Name Sam Zien Role Author | Books Sam the Cooking Guy | |
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Sam Zien: "Making Cooking Casually Understandable" | Talks at Google
Sam Zien, known as Sam the Cooking Guy, is a Canadian-born television cook and cookbook author, based in San Diego, California.
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Television career
Zien's career on television began after quitting his job at a San Diego biotech company. In 2001, after a poorly timed effort to begin a career in travel television— that was unfortunately derailed by the September 11 attacks—he switched his focus to a cooking show. He produced his own test screening and distributed the tape to local San Diego television stations. San Diego's Fox affiliate XETV-TDT offered him a 2–3 minute slot during its morning news program. The job was unpaid—a situation that changed after his work earned a Regional Emmy from the National Television Academy's Pacific Southwest Chapter.
In January 2005, Zien moved to County Television Network (CTN), San Diego County's public-access television, after CTN offered him a half-hour time slot on their station. His Sam the Cooking Guy show spread to other cities through agreements with sister cable companies; his work was recognized with more Regional Emmys and a book deal from John Wiley and Sons.
Zien's next break came from the Discovery Health Channel, where he had a show call Just Cook This!
On May 23, 2011, Zien premiered The Sam Livecast, an Internet cooking show originating from his home kitchen. Its thrice weekly episodes feature food-related and other subject matter, After 200 live episodes, the production switched to a live-to-tape format.
Cookbooks
Zien has written three cookbooks, all published by John Wiley & Sons: