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    Notes from a Young Black Chef (Adapted for Young Adults)

    Author Kwame Onwuachi, Joshua David Stein
    Read by Malik Rashad
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    Audio | Listening Library
    On sale Apr 13, 2021 | 6 Hours and 29 Minutes | 9780593343357
    Age 12 and up | Grade 7 & Up
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    This inspiring memoir, now adapted for young adults, chronicles Top Chef star and Forbes and Zagat 30 Under 30 phenom Kwame Onwuachi's incredible and odds-defying fame in the food world after a tough childhood in the Bronx and Nigeria.

    Food was Kwame Onwuachi's first great love. He connected to cooking via his mother, in the family's modest Bronx apartment. From that spark, he launched his own catering company with twenty thousand dollars he made selling candy on the subway and trained in the kitchens of some of the most acclaimed restaurants in the country. He faced many challenges on the road to success, including breaking free of a dangerous downward spiral due to temptation and easy money, and grappling with just how unwelcoming the world of fine dining can be for people of color.

    Born on Long Island and raised in New York City, Nigeria, and Louisiana, Kwame Onwuachi's incredible story is one of survival and ingenuity in the face of adversity.

    Praise for the adult edition of NOTES FROM A YOUNG BLACK CHEF

    "Kwame Onwuachi's story shines a light on food and culture not just in American restaurants or African American communities but around the world." --Questlove

    "Fierce and inspiring. . . . This rip-roaring tale of ambition is also a sobering account of racism in and out of the food industry." --New York Tiimes Book Review
    • AWARD | 2022
      Texas TAYSHAS High School Reading List
    • AWARD | 2021
      Chicago Public Library Best Books
    Praise for Notes from a Young Black Chef (Adapted for Young Adults):

    “Enough sizzle, color, and character to entice young readers.” —Kirkus Reviews

    "An inspirational and true story that ends not with our YA protagonist getting everything he wanted, but with a real person experiencing loss and continuing to persevere.” —Shelf Awareness

    “Onwuachi’s Top Chef followers and fans will . . . enjoy this frenetic account of a young Black man’s determination to create ‘a fine-dining, modern American, globally influenced restaurant that tells my life story through food.’” —The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

    “[Onwuachi] candidly declares how the weight of the trials he experienced impacted his story and fortified his culinary dreams, with an intensive reflection of family roots, aspirations, and expectations.” —School Library Journal

    “This adaptation for young readers effectively prunes and tightens sentences, removes swear words, and takes out the recipes (as étouffée, chicken consommé, corn velouté, and egusi stew might not be big draws for young palates). While Onwuachi notes the challenges of being a Black chef in a white food culture, his dream is to see kitchens full of “white, yellow, brown, and black faces” and restaurants full of “brown and black diners, who, looking at their plates, feel seen, celebrated, and recognized.” —The Horn Book
    © Clay Williams
    KWAME ONWUACHI is a James Beard Award–winning chef, restaurateur, and author. He has been named a Food & Wine Best New Chef, an Esquire Chef of the Year, a 30 Under 30 honoree by both Zagat and Forbes, and one of Time’s 100 Most Influential People of 2025. He is the author of the memoir Notes from a Young Black Chef and the cookbook My America, has twice hosted the James Beard Awards, and regularly appears on TV shows such as Top Chef, Chef’s Table, Billions, and Somebody Feed Phil.

    Raised in New York City, Nigeria, and Louisiana, Onwuachi’s culinary journey began in his mother’s modest Bronx apartment. He trained at the Culinary Institute of America in New York City and, by the age of thirty had opened five restaurants, including the groundbreaking Afro-Caribbean eatery Kith/Kin in Washington, DC. Today, Onwuachi has restaurants across the country, in New York, DC, Miami, and Las Vegas. His restaurant Tatiana was named the number one restaurant in New York by The New York Times two years in a row, and his DC restaurant, Dōgon, earned a spot as one of North America’s 50 Best Restaurants. View titles by Kwame Onwuachi
    JOSHUA DAVID STEIN is a James Beard Award–winning author, journalist, and editor. His previous books include Notes from a Young Black Chef and My America, both with Kwame Onwuachi; Russ & Daughters: 100 Years of Appetizing, with Niki Russ Federman and Josh Russ Tupper; Dad, What’s for Dinner? with David Nayfeld; and many others. He has also written many children’s books, including Make New Friends, which was named one of the best children’s books of the year for 2025 by The New York Times. His writing has appeared in Esquire, New York, The New York Times, Financial Times, and elsewhere. He lives in Brooklyn. View titles by Joshua David Stein

    About

    This inspiring memoir, now adapted for young adults, chronicles Top Chef star and Forbes and Zagat 30 Under 30 phenom Kwame Onwuachi's incredible and odds-defying fame in the food world after a tough childhood in the Bronx and Nigeria.

