Last updated on October 6, 2020
Notes From a Young Black Chef is a memoir about Kwame Onwuachi, written with Joshua David Stein.
It begins with Chef Onwuachi at the National Museum of African American History and Culture in DC. He takes a moment to reflect on the building and the history it contains. He’s been hired to feed a five course African American themed menu to 47 people at an event hosted by Dom Perignon to celebrate the building’s architect, David Adjaye.
We learn that it’s less than three weeks before his restaurant opens, and the first time the team from the restaurant has worked together.
Want to know how the book ends? Read this post instead.
Kwame Growing Up
Kwame is born of parents with Caribbean, Creole and Nigerian roots. He grew up in the Bronx with both parents until their divorce. From then, life became tougher in two ways. Without his father’s support, his mother struggled to make ends meet, even after she’d started a catering business. Although his father was better off and didn’t live far away, visits to his father were challenging because of mental and physical abuse.
Kwame’s mother worked hard. One of the reasons for this was to be able to afford to send him to private school. At 10 years old, when Kwame starts acting too mannish, and getting in trouble with Westley, his mom’s partner, as well, his mother has had enough. She sends him to Nigeria to visit his paternal grandfather. Although she originally tells him it’s a summer visit, she actually sends him to learn respect, and he remains there for two years.
In Nigeria, Kwame learns about his roots. He develops respect for his culture. But this respect doesn’t transfer back to the US upon his return to live with his mom.
Kwame’s mother again sends him to a private school. He lives life moving between his mom’s home, the projects and school, three very different spaces. The way he tells it, moving through the projects gives you no choice but to associate with the gangs that operate there. We doesn’t share the specific reason but he gets kicked out of the private school after grade 12. This left him with one option for high school, a public charter school near the projects.
Kwame in College
Kwame accepted that be needed to go to college, coming from a family that values education. His grandfather had taught at several black colleges. He applied and got accepted to the University of Bridgeport along with his friend from the projects, Jaquan.
Kwame had started selling drugs in high school. Once he was in college, be realized he could make money by growing his business. With his business acumen, he grew his business, making about $3000 a week. This continues until he is kicked out.
Picking Up After Being Thrown Out of College
From college, Jaquan moved back to the projects. Kwame, however, kept up his business. He awakes from a stupor one morning, hangover with a bunch of “friends”. Watching Obama on TV, who had just become president, inspired him to make a change. For he first time in a while, he feels the urge to cook and he cooks a meal that reminds him of home. He decides to make a change.
Landing in Baton Rouge
Kwame decides to move to live with his mother who’d moved south. His mom soon give him a push off the couch to find a job. He finally landed at a restaurant as a server. There, he becomes acquainted with the racism of the south. It was a taste of the racism he would continue to experience on his professional journey.
Discovering Being a Chef
Kwame was happy to leave that job to work on a trawler in the middle of the ocean, at the site of an oil spill. Using his cooking skills, be manages to.makenthe love from assistant to lead chef.
Being a chef on a boat on the middle of the ocean really give Kwame an opportunity to grow as a chef. Once he was done with that stint, with his mom having moved to New Orleans, he decided to return to New York.
Starting a Catering Business
Back in New York, Kwame stayed with his sister and decided to start a catering business. But he needed money, so he found something to do to make some quick cash. When he had to stop that hustle, he found a job at as a server at a restaurant.
Kwame found work as a server at a nice restaurant while continuing to work to realize his catering business. While trying to get a famous black author to notice him, he inadvertently finds an interested customer and pulls his first successful gig, with his mother’s help. This helped launch his business.
Developing at Culinary Institute of Art
In an effort to grow his catering business and learn more about the business, Kwame learned about Bruce Mattel. This took him to the Culinary Institute of Art, where he got to meet his mentor. Bruce convinced Kwame that he needed to attend the school.
Although the tuition was quite expensive and he could not afford it, Kwame was able to get some help and work out a plan to be able to attend. This was another turning point in his journey.
Kwame was completely focused on becoming a chef. He continued to work as a server while he attended CIA. He also had his catering business.
After the first year, students at CIA do an extern, which is like an apprenticeship. Kwame set his sights on a fine dining establishment in New York and managed to get to the position there. He learned a lot during that time, including some of the challenges of being black and working in the industry.
During his last semester of school, he got to visit a kitchen with 3 Michelin stars to see if he would find a fit there. He passed the test preparing a meal for the chef and was hired. It was a great opportunity working there, but all that changed when the chef changed.
Kwame left that position to explore other opportunities that gave him a chance to be a chef. Between that and participating in Top Chef, he was able to build a reputation to attract investors. He selected two investors with whom he would open his restaurant.
Being a Black Chef
The restaurant was called Shaw Bijou and was located in Washington DC. It was an ambitious project, with no limits. Kwame didn’t want to be held back by what was considered black food. He didn’t want to follow other people’s definition of what it meant to be a black cook. He wanted to be a black chef.
Kwame went into business with Greg, a trusted friend from CIA, and the investors. The plan was a fine dining restaurant with a tasting menu tied to Kwame’s autobiography.
Even before it opened, the restaurant was under a lot of scrutiny. The investors also run into some financial trouble. But the restaurant opened with an excited, hopeful staff. Kwame shares the story of the opening and the months following it.
Thoughts on Notes From a Young Black Chef
The memoir, to me, reads as if it’s a bit sanitized. But perhaps that is true of all memoirs. It’s interesting to read about the journey of a black chef, a journey that is still early in it’s evolution.
Kwame opened his first restaurant before the age of 30. That is an incredible achievement that shows his drive and commitment. Regardless of failure or success, what we see is a story of passion, exploration, action. And I believe that this is the most important thing. What use is a dream if it is never accompanied by any action?
We get some information from Kwame about his parents and his relationship with them, as well as a glimpse of the people in his family. Notes From a Young Black Chef is a memoir about Kwame Onwuachi’s professional life, written with Joshua David Stein. We see the making of the chef, a black chef, but by his own admittance, he puts on an act depending on the audience. I’m not sure what lies behind the bravado and drive to succeed. Kwame’s professional life is rooted in his identity and his autobiography. After all, his first restaurant concept was inspired by the food that he ate growing up and his sense of identity. It’s also possible that with his focus on his goals and dreams, there isn’t that much time for a personal life, but we do find out that he’s engaged.
Final Verdict
I enjoyed reading Notes From a Young Black Chef, but I also felt that it was missing something. There seemed to be some holes or some smoothing done. There are also some justifications made for example about black boys being discriminated against by teachers in schools. I’m not suggesting that those are inaccurate or dishonest, but rather that the author is trying to tell me something rather than showing it to me and letting me derive meaning. I found that to detract from the memoir at times. I give this book 3 stars. ⭐️⭐️⭐️