Marcus Samuelsson + Osayi Endolyn // The Rise

This week, we're excited to welcome Marcus Samuelsson and Osayi Endolyn to Salt + Spine, the podcast on stories behind cookbooks.

Chef Marcus Samuelsson has become a household culinary name, building his restaurant empire from Red Rooster in Harlem to now more than a dozen eateries around the globe. He's won multiple James Beard Awards and is a regular on food TV, from winning both "Top Chef Mastersæ and "Chopped All-Stars" to hosting No Passport Required," his show with Vox Media's Eater. And he's written several cookbooks and a New York Times-bestselling memoir, Yes, Chef.

For his latest book, The Rise, Marcus teamed up with James Beard-winning food writer Osayi Endolyn whose wide reaching-work includes writings in The Washington Post, TIME, and Food & Wine. She's also working on a forthcoming book, focused on systemic racism in American restaurants and dining culture. 

In The Rise, Marcus and Osayi bring together dozens of Black people from across the food industry—chefs, historians, activists—to help tell the story of Black cooks and the story of American cuisine. In these pages, we hear from folks like authors Michael Twitty, Jessica B. Harris, and Toni Tipton-Martin, chefs like JJ Johnson, Mashama Bailey, and the late Leah Chase—to activists, home cooks, farmers, publishers, and more. It's a celebration of Black cooking, a rising class of new Black chefs and voices, and an effort to reclaim and recognize the contributions and talents of generations of Black cooks. 

NOTE: Marcus and Osayi joined us separately to talk about The Rise and we've edited the interviews together for a better flow, but note that we're not all in conversation together on today's show.

Also in this episode: Salt + Spine Kitchen Correspondent Sarah Varney takes The Rise for a ride by making a big pot of crab curry with yams and mustard greens, plus we've got two featured recipes from The Rise for you to make at home.

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