Famous Chef, TV presenter and restaurants owner Mac Murphy who is invited by the Embassy of the United States to our country for the purposes of Public Diplomacy visited Yeditepe University, Department of Gastronomy and Culinary Arts with Adrienne Bory, the cultural attache of the Consulate General of the United States. Chef Murphy taught our students how to cook leek risotto with a special technique by giving them a demonstration during his visit. Students showed him how to prepere stuffed vine leaves to introduce Turkish cuisine culture.
Chef Murphy who later gave a lecture titled ‘Culinary Enrtepreneurship’ talked about his life and career.
Chef Murphy said he had the opportunity to visit a lot of countries during his childhood as his father was a diplomat and that what he liked most during these travels was eating.
Chef Murphy stated that the best way of starting catering sector was to work under somebody and ‘the only thing you need to worry when you work with somebody else’s money was to do your best’ and in saying so he stressed the importance of gaining experience. Chef Murphy who explained that he had worked with different chefs for years and each time he started work he worked as if he was starting from scratch adviced students of Yeditepe to be like a sponge in the kitchen and to learn and adopt everything they see around.
Chef Murphy stated that making TV programmes was a marketing tool for their own restaurants and he was happy to be in this sector as he provided job opportunities for many people and support social responsibility projects financially by being in this sector.
Chef Murph stated that cooking was both art and craft, being a chef required al ot of dedication and the support of the family and people around was very important.
Chef Murphy who answered the questions of students at the Conference Hall stated that he was impressed by Turkish cuisine and added that he would also be offering customers Turkish food in the new restaurant he was planning to open with a theme of Mediterranean Cuisine. He also stressed that students at Yeditepe University were lucky to be in this pioneer department covering all aspects of cooking including art, business, culture and science.
Who is Mac Murphy?
The Execute Chef and the owner of Benchmark Restaurants by Mac Murphy and Benchmark Events
Chef Mac Murphy studied at the Institute of Culinary Education. After graduation he apprenticed at restaurants in France and Italy before returning to New York, where he landed a job as a line cook at Terrance Brennan’s Prix Fixe. He stayed there for almost two years working his way through every station in the kitchen.
Eaget to return to Europe, Marc flew to Paris and landed a position at the one-star Le Miraville, where he stayed for one and a half years. Afterward, he staged at the famed Louis XV in Monte Carlo, where executive chef Alain Ducasse was so impressed with Marc’s skills that he personally made agreements for him to work with Sylvain Portay at Le Cirque once he returned to the States. Following Le Cirque, Fortunato tapped him to work as a sous chef at Layla, Drew Nieporent’s Middle Eastern fantasy in Tribecca, where he met consultant Georges Masraff. When Masraff joined forces to open Cellar in the sky at Windows on the World, he recruited Marc to serve as executive chef. After receiving critical acclaim, including a two star review from the New York Times, Mark headed uptown to serve as executive chef of La Fourchette, where NYT critic Ruth Reichl awarded him another glowing two star review.
In March 2004 Marc opened his first solo enterprise Landmark. Following its success, Marc opened Ditch Plains in the West Village in 2006 serving casuall, beach style cuisine such as lobster rolls, fish tacos and the infamous dithch dog, as well as other comfort food favorites. In 2007 Marc was given the oprounity to open another Landmarc restaurant in the prestigious Time Warner Center, where he brought his bistro style cuisine to midtown. In October 2013 Marc opened Kingside at the Viceroy New York Hotel serving his interpretation of New American cuisine. Mar’s restaurants now fall under the Benchmarc Restaurants by Mac Murphy name, where he acts as as executive chef and owner.
Today Marc’s involvelemnt in the indsutry moves beyond the restaurants as well, with a regular role as a judge on Food Network’s top –rated hit Chopped as well as appearances on other hit series. He is the president of the Manhattan chapter of the New York State Restaurant Asociation, a board member of City Harvest, Culintro and Passport NYC at the 92nd Street Y Culinary Camp, as well as a member of the Food + Finace High School’s Advisory Board, a member of the leadership Council for Share our Strength’s No Kid Hungry Campaign and the national spokesperson for Share Our Strength’S Dine Out for No Kid hungry. In 2012 Marc joined the U.S. Department of State’s Diplomatic Culinary Partnership, where he takes part in public diplomacy programs that engage foreign audience abroad as well as those visiting the United States. Marc’s debut cookbook, Season with Authority: Confident Home Cooking, was released by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in April 2015.