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Marcus Samuelsson is the name on every foodie’s tongue these days, and not just because he has more than two dozen restaurants in three countries. The Ethiopian-born, Swedish-American

culinary star and creator of the Red Rooster Harlem restaurant in New York City is shifting back into reality TV mode. He’s previously appeared on _Iron Chef_, _Chopped All-Stars_, _Top Chef

Masters_, _24 Hour Restaurant Battle_ and his own show, _The Inner Chef,_ and starting June 15 he’s appearing on Netflix’s reimagined revival _Iron Chef: Quest for an Iron Legend series_.

HOW DO CHEFS TRAIN FOR COOKING COMPETITIONS? Cook and eat a lot? That’s my life, anyway. It definitely has an athletic component to it. You’re under time pressure, and that moment is

indescribable because the clock is ticking. You want to do your absolute, utmost best. It is like being an athlete in many ways. I grew up around sports all my life, and you're in the

zone and you have that inner voice that keeps pushing you and motivating you, but at same time you got to taste, taste, taste, and cook, cook, cook. IT’S NOT ‘BEEN THERE, DONE THAT’ WITH_

IRON CHEF,_ IS IT? Not at all. This is a super aspirational show, both for young chefs that want to come up and challenge the _Iron Chef_ legends but also for us. The chefs who competed

really pushed us — that's so exciting. Marcus Samuelsson cooks in episode 103 of “Iron Chef: Quest For An Iron Legend.” Patrick Wymore/Netflix WHEN WAS THE MOMENT YOU REALIZED THAT YOU

WANTED TO BE A CHEF WHEN YOU GREW UP? I grew up cooking with my grandmother and did not know that these were skills that would take me all around the world. Probably the excitement for me

around cooking came when I was a teenager working a weekend job and I heard the chef say, “Hey, I just came back from Paris.” I was like, “What? You can go to France and do this?” That was

the moment for me when I felt like, _Wow, I got a chance to travel and see the world and do something that I love._ I’ve been on that mission ever since. THERE’S SO MUCH KITCHEN GEAR TO

CHOOSE FROM. WHAT DO WE REALLY NEED? You need good knives; maybe two to three pans, iron cast; and a good cooktop. If you’ve got a good cooktop or stove and a couple of good pans, a couple

of good knives, you're off to the races. You can make some great food. AT ANY GIVEN DAY OR TIME, WHAT’S IN YOUR REFRIGERATOR? My family, we’re from Ethiopia and Sweden, so there will

always be some herring; there will always be some Ethiopian berbere, which is a spice blend I use a lot, and there will always be some champagne, because you don’t know who’s coming. Anyone

could show up.