Call Me Chef, Dammit!: A Veteran's Journey from the Rural South to the White House

by Andre Rush

Overview

What does it take to go from growing up in a Mississippi housing project to becoming a master sergeant and a celebrity chef serving in the White House under four United States presidents?

Call Me Chef, Dammit! is the inspiring story of Andre Rush, who became an overnight sensation in 2018, after a photograph of his now-famous twenty-four-inch biceps went viral. However, his journey to that moment could never be captured in a fleeting moment.

From his childhood working on a farm, to his developing into a gifted athlete and artist to his joining the Army, Rush has dedicated his life to serving others. During his twenty-four-year military career, his reputation as an award-winning cook eventually led him to the Pentagon. His presence in the building when the plane struck on 9/11/2001 led to his suffering from PTSD, and he has become an outspoken advocate for the military and especially for wounded warriors.

Every step of the way, Chef Rush has overcome tremendous obstacles, including battling stereotypes and racism. And in this memoir, he shares not only his wounds and what he experienced along the road to recovery but also the optimism, hope, and hard-earned wisdom that have encouraged countless others.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780785249450
Publisher:	Harper Horizon
Publication date:	04/19/2022
Pages:	240
Sales rank:	305,843
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Chef Andre Rush was born in the small town of Columbus, Mississippi. His father was a country farmer. He developed his love of fresh food by working on the farm and his love of cooking by helping his mom create family dinners. Young Andre was a gifted artist, football player, and record-breaking track star whose skills earned him an Olympic tryout. But cooking was always his true passion.

As a young man, he joined the US Army Reserves, where his physical strength and leadership abilities were singled out on day one. But Rush signed up for KP (“kitchen patrol”) duty, because the cooks got to eat all the food they wanted! He also served as a minuteman, trained with special forces, and became a military fitness trainer. However, it was via cooking that he made his strongest mark.

During his military years, Rush won hundreds of medals for cooking, ice sculpting, and other related skills. His reputation as a cook led to a call from the Pentagon to try out for a job in the kitchen there. He got the position, which led to his first cooking opportunity at the White House. While working at the Pentagon and White House, Rush also developed a private business on the side, catering parties for Washington “society.”

Chef was at the Pentagon the day the plane struck the building on 9/11/2001. He was part of the recovery effort, and as a result later suffered PTSD symptoms, which instilled a passion for helping America’s wounded warriors.

Today, Chef has his hands in many pies, literally and figuratively. He is a key advocate for the USO, Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), and American Legion, as well as an active supporter of the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports, and Nutrition. He is currently developing his consumer-driven brand, which will include edible goods, health/wellness/fitness products, apparel, and more. He recently contracted with a well-known television production company to host a new series, Chef in the City, which he has begun working on.

Table of Contents

Prologue ix

1 A Boy Called Horse 1

2 Revenge Isn't Always Sweet 21

3 Pause, Breathe, Squeeze 41

4 In the Army Now 63

5 A Cake for the Occasion 77

6 Give Me All Your Money 89

7 The Day the World Changed-9/11 109

8 A Ghost Fell in Love with Me 121

9 Toxic Leadership, Cowards, and A** Kissers 137

10 Heart and Body 163

11 PTSD Is Real 179

12 The Challenge Coin 195

Epilogue 215

Acknowledgments 223

About the Author 225

Editorial Reviews

02/21/2022

“My clenched hands and stern smirk are meant to keep the doubters and haters at bay,” writes celebrity chef Rush in his bombastic debut. In profanity-laced prose that may as well be written in all caps, Rush—who found fame when a photo of his buff arms manning a grill at the White House went viral in 2018—recalls the brawn that went into his success. He grew up in Mississippi in the 1970s as a “sickly” and “quiet boy” who later joined the military, where he got hooked on culinary competitions and eventually worked his “ass off” in the Pentagon kitchen. For a while, he skated by on bluster, but in time he found mentors, began cooking for the White House in 1997, and became a mentor himself. Oscillating between encomiums (“Being Noticed + Success = Getting Hate”) and tough talk (“People always wanted me to kiss ass. And a guy like me just can’t do that”), the narrative seems to scoff at vulnerability. Disappointingly, though there’s much to admire in Rush’s career—particularly his efforts to promote suicide awareness and help those with PTSD—his story never gets beneath the surface. Some may wonder if this is just a promotional push for the author’s upcoming TV series. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

2022-01-13
A Black chef’s journey from poverty to the kitchens of the White House.

Rush grew up poor in Mississippi, playing sports, lifting weights, and cooking. As “an extremely quiet kid,” he was an easy target for bullying and racism. Feeling helpless, his frustration and rage began to grow. In search of a better life, he joined the Army, where he became a cook. After demonstrating a gift for ice sculpting, Rush was asked to be on the culinary team and began competing in events. Soon he was assigned to the Pentagon to work for the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. In addition to his other duties, Rush began taking culinary classes and working catering jobs on the side, which led to an assignment at West Point. Despite his continued career advancements, the Army was hardly immune to prejudice: “Racism reared its ugly head time and time again.” With raw emotion and increasing profanity, Rush describes his difficult times in the military, often unapologetically responding to racist behavior and possible physical violence with his own threats. After one altercation, the author admits wondering if something may be wrong with him, so he began attending therapy for PTSD. However, he writes, “they were overmedicating me and everybody else.” So Rush flushed his meds and turned to cooking as a coping mechanism, and he also discussed with other soldiers the power of cooking to ameliorate PTSD. The author went on to work under four different presidents at the White House, and he earned moderate celebrity status in 2018 when a journalist took a photograph of his massive biceps, which he honed through decades of work “lifting 700 pounds out of anger, performing 2,222 push-ups every day to help those who gave up, who think about giving up, and who need help.” This notoriety, he writes, has helped him in his quest to assist wounded soldiers and provide direction for underprivileged kids.

Some readers may balk at the language, but this is an undeniably inspiring story.

Kirkus Reviews