Anthony Floyd Jr.
LS 130
Dr. Manley
October 17, 2013
“It was good that we had a night to remember, because the next morning, the moment I’d
been dreading – and which I knew was inevitable – arrived. Zoe broke down. She got it all
off her chest. She let me have it for all the years I’d been absent, all the disappointment she
felt, all the feelings of betrayal and loss.” Page 259 – Marcus Samuelsson
The Journey
The memoir Yes, Chef is about all the life changing events that Marcus Samuelsson an
Ethiopian encounters becoming a son, chef, father and restaurant owner. Marcus journey
started when he, his sister, and birth mother set out on a 75 miles trip walking to a hospital
after they all had contracted tuberculosis. His birth mother died after arriving but Marcus
and his sister both survived and became orphans. The children were taken in by one of the
hospital workers to live with her family until she could have them adopted. Marcus and his
sister was adopted a year later by a Sweden family. The adoption meant just as much to
Marcus future as he would discover what he would become in life but it completed Anne
Marie and Lennart’s family. Marcus grandmother Helga was a cook and could prepare
restaurant worthy meals. In her kitchen Marcus would watch, taste and learn about foods
and how to cook them. This instantly became his passion and he knew one day he would
be chef. While in school Marcus dealt with the troubling facts that his skin was darker than
his parents and sister. He graduated from school second of his class earning his knives and
in the winter of 1989 he found his self in the Belle Avenue as a kitchen boy.
After working so hard for the Belle Avenue his boss rewarded Marcs with the highest
honor of a stage in Switzerland. The Victoria Jungfrau would be were Marcus worked his
hardest to let his work show and because of this apprenticeship and his amazing job there
be more opportunities available to him. Becoming a line cook for the Victoria after a year
of being there Marcus journey would send him to Austria where his life would be changed
forever. In Austria Marcus was working a stage at the Nordica where he met a
chambermaid name Brigitta and after a short romance she was pregnant. Marcus left
