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Two Chef’s Stories and Ubuntu

Chefs these days are writing their stories as well as cookbooks and I have been reading some of them recently. Favourites so far are: life, on the line by Grant Achatz and Nick Kokonas and Blood, Bones & Butter by Gabrielle Hamilton. I was particularly drawn in by Hamilton’s candid account of her journey, often a reluctant one, toward a challenging career as chef owner of world-class restaurant, Prune, in New York. That she was able to write such a compelling memoir about her private and public life while running a restaurant and mothering two children, speaks to her energy, confidence and amazing talent. The overriding message of her book for me is her steadfast belief in the power of food to provide a delicious vehicle for bringing people together for a memorable experience.

I recently re-visited a book that one of our sons gave me a few years ago: The Soul of a New Culture: A Discovery of the Foods and Flavours of Africa by Marcus Samuelsson. It’s funny how a book can come into your life at a time when you are not yet ready to take meaning from it, and for some reason after a rather long unopened stretch on the bookshelf, I picked it up again recently. Read more