Chef Marcus Dishes Healthy Holiday Cooking, with Marcus Samuelsson

Ready or not, the holidays are coming – along with the challenge of eating healthfully. To help us navigate the season’s menus, we are joined this month by a special guest – Marcus Samuelsson, award-winning chef, restaurateur, author and activist. Chef Marcus shares cherished holiday memories, simple cooking techniques to make your holiday meals healthier and some not-so-common – and inexpensive – ingredients to boost the nutrition in your favorite recipes. Happy cooking!

The Takeaway

• Start your health journey by making an appointment with your primary care physician. Don’t have one? Find one at our Provider Directory: www.1199SEIUBenefits.org/find-a-provider.
• Visit the Healthy Living Resource Center for wellness tips, information and resources; www.1199SEIUBenefits.org/healthyliving.
• Join WeightWatchers at a discounted rate of just $8 a month; $0 if you are living with diabetes or prediabetes: www.1199SEIUBenefits.org/ww.
• If you are living with type 2 diabetes, find out more about our partner Virta’s diabetes reversal program: www.1199SEIUBenefits.org/news/virta.
• Get inspired by fellow members through our Members’ Voices series: www.1199SEIUBenefits.org/healthyliving/membervoices.
• Stop by our Benefits Channel to view webinars on building healthy meals, managing stress and more: www.1199SEIUBenefits.org/videos.
• Find a greenmarket near you by visiting grownyc.org/greenmarket/ourmarkets.
• Visit our YouTube Channel to view a wide collection of cooking demos and healthy living videos: youtube.com/@1199SEIUBenefitFunds/playlists
• Sample our wellness classes to exercise body and mind: www.1199SEIUBenefits.org/wellnessevents.
• To order one of Chef Marcus’s cookbooks, visit marcussamuelsson.com/shop.

Guest Bio
Marcus Samuelsson, award-winning chef, restaurateur, author and activist, is the esteemed chef behind many restaurants worldwide, including Red Rooster in Harlem and Red Rooster Overtown in Miami; Hav & Mar in the Chelsea Arts District; Metropolis at the Perelman Performing Arts Center in lower Manhattan; and several international locations, including the Bahamas, Canada and Ethiopia. Samuelsson was the youngest person ever to receive a three-star review from The New York Times. He has won eight James Beard Foundation Awards and was the guest chef for the Obama Administration’s first state dinner.

In 2023, Marcus earned an Emmy Award for the Short Form Program “My Mark.”  He is a longstanding judge and TV personality on the hit Food Network show Chopped, head judge of Top Chef Family Style, and an Iron Chef on Netflix’s rebooted Iron Chef: Quest for an Iron Legend. Samuelsson served as host and producer of the Seat at the Table audio series on Audible and co-host of the This Moment podcast with Swedish rapper Timbuktu on Acast. He is the author of multiple books, including The New York Times bestseller Yes, Chef: A Memoir, as well as the critically acclaimed The Rise: Black Cooks and the Soul of American Food.

To complement his professional commitments, Samuelsson is co-chair of Careers through Culinary Arts Program (C-CAP), which focuses on helping underserved youth. An active public speaker, Marcus hosted his first TED Talk at the world-famous Apollo Theater in 2012. He was invited back in 2024, when he was joined in conversation by renowned curator Thelma Golden to discuss the intersection of food, culture and community. He participates in lectures globally, most recently with the Gates Foundation and The New York Times during Climate Week NYC 2024.

Follow Samuelsson on Instagram, Facebook, and X at @MarcusCooks and on TikTok at @Marcus_Cooks