Craig Sams (born 17 July 1944) is a UK-based businessman and author.
Early life and education
Craig Sams was born in
Nebraska
Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the sout ...
. He graduated from
Wharton Business School
The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania ( ; also known as Wharton Business School, the Wharton School, Penn Wharton, and Wharton) is the business school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private Ivy League research university in P ...
in 1966.
Career
In October 1966, Sams went to England with plans to open a macrobiotic restaurant. His first, short-lived, macrobiotic restaurant was in the basement of
Christopher Hills' Centre House off
Campden Hill Road
Campden Hill Road is a street in Kensington, London W8. It runs north to south from Notting Hill Gate to Kensington High Street.
History
Campden Hill Road was originally called Plough Lane. By 1879, William Abbott, a stockbroker, "held the lea ...
near
Notting Hill
Notting Hill is a district of West London, England, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Notting Hill is known for being a cosmopolitan and multicultural neighbourhood, hosting the annual Notting Hill Carnival and Portobello Road Ma ...
as well as supplying food to the
underground nightclub
UFO.
He opened Seed, a
macrobiotic
A macrobiotic diet (or macrobiotics) is a fad diet based on ideas about types of food drawn from Zen Buddhism. The diet tries to balance the supposed yin and yang elements of food and cookware. Major principles of macrobiotic diets are to reduce ...
restaurant in Paddington with his brother
Greg Sams Gregory Sams (born 1948 in Los Angeles, California) is a UK-based, American-born, fractal artist, author and publisher.
Life and works
Greg has been a wheelchair user since falling from a tree whilst a freshman at the University of California, B ...
in 1968. The Sams brothers opened a specialised macrobiotic natural food shop, Ceres Grain, the following year. He and his brother Greg and their father Ken edited and published 'Seed, the Journal of Organic Living' 1971–1977. In 1970 Greg and Craig set up Harmony Foods, which eventually became known as Whole Earth Foods.
In 1991, with his partner Josephine Fairley, he founded
Green & Black's chocolate, which was sold to
Cadbury in 2005.
He continues to be involved with the company. He writes a monthly column in the organic products section of Natural Product News
From 1990 until 2001 he was honorary treasurer of the
Soil Association
The Soil Association is a British registered charity. The organisation activities include campaigning – against intensive farming, for local purchasing and public education on nutrition – and certification of organic foods. It was establ ...
, the British organic food and farming charity. From 2001 to 2007 he was chairman. From 2007 to 2009 he was chairman of Soil Association Certification Ltd, the charity's inspection and certification subsidiary and continues to serve as a board member. He is co-founder and director of Carbon Gold Ltd, a
biochar
Biochar is the lightweight black residue, made of carbon and
ashes, remaining after the pyrolysis of biomass. Biochar is defined by the International Biochar Initiative as "the solid material obtained from the thermochemical conversion of ...
project and production company that converts woody biomass into charcoal that is used as a soil amendment and as a climate mitigation technology.
He is a director of Duchy Originals and of Gusto Organic
Sams is on the editorial panel of
What Doctors Don't Tell You magazine.
WDDTY: The Editorial Panel
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Publications
* ''About Macrobiotics'' (Thorson's 1972)
* ''The Macrobiotic Brown Rice Cookbook'' (Healing Arts Press 1994)
* ''The Little Food Book: You Are What You Eat'' (Alastair Sawday Publishing 2004)
* ''Sweet Dreams – The Story of Green & Black’s'' (with Josephine Fairley, Random House 2008)
See also
* Afghan Coat
References
External links
Official website
1944 births
Living people
Macrobiotic diet advocates
People educated at St Mary's Town and Country School
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