Foodie Uplift: He discusses healthier eating, environmental awareness, and economic empowerment through food.
Strawberry Letter
iHeartPodcasts
4.5 • 1.7K Ratings
🗓️ 23 December 2025
⏱️ 25 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Two-time Emmy and Three-time NAACP Image Award-winning, television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviewed Chef Marcus Samuelsson.
Interviewed centered around his book:
📘 The Rise: Black Cooks and the Soul of American Food
Here are the key highlights:
🍽️ About the Book
- Purpose: To celebrate and document the legacy, creativity, and cultural impact of Black chefs in America.
- Structure: Divided into five chapters — Next, Remix, Migration, Legacy, Origin — each exploring different aspects of Black culinary history and innovation.
- Unique Feature: Includes profiles of 40 Black chefs and food storytellers, plus a directory of 200+ Black chefs and food writers with their Instagram handles — a first-of-its-kind resource.
🌍 Cultural and Historical Themes
- Black Culinary Legacy: From enslaved cooks to modern food innovators, the book traces the deep roots and wide influence of Black food culture.
- Diaspora Influence: African, Caribbean, and Southern U.S. flavors are explored, including dishes like plantains, oxtail pepper pot, and couscous with roasted figs.
- Food as Activism: Highlights figures like Georgia Gilmore and chefs who supported civil rights movements through food.
🍴 Mouthwatering Recipes Mentioned
- Coconut Fried Chicken
- Oxtail Pepper Pot with Dumplings
- Couscous with Roasted Figs
- Sweet Wild Berry Jam
- Hot Water Cornbread (Hoecakes)
- Gumbo à la Leah Chase (without a roux!)
- Shrimp & Grits with Piri Piri Sauce
💬 Conversation Highlights
- Rushion shares personal stories tied to food, family, and culture — from wild berry picking in Texas to his wife’s Belizean roots.
- Marcus emphasizes the importance of authorship and ownership in Black culinary contributions.
- They discuss the need for healthier eating, environmental awareness, and economic empowerment through food.
#SHMS #STRAW #BEST
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is an IHeart podcast. |
| 0:02.6 | Guaranteed Human. |
| 0:04.6 | Hi, I'm Roshan McDonnell. |
| 0:06.4 | I host a weekly Money Making Conversation Masterclass show. |
| 0:09.3 | The interviews and information that this show provides are for everyone. |
| 0:12.8 | It's time to stop reading other people's success stories and start living your own. |
| 0:17.3 | If you want to be a guest on my show, please visit our website, |
| 0:25.2 | Moneymakingconversations.com, and click the be a guest button. |
| 0:28.3 | Press submit, and the information will come directly to me. |
| 0:31.6 | My next guest is Mark Schiff. We put the word chef in front of him, |
| 0:34.4 | Marcus Samuelson. He's an award-winning chef, |
| 0:40.2 | restaurateur, best-selling author, TV personality, philanthropists, and food activists. |
| 0:42.8 | His culinary career spans over 25 years. |
| 0:50.3 | Has numerous restaurants in the U.S. and internationally, including Red Rooster, Marcus B&B, Norder, Marcus Montreal, and more. His book is called The Rise, Black Cooks, and the Soul of American Food. The book is |
| 0:55.3 | celebrating contemporary black cooking, highlighting the food, culture, and history and stories and |
| 0:59.6 | recipes. The book covers the diverse contributions and traditions that influence black cooking |
| 1:04.6 | and American culture from African continent to the Caribbean and U.S. We have a lot to talk |
| 1:09.9 | about the process of creating the book, |
| 1:11.8 | naming it, the rise, black cooks, and the soul of American food. Why did he write the book? |
| 1:16.9 | How did he decide this was the next book that he wanted to do? So he's here, y'all. |
| 1:21.0 | Please welcome to Money Making Conversation, Chef Marcus Samuelson. |
| 1:25.8 | Thank you so much for having me. I'm excited to be here. My man. I'll tell you something. When you write a book like that, first of all, you love food, don't you chef? You just love food. Let's get that out. Let's get that out front because when I see, when I've read past books and I've just followed you on TV, that's like a twinkle in your eye. Because you, I love the way you dress too. So I'm a, I'm a, I'm a, I'm a, I'm a clove man. So, so, so I, see, I've interviewed a lot of chefs over the years. You are probably the best dress chef I've seen to date. Can you take that? I can say that. I also love food than more than anybody else in 115. The kitchen has given me license to travel and live my dream all over the world. And I'm very, very grateful for that. And of course, as a black man, you've got to bring a style with it. Of. Every other, I'm here something, chef. |
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