And then I told her the price for the chives

in that coffee.

She's like, we need to move to America, right? But there's so many things that enters to, you know, we see it on a blog or we see it on Whole Foods or whatever, and now it becomes accepted.

But, you know, superfoods, these things, like...

A staple in Ethiopia is injera bread, this sour dough-based pancake.

Well, the grain of that is teff.

Teff is a superfood.

How did you learn? Did you learn just through coming up as a chef? Did you work with a nutritional consultant?

Well, I

would say, Jason, you know, I think I've gone through Almost like post-traumatic growth twice in my life, right? Right post 9-11, the shock, and then I just started to think and grow a lot.

Same thing here.

If I think about what came out of COVID, have a restaurant.

It's post-COVID.

But I had time to think about what I've added to the food industry or what can I do more of and can I be better, even more supportive of women in the workspace and set them up for leadership.

And that's what Havmar really does on a day-to-day basis.

Did you feel the weight of that history of Harlem and New York City and all of that when you were opening it, or what was your thought process?

Yeah.

And chef is, you know, like just going through it like, OK, Marcus, go home, go home to your parents, come back in three months.

We got a job for you at the three star in the southern part of France, which for me was an incredible offer.

Sure.

Right.

And I said, excuse me, I, I, I can take it.

He looks up.

For someone who hasn't heard it, can you sort of outline for me how you were a child in Sweden and some of that? Because it's really remarkable.

Wow.

And this is what it's going to look like.

And that's what it's going to look like.

That's what it's going to look like.

Tomatillo.

Take that.

Oh, my God.

While we try this delicious food

Garlic, okay.

And a little bit of the liquid from the chilies that we drained.

And then we're just gonna blend that.

Be careful now.

We're gonna put that on first.

Be careful now.

Yep, yep, that's it.

But how do you, now what's the trick to making sure that the chicken's well coated?

How did your family navigate that to make sure that you could fit in, that you did feel comfortable, that you in some way were able to hold on to some tendrils of your culture?

My parents, I cannot thank Leonard and Anne-Marie enough.

I mean, music was probably the biggest.

So, like, we were raised with black music, African music, and African-American music.

Like, Bob Marley, Stevie, and these were LPs, right? So you turn them.

It was also English class, you know what I mean? And it was also image class, style class, because when you open an LP and you look at a Prince or a Stevie and a Bob Marley, there's aesthetic.

Blackness is not monolithic, right? You know, looking at your dad's Miles Davies records are very different.

I

[laughs]

"Come and check the note." But, you know, I also feel like the days when I'm not doing that, like, this is why I got into food.

I love cooking, and I love thinking about this in different ways, right? And I always said that to myself, "The day I don't f- like, get excited about getting up and cooking, I should do something else." I've been very fortunate in my life.

I can do many things or not do anything, and I'd be all right.

I love all the aspects in food.

I think a lot about food tech, like where do we, in this fast-moving space, how can we use tech to really improve and get more people have access to better food and better choices.

So I think about that a lot, and like, where do we fit in as chefs for that, not just on the high-end level, but actually on an everyday level, too.

Yes.

Mm-hmm

... it's not something that you-- it's not like 100-meter dash that you win and then it's taken away.

You, you're at a place, and then you constantly have to work at it.

But what does that mean? It means to open doors.

Otherwise, it's pointless.

So I was very specific about I wanted to get a...

I always put up goals, and once we got the second three-star review from New York Times, I felt like, okay, this is a different journey.

Wow.

Can you talk about why food education is so important to your work right now?

Well, I mean, CCAP is an incredible program founded by Richard Kraussman, today led by Chris Gurdjieff, who's sitting right here.

We're in, you know, where we are teaching life skills through culinary in public schools, high schools, and started as an idea 35 years ago, and today it's in 11 states? Eight states.

Almost 11.

Almost 11, yes.

And Richard has been part and CCAP, the family of CCAP has really been part of transforming so many young people into the culinary space, then, you know, we have great examples of professionals that are still in the industry or own their own businesses or are just contributing and then maybe not in culinary anymore, but that like really got the foundation from CCAP.

And I would say, you know, we were talking about in the back with Karen as well, it's like, you know, my foundation for me growing up in public school in Sweden, we take for granted and still, that you get a hot meal every day.

What would it take for every young person, not just the lucky ones, to be part of something like CCAP?

Let's get back into it.

Well, I think because, I think a couple of things.

Internet and opportunity to link and bridge.

