Before he became one of the Food Network’s most recognizable personalities, Marc Murphy P’26 was cooking dinner each night while living with his brother in New York City. Marc Murphy—Blair parent, acclaimed chef, restaurateur and longtime Chopped judge—stopped by “The Buc Stops Here” podcast recently for a conversation with Head of School Peter G. Curran P’27 ’27.

Marc found his way into the restaurant world almost by accident. After moving to New York City and crashing on his brother’s couch, he began cooking dinner each night for the household. “And, after a couple months,” Marc recalled, “my brother said, ‘You seem to like this cooking thing. Why don’t you think about cooking school?’”

Before long, he enrolled at the Institute of Culinary Education, where the palate he developed during summers with family in the south of France gave him a distinct advantage.

Even after culinary school, Marc at one point imagined leaving New York behind. Riding through the city on his Ducati ST2 motorcycle, he remembers thinking, “I knew I could cross the country on it. I was going to pack it up, all my stuff and anything I had left. And I was going to go and maybe start over in San Diego.” 

Instead, he accepted a short-term job, one that led to meeting his future wife and the launch of his first restaurant.
In the podcast, Marc also touches on issues important to him beyond the restaurant world. He reflects honestly on the challenges dyslexia created during his boarding school experience, contrasting it with the positive experience his son has had at Blair.  He talks about his involvement with nonprofits devoted to ending hunger, such as City Harvest and Share Our Strength. “We feed people in our restaurants and our customers all the time,” he says. “We should worry about feeding the people that are in need of food as well.”  He also speaks about writing cookbooks, including his 2015 release, Season with Authority, and what it has been like watching his son prepare to graduate from Blair.

Today, Marc balances media appearances, writing another cookbook and hosting a pop-up restaurant three days a month with a prix fixe menu. Throughout the conversation, he reflects on the twists and turns his life has taken, from restaurateur and celebrity judge to advocate and Blair parent. 

“I think for me, it was always like you always had to keep learning.”

Catch the full conversation on Apple or Spotify.