MAKE IT MESSY tells the story of chef Marcus Samuelsson, who was born and orphaned in Ethiopia and adopted by a couple in Sweden. As a child, he knew one thing for sure: he wanted to be a professional soccer player. He practiced with every free hour he had and was accepted into Gothenburg Athletics and Sports Association (GAIS). With soccer, he felt that the subject of race wasn’t as prevalent as it was in his school.  He loved every second --- until he was kicked out of GAIS. Marcus was too short to continue playing in his prestigious league; he was devastated. 

"MAKE IT MESSY taught me that through hard work, determination and flexibility, I can find my way like Marcus did. If something doesn’t work, I can try another door."

Cooking was Marcus’s Plan B. He learned to cook from his Swedish grandmother, Helga. Every Saturday, the smell of baking bread and spices captured his imagination as he made dinner with her. At 15, he went to a vocational school called Ester Mosesson and, shortly after, he started interning at restaurants. However, these businesses felt starkly different to him than cooking with his sweet grandmother; they felt more like The Iron Chef. Nevertheless, he was a hard worker and quickly started climbing the ranks until he was the executive chef and earned three stars for the restaurant. He now owns his own restaurant in Harlem called the Red Rooster. 

At 16, I have a lot of big dreams, just like Marcus did. A lot of my friends know exactly what they want to do, and some have no idea. The mere idea of the future scares me a little. What if I fail? What if I’m not good enough? Marcus failed at soccer, and he says that “even now, all these years after GAIS let me go, I sometimes think of myself more as a failed soccer player than an accomplished chef” (p.63). The idea of failing at something that I worked so hard for sounds horrifying --- yet Marcus’s Plan B brought him joy and success.  

MAKE IT MESSY taught me that through hard work, determination and flexibility, I can find my way like Marcus did. If something doesn’t work, I can try another door. 

I must say, throughout the book I was craving good food. I would put the book down and look up how to make meatballs and various jams. Our oven currently doesn’t work, so I tried variations on the stove top and tried to use the spices that Marcus suggested. I would have loved if the book included a couple recipes for me to try at home, so I wasn’t so lost trying to replicate the tastes from the book. He used ingredients from all over the world, and the tastes and smells practically came off the pages. 

This is a book for someone questioning their Plan A or even their Plan B. MAKE IT MESSY is for people who love to cook or eat and who love their dreams.