Chef Marcus Samuelsson's new food and travel show "No Pbadport Required" begins Tuesday with a visit to Dearborn. 19659005] The suburb of Detroit is the setting for most of the first episode of the first season of the PBS series, which traveled Samuelsson across the country to visit America's immigrant communities and shed light on ways

He participates a great deal in the 60-minute show, visiting local chefs, family homes and a huge Lebanese wedding in Dearborn, as well as places in Detroit such as Eastern Market and the Assemble Sound Recording Studio.

"I've been coming to Detroit for a long time, and I really like the city," Samuelsson said in an interview Friday with The Detroit News. "We were looking for emblematic cities that we all loved and loved so much."

In the episode of Dearborn, Samuelsson – a famous chef who is an immigrant from Ethiopia and who grew up in Sweden and who now lives in New York – eats falafels with a photojournalist Salwan George in a cafe in Dearborn and discusses the Arab history of the area.

Samuelsson walks the snowy streets of Metro Detroit to visit and have dinner with a family of local Syrian refugees, and he prepares Lebanese salty pies and other delicacies with Selden Standard pastry cook Lena Sareini in his family home in Dearborn.

"Everyone knows each other. Wherever you go, you'll see someone you know, "said Sareini about Dearborn.

" No Pbadport Required "also shows it off with long-time owner of Detroit, Sameer Eid, shopping for ingredients and meals in his restaurant Phenicia.

"Walking on the market with Sameer", said Samuelsson, 47, is like walking on the market with Nobu (world-renowned chef ) in Japan or something like that, it's amazing. "

Samuelsson said the show is really about humanizing the experience of immigrants.

"At present, we talk about the experience of immigrants every day and it's a false story that tells about immigrants … We wanted to show some What is, A: How are patriotic immigrants and how much do they contribute to entrepreneurship? and our country, as well as Dearborn and Detroit, are an excellent example and we can all be proud of it.

Samuelsson has visited the Detroit area several times and is hoping to open a restaurant there. The chef and the author may be best known for his Red Rooster restaurant in Harlem. He also has businesses at Madison Square Garden in New York, New Jersey, Chicago, London, Bermuda and Scandinavia.

"It's no secret that I've cooked a lot in Detroit and eaten at a lot of restaurants in the community, but I'm also very slow," he said. It took me seven years to open Red Rooster after moving to Harlem, so it's my fourth year in Detroit. "

" It's sure I have all the ingredients I love … the music is there, the iconic stature of being an American city. "He said.

The chief said that he was working at "No pbadport required For two years and he has learned a lot about organizing a travel and food show for his friend Anthony Bourdain.The first episode is dedicated to the globe-trotting chef, who died by suicide in June.

"It was a great source of inspiration for me," Samuelsson said. "We traveled together to Africa; We traveled to several places together … Tony is at a completely different level. He has given a lot, and I am very grateful for that. What he's taught me is when you go to someone's home, listen. Take a seat back and listen. You have to put the chef's hat in a corner, on the outside. "

" What food gave me, sometimes you're in front and you cook it and you're in front, or sometimes you're behind, sometimes you're at the table, sometimes you're just a listener … to share these experiences and tell true American stories – various American stories – it's something that Tony has really learned, and that's what I hope in the program. "

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Twitter: @melodybaetens

"No Pbadport Required"

Series of six episodes premiered at 9 pm Tuesday

Detroit Public Television (Channel 56)

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