the father of eight other children (the chef’s half-siblings), still lives in the Ethiopian village where he was born. He studied at the Culinary Institute in Göteborg (Gothenburg), where he was raised, after becoming interested in cooking through his maternal grandmother in Sweden. He trained in Switzerland and Austria before moving to the United States in 1994 to work as an apprentice at Restaurant Aquavit.

Who is Marcus Samuelsson’s Wife?

Samuelsson is married to Gate (Maya) Haile, a model. Their wedding took place in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Abeba. They are residents of Harlem. Samuelsson has an adult daughter, and they have a son. The Samuelsson’s announced on December 4, 2021, that they are expecting a daughter (to be named Grace Ethiopia) in 2022.

Who is Marcus Samuelsson, Daughter?

He has a daughter named Zoe Samuelsson.

Marcus Samuelsson Books

New American Table, The Soul of a New Cuisine, Marcus Off Duty, and The Red Rooster Cookbook are among his cookbooks. Yes, Chef, a memoir co-written with journalist Veronica Chambers about Samuelsson’s early life and path to becoming a chef, was published in 2012. The book received positive reviews and was awarded the James Beard Foundation Award for Food Writing and Literature. Following the success of Yes, Chef, Samuelsson published Make it Messy: My Perfectly Imperfect Life, a book aimed at young adults, in 2015.

Samuelsson co-wrote The Rise, a cookbook, with Osayi Endolyn, Yewande Komolafe, Tamie Cook, and Angie Mosier in 2020. Samuelsson describes the book in interviews as a way to share the Black experience in food history.

Marcus Samuelsson’s Net Worth

She has an estimated net worth of $5 Million.

How many restaurants does Marcus Samuelsson own?

Red Rooster, his Harlem restaurant, opened in December 2010. Red Rooster hosted a Democratic National Committee fundraising dinner in March 2011. The dinner was attended by President Barack Obama. The event, which cost $30,800 per plate, raised $1.5 million. Samuelsson and Clarion Hotels launched the Kitchen & Table restaurant concept in the fall of 2012. The concept’s first restaurant opened at Clarion Hotel Arlanda Airport in 2013, and it was held at all Clarion Hotels in Sweden and Norway from 2013 to 2014.

Marcus Samuelsson and his wife Maya Haile
Marcus Samuelsson and his wife Maya Haile

In the spring of 2015, Samuelsson opened Streetbird Rotisserie, a kitchenette with a menu inspired by cookouts and focusing on fried and rotisserie chicken, and décor paying homage to Harlem’s hip-hop culture. Marcus partnered with the Hamilton Princess & Beach Club to open Marcus’ in the Bermuda hotel in 2015. In March 2017, the restaurant reopened with a new menu and decor. Samuelsson created the room-service menu for Marcus at MGM National Harbor in Oxon Hill, Maryland, in late 2016. Marcus B&P, a new restaurant on Halsey Street in Newark, New Jersey, opened in November 2017. Marcus will open in the spring of 2019 at The Four Seasons Hotel in Montreal, according to Samuelsson.

Marcus Samuelsson Career

At the age of 24, Samuelsson became the executive chef of Aquavit and became the youngest person ever to receive a three-star restaurant review from The New York Times. The James Beard Foundation named him “Best Chef: New York City” in 2003. The same year, he opened Riingo, a Japanese-influenced American restaurant in New York.

Aside from being a world-class chef, Samuelsson is also a cookbook author with titles in both English and Swedish. The James Beard Foundation named his African-inspired cookbook The Soul of a New Cuisine the “Best International Cookbook” in 2006. Samuelsson’s other books include Aquavit and the New Scandinavian Cuisine, En Smakresa (“A Flavour Journey”), and Street Food.

Samuelsson is an International Culinary Science Visiting Professor at Ume University’s School of Restaurant and Culinary Arts in Sweden. Inner Chef, which aired on Discovery Home Channel in 2005, was followed by Urban Cuisine, which aired on BET J in 2008. (now Centric). His cooking combines international influences with traditional Swedish, Japanese, and African cuisines.

Samuelsson served as the guest chef for Barack Obama’s first state dinner on November 24, 2009. The dinner, held in honor of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, was mostly vegetarian and served on the South Lawn. According to reports, Samuelsson sought to combine sustainable and regional foods that reflect the best of American cuisine while evoking the flavors of India.

Samuelsson prepared red lentil soup, roasted potato dumplings, and green curry prawns using fresh vegetables and herbs from the White House Garden. During the Clinton administration, the tradition of guest chefs joining the White House chef for special events began. Samuelsson is a consultant for New York City’s Institute of Culinary Education.