Like you can now, you know, a lot of my chef friends, they're going to Lagos to learn about food now, the way they used to go to France or Italy, right? That wasn't possible 15, 20 years ago.

And I think about it.

there's always been a back and forth between the continent of Africa and black excellence.

You think about music, right? Think about how Fela and all the African-American musicians used to go to Africa, Stevie, everybody went to Africa to learn.

That's what we wanted

Let's get back into it.

Well, I think because, I think a couple of things, internet and opportunity to link and bridge.

Like you can now, you know, a lot of my chef friends, they're going to Lagos to learn about food now, the way they used to go to France or Italy, right? Right.

That wasn't possible 15, 20 years ago.

And I think about, there's always been a back and forth between the continent of Africa and black excellence.

You think about music, right? Think about how Fela and all the African-American musicians used to go to Africa, Stevie, everybody went to Africa to learn.

And now you have, you know, Afrobeats, and you have hip-hop that takes influence from that.

That's

Let's get back into it.

Well, I think because, I think a couple of things.

Internet and opportunity to link and bridge.

Like you can now, you know, a lot of my chef friends, they're going to Lagos to learn about food now, the way they used to go to France or Italy, right? That wasn't possible 15, 20 years ago.

And I think about it.

there's always been a back and forth between the continent and Africa and black excellence.

You think about music, right? Think about how Fela and all the African-American musicians used to go to Africa, Stevie, everybody went to Africa to learn.

That's

Mm-hmm.

And when people see me, they need to receive that joy, and I can see it in the eyes, right? If s- there's joy is gone, we shouldn't be doing this anymore.

There's many ways, there's other restaurants you can go to.

[laughs] There's other people I can im- I can have impact in other different ways.

Uh, so for me, understanding more the intersection between technology and hospitality, learning how that can empower small business owners and have them reach more customers, looking even more locally to see how we can discover more islands here, for example.

So I'm excited about the future.

I'm excited about VIBE, for people to come and try it.

As we celebrate this incredible five-year milestone of the Marcus brand here at Baha Mar, as we look forward to year five of our Bahamas Culinary and Arts Festival, is there any words that you wanna leave with guests who've supported you here at Baha Mar over the years, and the team, um, that has helped them to dine with you over these years?

How do you think that this feeling has influenced your cooking?

Well, I can tell you that I've been an immigrant six times, so I'm comfortable of not being comfortable, right? And so the place I go to when I have that emotion is through food.

Um, I look at the fact that I've traveled and experienced and seen rituals and tasted food from all over the world.

I bring that in.

Like from last night, I've been thinking about this roasted carrot dish that I wanna smoke the carrot and rub them in fermented, uh, butter with berbere and roast them, and then shave them, and then maybe put some cucumber right next to it and serve it with this cured hamachi or really nice fatty, um, chutoro or toro.

And then I know how to build this mustard vinaigrette that I wanna build through simmer the mustard seeds, and then you add in pickled lemons and olive oil and a little bit of soy.

And then you just do your chicharrones through fried chicken skin, and you scrumble, you crumble that on top, and then you do fresh...

I'm curious to get your take on that.

Let's get back into it.

Well, I think because, I think a couple of things, internet and opportunity to link and bridge.

Like you can now...

You know, a lot of my chef friends, they're going to Lagos to learn about food now the way they used to go to France or, or, or, or Italy, right? That wasn't possible 15, 20 years ago.

And I think about there's always been a back and forth between the continent of Africa and Black excellence.

You think about music, right? Think about how Fela and all the African-American musicians used to go to Africa.

Stevie, everybody went to Africa to learn, and now you have, you know, Afrobeats and you have hip-hop that take influences from that.

And then I ran across this recipe, hoecakes, in your book.

Let's get back into it.

Well, I think because, I think a couple of things.

Internet and opportunity to link and bridge.

Like, you can now...

You know, a lot of my chef friends, they're going to Lagos to learn about food now, the way they used to go to France or, or, or, or Italy, right? That wasn't possible 15, 20 years ago.

And I think about, there's always been a back and forth between the continent of Africa and Black excellence.

You think about music, right? Think about how Fela and all the African-American musicians used to go to Africa.

this recipe, hoecakes, in your book.

Let's get back into it.

Well, I think because, I think a couple of things, internet and opportunity to link and bridge.

Like, you can now...

You know, a lot of my chef friends, they're going to Lagos to learn about food now the way they used to go to France or, or, or, or Italy, right? That wasn't possible 15, 20 years ago.

And I think about there's always been a back and forth between the continent of Africa and Black excellence.

