46 pages • 1 hour read
Kwame OnwuachiNotes from a Young Black Chef
Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 2018A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 8-10Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 8 Summary: “CIA Man”
Onwuachi picked up a book on catering, and the author—Bruce Mattel—became his hero. He learned that Mattel was a professor at the Culinary Institute of America, and Onwuachi knew that was where he needed to be. Although his catering company was doing well, Onwuachi keenly recognized his own lack of knowledge: “I could sear and braise and dice and cube but didn’t know why I was doing what I was doing” (151). Founded as a way for World War II veterans to find a trade and steady work, the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) enjoyed a reputation for training successful chefs. Onwuachi visited and was enthralled by the grand campus and bustling students, all wearing uniforms and carrying heavy books. Onwuachi told the admissions officer about his respect for Bruce Mattel. The admissions officer escorted Onwuachi down the hall to meet his hero. the two men talked for half an hour, and Mattel encouraged Onwuachi to apply.
The only factor left to consider was money. Onwuachi had to find a way to pay the $33,000 annual tuition. He did not want to ask his mother for help. He knew that any dollar she gave her son was a dollar that she needed. Onwuachi’s catering company was growing, but every cent went back into the business. When he asked his mother, she was eager to help. She believed in the importance of this journey for her son. Onwuachi’s father, who could have offered much more, was less willing to assist. He suggested his son return to dealing drugs and ultimately gave Onwuachi a couple hundred dollars and his old Jeep. The last person Onwuachi could turn to was his old drug-dealing partner and friend Jaquan, who cheerfully gave his friend $1,000 in cash he had earned selling marijuana.
A few stipends and an agreement to serve as a resident assistant supplemented Onwuachi’s meager funds. He was excited to begin classes, and he soon distinguished himself. Most of his classmates were younger and less experienced. He became a leader in his group, someone his classmates turned to for advice and help. Onwuachi learned fundamentals and found endless opportunities to practice his skills. His teachers introduced stocks, mother sauces, and consommé; Onwuachi was struck by the science of adding egg whites to the stock to remove impurities and create a clear, flavorful liquid. He worked in the evenings at a Mexican bistro to help pay for tuition, and he traveled to New York on the weekends to run his catering business. The CIA offered opportunities for professional networking, and Onwuachi’s classmates were eager for the chance to practice their skills.
One evening, while driving back to school after a weekend of catering, Onwuachi was pulled over in his father’s Jeep for outstanding parking tickets. The officer arrested Onwuachi and put him behind bars. The young chef was embarrassed, angry, and disheartened, keenly aware of the history and context of Black individuals’ relationship with law enforcement. Onwuachi called his father to tell him that Patrick would have to pick up the Jeep since it was in his name. Patrick was outraged, and Onwuachi promised himself that he would no longer allow his father to be in his life: He needed to remove impurities as he would from a consommé.
Chapter 9 Summary: “Blood on the Egg Shells”
During the second semester at CIA, all students are required to complete an externment—a period of working at a restaurant to gain real-world experience. Onwuachi had always wanted the best of everything, from clothes to restaurant dining. His approach as a chef was no different. The CIA had relationships with the 10 best restaurants in the world, and Onwuachi was determined to stage (pronounced “staj,” meaning to work closely under another chef) at Per Se in New York, Thomas Keller’s famous restaurant. Per Se was a landmark and world renowned. A typical seven-course meal was $300, not including drinks or tips. A little luck helped Onwuachi get through the doors; after proving himself in front of the chef de cuisine, he obtained the unpaid position of apprentice.
The kitchen operated unlike any Onwuachi had been in. Everyone kept their head down and was quiet. The smallest slip-up resulted in a verbal lashing. The kitchen utilized the brigade de cuisine system, a hierarchical structure, and Onwuachi was at the bottom of the pile. Once, while Onwuachi was taking a moment to look around the kitchen to admire his coworkers and revel in his luck, the chef de cuisine screamed at him. Keller had posted a sign in the kitchen demanding “urgency.” There was no time for gawking. Onwuachi recognized that his treatment might also have resulted from racial tension. He was one of only three Black workers in the kitchen. Being yelled at reminded him of his father and strengthened his resolve to prove to everyone that he could become the best. Every day, Onwuachi cleaned eggshells that served as a vessel for a complicated white truffle–infused custard. His fingers, which lost their prints from the vinegar he used to clean away the inner membranes of the shells, left small drops of blood on the shells. His hard work paid off, and he was allowed to work the line. As his time at Per Se wrapped up, Onwuachi offered an idea for a dish for the next day’s menu. He was surprised when the chef de cuisine approved it.
Chapter 10 Summary: “From Old Guard to Start-Up”
Returning to the CIA after spending time at Per Se felt strange. Onwuachi had grown accustomed to the bustle of working in a restaurant, and the slow pace of his courses failed to offer the adrenaline rush of a professional kitchen. Onwuachi and his friend graduated from CIA and applied to work at the restaurant Eleven Madison Park, led by the chef de cuisine James Kent. As a test of his skills, Onwuachi was given lamb loin and told to prepare any dish he would like. Recognizing that he needed not only to impress but also to show that he could nail the basics, Onwuachi prepared a simple dish. Kent gave him the job.
