The Reason Samin Nosrat Missed Her College Graduation

Samin Nosrat is a chef who always seems to be cooking up something, both in and out of the kitchen. In the years since Nosrat published the cookbook that put her name on the culinary world's map in 2017, "Salt Fat Acid Heat: Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking" (per Refinery 29), she has appeared in her own Netflix show, also called "Salt Fat Acid Heat," and worked for The New York Times as a food columnist (via Samin Nosrat). And after wrapping up her time with Netflix and retiring from The New York Times' staff (per Twitter), she now spends her days pushing to produce a new TV series and working on her newest book (via The New Yorker).

And it seems Nosrat's tendency to put everything she has into pursuing her goals is anything but a new habit. "I was going nonstop for seven years," the chef told the San Diego Union Tribune in 2019 in reference to her career up to that point. In fact, Nosrat has been so work-focused that, according to The New York Times, she missed out on a day many people look forward to in their lives — her college graduation. Unsurprisingly, the reason she skipped out on the ceremony had to do with work.

Samin Nosrat didn't always want to become a chef. According to her website, she first set her sights on completing an English degree at the University of California, Berkeley. But her plans quickly changed when Nostrat discovered Chez Panisse, an iconic restaurant credited with revolutionizing the food world. Nosrat started a job as a table busser for the establishment while she was still in university with aspirations to one day break into the kitchen.

And while her graduation night was a special occasion for her university and classmates, Nosrat explained to The New York Times that it was just like any other evening in Chez Panisse. So while her peers geared up in their school's graduation regalia, Nosrat was doing her usual bussing shift.

However, although she missed out on UC Berkeley's graduation, Nosrat did say that she was able to commemorate the beginning of a new chapter in her life in another way. She noted during that same year, when the staff was celebrating Chez Panisse's 30th anniversary by roasting lambs, that she paused and thought, "This is my ceremony" (per The New York Times).