Notes From a Young Black Chef: Book Riot #bookreview — chasing destino

In Notes from a Young Black Chef by Kwame Onwuachi and Joshua David Stein, we learn about Bronx native Onwuachi and his relationship with food. Kwame has lived in many places, including Nigeria, but the place that matters the most is the kitchen. From a young age, he was watching his parents in the kitchen. Wherever he lived or visited, Kwame paid attention to what everyone was cooking and how it could make a difference.

Kwame was very honest about his past and some of the mistakes that he had made. He was kicked out of college for a minor drug-related offense. He spent too much time on selling weed and not doing much of anything productive. One day he woke up and was hungry — literally and figuratively. Kwame spent the morning cooking and knowing that he needed to make changes.

So Kwame moved away in order to get started on his fresh start. It wasn’t easy. He moved in with his mom and slept on her couch. She had to push her baby bird out of the nest. He had to get a job or get out of her house. He worked in several different restaurants which taught him many things about cooking and what direction he wanted to go with his career. He even sold candy bars on the subway to make money for starting a catering business.