Samuel D Zien (born August 7, 1959), known as Sam the Cooking Guy, is a Canadian-born American television cook,

YouTuber A YouTuber is a content creator and social media influencer who uploads or creates videos on the online video-sharing website YouTube, typically posting to their personal YouTube channel. The term was first used in the English language in 2006 ...

restaurateur A restaurateur is a person who opens and runs restaurants professionally. Although over time the term has come to describe any person who owns a restaurant, traditionally it refers to a highly skilled professional who is proficient in all aspe ...

, and

cookbook A cookbook or cookery book is a kitchen reference containing recipes. Cookbooks may be general, or may specialize in a particular cuisine or category of food. Recipes in cookbooks are organized in various ways: by course (food), course (appetize ...

author, based in

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

Television career

Zien's career in television began after quitting his job as an executive for a San Diego pharmaceutical company. In 2001, after a poorly timed effort to begin a career in

travel television Travel is the movement of people between distant geographical locations. Travel can be done by foot, bicycle, automobile, train, boat, bus, airplane, ship or other means, with or without luggage, and can be one way or round trip. Travel c ...

which was derailed by the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

, he switched his focus to a

cooking show A cooking show, cookery show, or cooking program (also spelled cooking programme in British English) is a television genre that presents food preparation, often in a restaurant kitchen or on a Television studio, studio set, or at the host's p ...

. He produced his own

test screening A test screening, or test audience, is a preview screening of a film or television series before its general release to gauge audience reaction. Preview audiences are selected from a cross-section of the population and are usually asked to complet ...

and distributed the tape to local San Diego television stations. San Diego's then-

Fox Foxes are small-to-medium-sized omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull; upright, triangular ears; a pointed, slightly upturned snout; and a long, bushy tail ("brush"). Twelve species ...

affiliate

XETV-TDT XETV-TDT (channels 6 and 16) is a television station located in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico, broadcasting programs from Canal 5 and NU9VE. Its terrestrial signal also covers the San Diego area across the Mexico–United States border. Th ...

offered him a two to three minute slot during its morning news program. The job was unpaid—a situation that changed after his work earned a

Regional Emmy The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...

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 Public-access television (sometimes called community-access television) is traditionally a form of non-commercial mass media where the general public can create content television programming which is Narrowcasting, narrowcast through cable tele ...

, 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 John Wiley & Sons, Inc., commonly known as Wiley (), is an American multinational publishing company that focuses on academic publishing and instructional materials. The company was founded in 1807 and produces books, journals, and encyclop ...

. Zien's next break came from the

Discovery Health Channel Discovery Life is an American cable television, cable television network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched on February 1, 2011 as Discovery Fit & Health, it was the result of the merger of the Discovery Health Channel and FitTV, followi ...

, where Zien signed a deal to shoot the first season of a series called ''Just Grill This!'' The network was subsequently purchased by the Oprah Winfrey Network; Zien's show was not renewed for a second season.

YouTube channel

On May 23, 2011, Zien premiered ''The Sam Livecast'', an Internet cooking show originating from his home kitchen. Three new episodes per week feature food-related and other subject matters. After 200 live episodes, the production switched to a live-to-tape format. After moving away from the live streamed format, ''The Sam Livecast'' transitioned into a

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

channel under a different name - ''Sam the Cooking Guy'' - and experienced a surge in subscribers and views, reaching over 3 million subscribers by December 2021.

Restaurants

In July 2018, Zien opened his first restaurant - ''Not Not Tacos'' - a casual dining establishment featuring Zien's unique take on non-traditional tacos. Located within the Little Italy Food Hall in the

Little Italy Little Italy is the catch-all name for an ethnic enclave populated primarily by Italians or people of Italian ancestry, usually in an Urban area, urban neighborhood. The concept of "Little Italy" holds many different aspects of the Italian cul ...

area of downtown San Diego, Zien serves tacos such as Korean Short Rib, Pulled Pork with Macaroni and Cheese, Seared Salmon, and Meatloaf. In March 2020, Zien opened a second restaurant in the Little Italy Food Hall, called ''Graze by Sam''. The restaurant closed May 2024. Zien, in partnership with Grain & Grit Collective, opened a third also located in the Little Italy Food Hall, called ''Samburgers'' in 2021. In 2023, Zien opened a fourth restaurant in the Little Italy Food Hall, called ''CooCoo's Nest''. It is a fried chicken outlet with a "70's flair." Zien announced in January 2025 that he was stepping away from the restaurant industry and would no longer a partner in ''Samburgers, Basta'', or ''Not Not.''

Cookbooks

Zien has written five cookbooks. All were published by

John Wiley & Sons John Wiley & Sons, Inc., commonly known as Wiley (), is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Publishing, publishing company that focuses on academic publishing and instructional materials. The company was founded in 1807 and pr ...

except this most recent book was published by Countryman Press: *''Just a Bunch of Recipes'' (2008, ) *''Awesome Recipes and Kitchen Shortcuts'' (2010, ) *''Just Grill This!'' (2011, ) *''Sam the Cooking Guy: Recipes with Intentional Leftovers'' (2020, ) *''Sam the Cooking Guy: Between the Buns: Burgers, Sandwiches, Tacos, Burritos, Hot Dogs & More'' (2022, )

References

* Manna, Marcia,
Serving up TV success
, ''

San Diego Union-Tribune ''The San Diego Union-Tribune'' is a metropolitan daily newspaper published in San Diego, California, that has run since 1868. Its name derives from a 1992 merger between the two major daily newspapers at the time, ''The San Diego Union'' and ...

'', November 22, 2006, retrieved November 10, 2008 * Zien, S.,
About Sam the Cooking Guy
" ''Sam the Cooking Guy'', retrieved November 9, 2008 *
What is The Sam Livecast?
" ''What is The Sam Livecast?'', retrieved December 8, 2011

External links

* *

'
Sam the Cooking guy tells Kathie Lee and Hoda be quiet
at

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zein, Sam Living people American chefs American food writers American public access television personalities American television chefs Canadian emigrants to the United States Food and cooking YouTubers YouTubers from San Diego 1959 births