Rebel Chef

Jean-Christophe Crenn, but I'm aware that I have at least two other siblings in the world, neither of whom I have met and about whom I know nothing. And then there is the riddle of my birth parents.

When I left France that hot summer day, I knew these three things about myself: I knew I had been placed in an orphanage at the age of six months. I knew that the name on my birth certificate had been Dominique Michele. And I knew that when my parents first set eyes on me, I had been smiling.

I knew lots of other things, too, of course. I knew I was competitive. I knew I was ambitious. I knew my recently completed degree in economics, undertaken in the absence of any better ideas and largely to please my education-loving parents, wasn't going to be the basis of my career. I knew I loved poetry-especially Baudelaire-for the way it could transfer emotion from one person to another, and I knew I wasn't going to be a poet. The things I had loved as a child revolved around being outside and running around, and at the age of twenty-four nothing much had changed. I couldn't imagine doing a job that kept me hunched over a desk or in an office all day.

I also knew I liked cooking. My love of food was almost too intimate to connect with a career. It was deeply bound up with my love for my family and my relationship with the country I was leaving. To me, France didn't mean Paris or fashion or the Left Bank or the Belle Epoque, although I loved all those things. At mineral level, however, France meant something else: the blazing green countryside and the wild northwest coast. It meant lobster just caught from the sea and vegetables yanked from the earth, dirt still clinging to their roots. There was something about plunging my fingers into the warm summer soil or biting into cold salted butter on fresh bread that affected me the way nothing else did. It would take me a long time to articulate and even longer to accept, but deep down, on that day of departure, I knew I loved France

us chefs who came meekly into the world of professional kitchens, blinking and panicked, Dominique Crenn appeared self-possessed, knives drawn, skewering her way to a career that exhaust s all superlatives. In Rebel Chef, she is as original and disarming on the page as she is behind the stove. This is a fascinating tale of an extraordinary half-life.   Dan Barber, chef and co-owner of Blue Hill and Blue Hill at Stone Barns, and author of The Third Plate
 
Chef Dominique Crenn is a trailblazer and by far one of the best chefs in the world. Her stories are truly an inspiration. In Rebel Chef, Crenn gives you a little taste of what her journey was like in the culinary space. Keep inspiring us with your work, Chef! Marcus Samuelsson, chef and restaurateur of Red Rooster Harlem
 
Chef Dominque Crenn is known for combining flavors and re-contextualizing ingredients to tell stories on the plate. In Rebel Chef, she embarks on a different form of narrative and shares the story of her life. It s a tale of resilience and self-agency, a memoir that underscores the value of perspective. It celebrates the virtue of seeing challenges as opportunities and failures as a chance to learn. Perhaps more than anything, this compelling book reveals its subject as a generous and adventurous spirt, a woman who has learned to embrace the unexpected and to treasure life, in the kitchen and beyond, as an enriching and largely unplanned journey.   Thomas Keller, chef/proprietor of The French Laundry
 
A captivating life story of one of today s most influential chefs. Dominique is a force and true inspiration.   Eric Ripert, chef and co-owner of Le Bernardin

Dominique Crenn s new book, Rebel Chef: In Search Of What Matters, takes the reader on a wonderful journey full of magical moments, heartbreaking knockdowns, and ultimately a tremendous victory. Her cooking is, as she writes, 'an act of communication and caring' and Rebel Chef is exactly that.   Nancy Silverton, chef, owner of Mozza Restaurant Group, and founder of La Brea Bakery

Dominique Crenn is one of the most creative and thoughtful people I know in the food world, and her memoir is everything I'd hoped for: a candid account of her evolution from French orphan to nine-year-old family cook to history-making chef and outspoken advocate for change in her profession and beyond. Harold McGee, author of On Food and Cooking and Keys to Good Cooking
 
Add the indomitable Dominque Crenn to the list of modern day big thinkers and life coaches. Her story is nothing short of remarkable. A chef, poet, artist, anarchist, activist, a mother, a daughter . . . the wisdom that jumps off every page makes me so grateful to call this beautiful human being my friend. When every opportunity in life inspires a question and then an adventure, when problems become invitations, when success is measured by the love in one s life you have just a hint at what is unveiled one page at a time in this must read autobiography. Andrew Zimmern
 
The road to becoming a chef is not just about ingredients and techniques but even more about finding one s voice. Rebel Chef tells the tale of a young woman on her reach for identity through food, community, and love. Thank you, Dominique, for sharing. Massimo Bottura, chef and owner of Osteria Francescana

This is a book of journeys: from France to San Francisco (with riveting detours), from her early appreciation of food to mastering the craft, from young girl to all-around badass . . . Dom Crenn delivers a memoir inspiring EVERYONE. Bon courage!   Brooke Baldwin, CNN Newsroom