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Through July 4, The Post, in conjunction with the Milken Center for Advancing the American Dream, is featuring US citizens explaining what the American dream means to them in 2026. Among them is Wolfgang Puck, the famous chef and restaurateur, known for restaurants such as Spago in Beverly Hills and catering the official afterparty for the Academy Awards every year for the past several decades.
I really believe I live the American Dream. I grew up in Austria, really poor with no running water, the toilets a hundred yards outside in the backyard somewhere. We got meat once a week, maybe on Sunday for lunch. And here I am in America, owning 30 restaurants, 80 restaurants in airports, and having 5,000 employees.
I really believe that America is still the land of opportunity. When somebody comes here with a new idea, with something new, people will accept it. [Un]like in Europe [where], in food, in my business, there is this whole history where you say, you cannot do this, you cannot do that, no people won’t like that. Here, people are very open-minded. I remember when I opened Spago, for example, and we made this pizza with smoked salmon, [if I] would have made that in Milan or in Naples, they would have crucified me …
I think that’s really what’s so great about America. America is open to new ideas, America is open to people who actually challenge the status quo, who actually want to disrupt regular businesses more than in any other place in the world …
I really believe with all these different people coming together here, the spirit of entrepreneurship is bigger here than in any other country. And, to me, [it] certainly shows in my field, in the food business. Like 30, 40 years ago, restaurants in America were boring, cooking wasn’t even a good profession.
Today, chefs are regarded like artists, as rock and roll stars — whatever you might name it, because of television and everything … We have so many young, talented chefs now here who actually have brought American cooking to the top of the world.
The American Dream Video Project showcases real stories that illuminate pathways to opportunity. Featured at the Milken Center for Advancing the American Dream (MCAAD), this series is part of the Center’s celebration of America’s 250th anniversary. MCAAD is Washington, DC’s newest cultural institution, offering interactive exhibits and stories about achieving the American Dream. For more information, visit mcaad.org.
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