    Food was Kwame Onwuachi's first great love. He connected to cooking via his mother, in the family's modest Bronx apartment. From that spark, he launched his own catering company with twenty thousand dollars he made selling candy on the subway and trained in the kitchens of some of the most acclaimed restaurants in the country. He faced many challenges on the road to success, including breaking free of a dangerous downward spiral due to temptation and easy money, and grappling with just how unwelcoming the world of fine dining can be for people of color.

    Born on Long Island and raised in New York City, Nigeria, and Louisiana, Kwame Onwuachi's incredible story is one of survival and ingenuity in the face of adversity.

    Praise for the adult edition of NOTES FROM A YOUNG BLACK CHEF

    "Kwame Onwuachi's story shines a light on food and culture not just in American restaurants or African American communities but around the world." --Questlove

    "Fierce and inspiring. . . . This rip-roaring tale of ambition is also a sobering account of racism in and out of the food industry." --New York Tiimes Book Review

    Awards

    • AWARD | 2022
      Texas TAYSHAS High School Reading List
    • AWARD | 2021
      Chicago Public Library Best Books

    Praise

    Praise for Notes from a Young Black Chef (Adapted for Young Adults):

    “Enough sizzle, color, and character to entice young readers.” —Kirkus Reviews

    "An inspirational and true story that ends not with our YA protagonist getting everything he wanted, but with a real person experiencing loss and continuing to persevere.” —Shelf Awareness

    “Onwuachi’s Top Chef followers and fans will . . . enjoy this frenetic account of a young Black man’s determination to create ‘a fine-dining, modern American, globally influenced restaurant that tells my life story through food.’” —The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

    “[Onwuachi] candidly declares how the weight of the trials he experienced impacted his story and fortified his culinary dreams, with an intensive reflection of family roots, aspirations, and expectations.” —School Library Journal

    “This adaptation for young readers effectively prunes and tightens sentences, removes swear words, and takes out the recipes (as étouffée, chicken consommé, corn velouté, and egusi stew might not be big draws for young palates). While Onwuachi notes the challenges of being a Black chef in a white food culture, his dream is to see kitchens full of “white, yellow, brown, and black faces” and restaurants full of “brown and black diners, who, looking at their plates, feel seen, celebrated, and recognized.” —The Horn Book

    Author

    © Clay Williams
    KWAME ONWUACHI is a James Beard Award–winning chef, restaurateur, and author. He has been named a Food & Wine Best New Chef, an Esquire Chef of the Year, a 30 Under 30 honoree by both Zagat and Forbes, and one of Time’s 100 Most Influential People of 2025. He is the author of the memoir Notes from a Young Black Chef and the cookbook My America, has twice hosted the James Beard Awards, and regularly appears on TV shows such as Top Chef, Chef’s Table, Billions, and Somebody Feed Phil.

    Raised in New York City, Nigeria, and Louisiana, Onwuachi’s culinary journey began in his mother’s modest Bronx apartment. He trained at the Culinary Institute of America in New York City and, by the age of thirty had opened five restaurants, including the groundbreaking Afro-Caribbean eatery Kith/Kin in Washington, DC. Today, Onwuachi has restaurants across the country, in New York, DC, Miami, and Las Vegas. His restaurant Tatiana was named the number one restaurant in New York by The New York Times two years in a row, and his DC restaurant, Dōgon, earned a spot as one of North America’s 50 Best Restaurants. View titles by Kwame Onwuachi
    JOSHUA DAVID STEIN is a James Beard Award–winning author, journalist, and editor. His previous books include Notes from a Young Black Chef and My America, both with Kwame Onwuachi; Russ & Daughters: 100 Years of Appetizing, with Niki Russ Federman and Josh Russ Tupper; Dad, What’s for Dinner? with David Nayfeld; and many others. He has also written many children’s books, including Make New Friends, which was named one of the best children’s books of the year for 2025 by The New York Times. His writing has appeared in Esquire, New York, The New York Times, Financial Times, and elsewhere. He lives in Brooklyn. View titles by Joshua David Stein

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