You think about music, right? Think about how Fela and all the African-American musicians used to go to Africa.

Stevie, everybody went to Africa to learn, and now you have- You know, Afro beats and you have hip hop that takes influences from that.

this recipe, hoecakes, in your book.

Okay.

I got a peach marmalade here, a little bit of, think about a little bit of hot sauce we're gonna add in here.

Mm.

You got your corn, you got your watermelon.

You got a little bit of tomatoes.

All that you just gotta toss with some pecans.

Do you say pe-cans or pe-kans?

So after you spent your time in France, did you come immediately over to, uh, Aquavit as the executive chef?

Uh, I did not start as an executive chef.

I came as a sous chef, and, uh, I think as, uh, all the people that are gritty and work hard, and you get ready for something, if you stay ready, you never know when that opportunity's gonna come calling, and to me, it came very early.

It probably came a couple of years before I was ready.

I was 23 years old, and, um, a very tragic situation happened at Aquavit.

Our executive chef died.

I was asked just to take over before they found a chef, and eventually, um, they, they picked me.

... other things?

One family member in particular was an influence on Marcus.

Cooking found me through my grandmother, Helga.

She was a master of that.

I started to understand the essence of taste just through my grandmother's meatballs.

We have school lunches, and then we had the lunch or dinner I got at home by my parents, and then I got the lunch or dinner I got by my grandparents.

The school lunch, you were lucky to find meat in the meatballs, but they were perfectly round, not that tasty.

My mom, that was super busy, her meatballs could be one giant patty that we had to cut up ourselves as kids.

[percussive music] The move opened Marcus up to thousands of new stories.

[laughs]

And I had a job.

So once I got to Aquavit, the, the, the guy in charge, after a couple of months, passed away, and then I became, like, the junior guy that kind of was running the place.

And the owner said to me, like, "I gotta go and get a boss here.

I gotta go and get a chef." I was like, "Yes, I'm 23 years old, do not, I don't wanna close this place, I don't want, I don't want anything bad to happen." It's like four months later he came back and said, "Hey, I found a chef." I was like, "Yes." Little bit less responsibility.

[laughs]

That's insane.

Like, I'm not ready for that.

Why you put orange juice in, Zion? He's like, "I don't know."

Yeah.

Because it can tenderize it.

Yeah, exactly.

But in three minute- No ... we can't do it in three minute.

No, overnight you wanna tenderize it.

It's amazing.

Grilled mango is so good.

Why has there been such an explosion of, uh, of the, um, African menu in America?

Well, I think because, I think a couple of things.

Internet and opportunity to link and bridge.

Like you can now, you know, a lot of my chef friends, they're going to Lagos to learn about food now the way they used to go to France or, or, or, or Italy, right? That wasn't possible 15, 20 years ago.

And I think about, there's always been a back and forth between the continent of Africa and Black excellence.

You think about music, right? Think about how Fela and all the African-American musicians used to go to Africa.

Stevie, everybody went to Africa to learn, and now you have-You know, Afrobeats and you have hip hop that take influences from that.

this recipe, hoecakes, in your book.

It was just, it was such an awful, awful occurrence.

Yeah, Bobby, I mean, it's...

Everything about that story...

the good and the bad and the ugly in that story, all of it, it speaks to New York City's hospitality in the 90s, right? Because it talks about mentorship.

It talks about, you speak about ambition.

Jan was all of those things, right? And I remember one thing, and I've never out of respect for him done this dish, but he showed me a dish, very simple.

And think about, this is 1995.

you.

... realm?

I mean, I was only 23 years old when I came, but I, I, um, felt that I knew my food 'cause I was always writing.

And at that point, you know, I'd been doing stages and worked for six, seven years at that point, you know, I started 17, 18, and I travel a lot.

I had experience in Japan already.

I'd been to Singapore, which was, like, profoundly sort of, um, important places for me in terms of food because, you know, of course, working in three-star Michelin in France was important, working in Switzerland, but the food I fell in love with was in Asia.

Mm-hmm.

Present, how we're doing now and where is Harlem heading? So people truly care, not just care a little bit, truly care, right? So that, you know, for me, was, okay, if you go to a church, what's the food afterwards? And, you know, what is the history about this? But actually taking notes, right? Um, I remember one pivotal moment.

I was invited into this lady's, uh, brownstone and she said, "If you open a restaurant, this is the quality that I- I'm demanding from you." Um, and I was, uh, you know, she did a, a children's concert, classical music.