Named ONE OF THE MOST ANTICIPATED COOKBOOKS OF THE YEAR by Eater, Epicurious, The Kitchn
[The Rise] is an invigorating, joyous, and deeply nuanced illustration of the complexity of Black foodways, one that weaves together conversations about history, artistry, authorship, race, class, and culture with 150 recipes that incorporate ingredients and techniques from around the globe... [It] doesn’t claim to be an encyclopedic compendium of Black cooking; instead, it’s a celebration, one that honors the past while looking ahead, challenging assumptions even as it feeds you well.
— Eater
This book is a celebration of Black excellence in cooking — something that is always important, and feels essential for 2020. With 150 recipes, Marcus Samuelsson illustrates how “Black cooking is the engine of what we commonly understand to be American food.” Each recipe in the book honors various chefs, activists, artists, authors, and historians who “illuminate the space we share"... It’s a book you’ll want to cook from, but also sit down and read.
— The Kitchn
By about book thirty of my preparation for this story, I start going through a checklist for each option. Does this book inspire me? Teach me a new technique? Does it actually feed me: is it a book I’ll cook from, and not just read? The Rise, written by Marcus Samuelsson and Osayi Endolyn, with recipes by Yewande Komolafe and Tamie Cook, does all three. It’s a book about Black excellence in the food world; the recipes have roots in the Caribbean, the American South, and Africa. They are both nostalgic and forward-thinking.
— Epicurious
The Rise is not just a recipe collection; it is a tool for change
— The New York Times Book Review
While years in the making,
The Rise reads like a response to the racial awakening that has defined the tumultuous spring and summer of 2020... [It] joins other recent cookbooks, notably by
Toni Tipton-Martin, in celebrating the diversity of Black American food, and by making Black chefs and cooks the center of the story of American cuisine. The book also suggests a strategy for responding proactively to this moment: read, cook, reflect. Now repeat.
— The New York Times
Along with James Beard Award–winning author Osayi Endolyn and recipe developers Yewande Komolafe and Tamie Cook, [Marcus Samuelsson] takes readers on a culinary journey to discuss the diversity, history, culture, and spirituality that Black food and Black chefs express. Among biographies highlighting the culinary contributions of dozens of contemporary Black chefs including Shakirah Smiley, Nina Compton, and Eric Gestel, readers will find more than 150 delicious recipes, each shared in tribute to their work... This book is a celebration of Black culture through food, and a must for all readers of culinary history. An amazing addition to any library collection.
— Booklist Starred Review
This book is gumbo for your soul. A perfect storm of food, family, love, sharing of space and storytelling, it's the only gift I'll be giving this holiday season. Marcus has combined all of my favorite things: lineage, love and delicious cuisine. This melanated masterpiece is both delicious and nutritious.
— Activist, writer, and filmmaker Kimberly Jones
Co-written with Osayi Endolyn, Chef Marcus Samuelsson's long-awaited cookbook, The Rise: Black Cooks and the Soul of American Food, profiles the next generation of Black chefs and creators like Kwame Onwuachi and Adrienne Cheatham shaping America's culinary future. We cannot recommend this book highly enough.
— Food & Wine
The book challenges the notion that Black cooking has one monochromatic definition and puts the chefs who create it on their proper pedestal. The authors argue that there is no American food without Black food and offer over 150 recipes to prove their point...It's shameful I've never tried cooking something as simple and filling as rice and peas (learning also that peas' actually means red beans in this traditional dish.) Sad, too, that I'd never heard of most of these chefs, but "The Rise" offers help for the ignorant like me with easy-to-follow recipes combined.
— CNN Travel
With The Rise, my friend Marcus shows the incredible diversity of America’s Black Experience when it comes to food. We are more than what’s considered traditional “soul food” and The Rise shows you why.
— Al Roker
The Rise is more than a cookbook; it is a conversation, a collaboration, and, above all, a declaration that Black Food Matters.
— Vogue
The Rise was created to highlight the incredible talent and journey of Black chefs, culinarians, and writers at work today, and to show how the stories we tell can help make a more equitable, just industry... This is not a compilation cookbook, but rather it’s the fruit of Samuelsson and his team thinking deeply about the contributions of each of these chefs to our national culinary discourse and channelling them in creation of new recipes... Here’s to us all swapping our Zagats for The Rise as we plan our first post-pandemic road trips, windows down, and singing these names at the top of our lungs.
— Porchlight Books
Part cookbook, part history book, part chronicle of today’s Black chefs, Chef Marcus Samuelsson’s new book, The Rise: Black Cooks and the Soul of American Food, is an ode to the complexity of Black cuisine... it’s also a call for society to recognize the contributions of this cuisine, a mission standing on three pillars: “authorship of our food and rituals; memory of history, where we started, and where we’ve gone; and aspiration for the future."
— Shondaland
...a gorgeous celebration of Black cooks and their valuable contribution to the contemporary culinary world. Samuelsson tells his own story and profiles Black chefs, writers, and others from across the country with 150 recipes highlighting this vast wealth of creativity and influence that deserves to be acknowledged and honored.The Rise is a cookbook for our times, one that elevates awareness and brings a feast of delicious dishes to home cooks everywhere.
— Amazon Book Review
It’s hard to think of a book better-timed than Marcus Samuelsson’s The Rise: Black Cooks and the Soul of American Food, a luminous journey through the many splendored worlds of black-American cuisine. Part cookbook, part tasty history lesson, it adds a sweet note to the belated celebration of under-appreciated black artists, writers, filmmakers, inventors and business innovators. The book’s also a mood-lifter for this terrible pandemic year. What’s more heartwarming than 300 pages of food illustrations so luscious-looking, you want to eat them off the pages?
— New York Post
Bestselling author, chef, and TV star Marcus Samuelsson has put together 150 recipes that celebrate contemporary Black cooking. It’s about time more Black cooks and creators are recognized in the American culinary world...It’s more than a cookbook — it’s a celebration.
— Greatist
This gorgeous book is part history lesson, part stirring memoir with generous helpings of love for Black chefs, authors, scholars and food industry leaders who are living proof that Black Food Matters.
— Forbes
The Rise is a cookbook for our times, one that elevates awareness and brings a feast of delicious dishes to home cooks everywhere.
— The Amazon Book Review
...A fascinating, deeply researched journey into the primary role that Black foodways plays in American cooking. Readers are introduced to a rich talent pool of contemporary Black chefs, and their diverse work comes alive in nearly 150 recipes. It's the kind of cookbook that's equally at home on the nightstand and in the kitchen.
— Star Tribune
A journey through food and history that will leave hearts (and bellies) full. No reservation required.
— Bloomberg
In The Rise, Marcus Samuelsson gathers food, culture and history to highlight the diverse deliciousness of Black cooking.
— Taste of Home
...A book that's unlike any other.
— 5280 Denver