While he worked at Eleven Madison Park, Onwuachi stopped taking new catering gigs. He was singularly focused on moving up the ladder at the restaurant. In Kent, he found a mentor, and the restaurant kitchen’s lowkey and quiet atmosphere provided a stark contrast to Onwuachi’s experiences at Per Se. Just as Onwuachi was beginning to feel a sense of community and belonging at Eleven Madison Park, James Kent left to head a new restaurant. His replacement, Chris Flint, was a member of the old guard and reintroduced fear into the kitchen. He screamed at the cooks and threw plates of food on the floor for the smallest mistake. Onwuachi was reminded once more of his father. Once, Onwuachi tried to explain to Flint that one of the French terms they used was also a racial slur in Italian. Onwuachi asked to change the term in front of restaurant guests; he was met with a dismissive racial remark.
Under Flint, Onwuachi felt his experience at Eleven Madison Park had grown stagnant. He was stuck in one station and unable to move up. An opportunity to work with Dinner Lab, a business with organized pop-up restaurants around the country, provided Onwuachi with the chance to make his own food. The menu he constructed highlighted his Nigerian, American, Creole, and Jamaican background. The dinner was a success and opened doors for Onwuachi. He approached Flint to let him know that he would be quitting to participate in a nationwide competitive tour with the owner of Dinner Lab. Flint was angry and offended; he told Onwuachi that he had not yet been yelled at enough to be a legitimate chef. He reminded Onwuachi to consider his ancestors—the great (white) chefs “who had shaped the fine-dining world” (212). However, Flint’s comment reminded Onwuachi of what his grandfather had said about carrying his ancestors with him. At the end of the tour, Onwuachi was declared the winner and received multiple offers from restaurateurs. One offer in Washington, DC, called to him.
Chapters 8-10 Analysis
Per Se and Eleven Madison Park showed Onwuachi what a work environment looked like when respect was not a part of the equation. The rigid brigade de cuisine system created a framework for unhealthy exertions of power, facilitating the “volcanic rage” of those at the top. The blood from Onwuachi’s fingers on the eggshells at Per Se symbolizes this inflexible structure. The exertion of power drew blood from those it oppressed in a way that threatened to erase his identity along with his fingerprints. When Onwuachi was belittled and demeaned by those above him, he recognized “the old familiar feeling” creeping back in (195). The power dynamic was no different from what he had experienced at TJ’s Ribs, on the streets, or at home.
Onwuachi’s mother had sent him to Nigeria to learn about respect—and respect mattered to him. While the world wanted him to embrace Anger and Power, Jewel wanted her son to embrace respect, for himself and for others. While the Culinary Institute of America taught Onwuachi foundational lessons about preparing fine cuisine, it also taught him about obedience to hierarchical structures and to authority. Onwuachi struggled with this aspect of his education. Rebellion had spurred him through his life; it had helped him challenge those who believed he was not worthy of success, let alone the chance to become a world-class chef. For Onwuachi, obedience was about submission to the world that had been built for him, whereas respect was about elevating others so that they might achieve success beyond society’s limiting expectations.
Even while facing new trials and fresh faces of terror, he encountered mentors and compassion. Mattel was one. Before Onwuachi met him at the Culinary Institute of America, he had relied on Mattel’s book detailing practical advice for managing a catering business. Once the two met at CIA, Mattel offered Onwuachi the opportunity to talk about cooking and food in a way that was nuanced and intelligent, and he showed support and encouragement of Kwame’s interest in the CIA. Instead of questioning Onwuachi’s merit or belittling his dreams, Mattel embraced him and told him that the CIA was where he belonged. Similarly, Onwuachi’s friend gave him money with only a jocular caveat, contrasting with Patrick’s contribution, which was meager considering the resources he had at his disposal. Onwuachi had people in his life who showed him what good leadership does; it serves, encourages, and supports. While Onwuachi was learning about the kind of leader he did not want to be, he was therefore also learning about the kind of leader he did want to be—one who championed Food as Connection and Story. These figures, juxtaposed against Onwuachi’s father’s harshness and the violent experiences of Kwame’s childhood, guide the philosophy of respect the memoir propounds.
Onwuachi put this philosophy into action when constructing his own catering company, building a reliable, diverse team of upstarts with whom he could collaborate. He also discovered the satisfaction of creating food with personal meaning and the satisfaction of serving food that tells a story. When asked to cook a Senegalese meal for Dinner Lab, Onwuachi pushed back because he was not Senegalese—but he was also not solely Nigerian. He wanted to create his food his way. “His way” meant treating people with respect—the concept his mother had worked so hard to instill in him. Dinner Lab enabled him to refine his story in a way that was succinct, accessible, and respectful of his voice and background and the voices and backgrounds of those with whom he collaborated.
