One thing you might not know about Jay-Z
The mythology that Jay-Z has constructed publicly is based on boardrooms, bars, and billion-dollar deals. He is positioned as a strategist, an artist, and a human being way down the list. But behind the champagne glasses and Basquiat allusions lies a vice that seldom finds publicity. Shawn Carter is an extreme food obsessive, not in the Instagram celebrity sense, but with genuine obsession.
It is not a hobby that was taken up once the money came. Jay’s relationship with food can be compared to the approach that he has towards culture, in general. He studies rooms. He returns to places. He makes contact with individuals who are familiar with their trade.
Comedian Aziz Ansari once mentioned on The Bill Simmons Podcast, almost offhandedly, that Jay-Z was deeply into eating out, the kind of person who would slip away to dine at interesting restaurants rather than hold court in VIP rooms. Jay does not play with his interests. He commits to them.
This commitment was made apparent in New York in the mid-2000s, when Jay-Z was virtually a regular at The Spotted Pig in the West Village. Even before celebrity dining was covered by the media, he was appearing on the scene, and doing it five nights in a row, even occupying the third floor with his own meals, business meetings, and informal evenings with Beyoncé. He was not there to be seen.
The chef of the restaurant, April Bloomfield, has publicly admitted to him being one of her best patrons, the kind who orders without fuss and trusts the kitchen. When the signature burger with Roquefort on brioche was available, he ate it. When it was not, he ate something else. There is something telling in that lack of spectacle.
With his career going worldwide, so was his palette. Jay-Z and Beyoncé are now frequent guests at the most discreet tables in London, Paris, and Los Angeles, preferring establishments that are founded on subtlety and seclusion. New York chefs such as Daniel Boulud have even talked of instances where Jay slipped in service, not to interrupt it, but to greet, eat well, and move on. The demands are never at the centre of these stories. They centre on appreciation.
The difference between Jay-Z and the majority of celebrity food stories is that he does not end at consumption. He personally invests. In his venture firm, he has supported food startups that mirror his broader innovation and access interests in robotised pizza trucks and allergen-free vegan snacks.
These are not vanity stakes. They are real jobs within sectors he perceives as cultural infrastructure. As with music, food also determines a person’s way of life. Jay has always been attracted to this kind of influence.
The fact that Jay-Z is a gourmand does not rewrite his legend, but pushes it even deeper. It depicts a man who realises that culture is not created in studios and boardrooms, but on tables. Meals become meetings. Restaurants turn into neutral territory.
Another form of literacy is taste. In that regard, he is not a secretive lover of food. It is merely another continuation of the way in which he traverses the world, which is alert, purposeful and never full.