Rufus Estes wrote that he was born into slavery in Murray County, Tennessee, in 1857. He worked from childhood, and from sixteen for a Nashville restaurant-keeper. In 1881 he moved to Chicago, and from 1883 to 1897 he worked in the Pullman Company's private car service, where he was chosen to handle special parties. He then ran private railroad cars until 1907, and became chef of the subsidiary companies of the United States Steel Corporation in Chicago. He published Good Things to Eat himself in Chicago in 1911. The work is now in the public domain.