Author Sam Bieber

Sam Bieber

With a crash of thunder and with a bolt of lightening, Sam Bieber was born. A native of Keene, New Hampshire, Sam grew up with a natural love for dabbling in the kitchen. His first experience was breaking a few eggs, and making some omelettes at a young age at home. He slowly began enjoying being in the kitchen, mixing and stirring, all while learning the “basic” cooking techniques. After high school, he enrolled in Johnson and Wales for Culinary Arts, and although he did not graduate, he gained the information and techniques needed to work in a kitchen. Let’s hop into the DeLorean, hit 88mph, and flash-forward a few years where we find Sam working in a kitchen in a family-style restaurant in his hometown, seeing all his friend’s graduating and moving on with their lives. Not thrilled where he was, he enrolled in a local college in Vermont, and earn a basic Associate of Arts degree, in hopes of transferring to another college to earn his B.A. The year was 2013 and we now find our hero, Sam, enrolled at Plymouth State University, majoring in Tourism Management and Policy. He is particularly interested in the intersection of food and local culture and, in New Hampshire that means the collaboration between local producers/farms and their connection "to table.” While at PSU, Sam worked with various local businesses, refining and retuning their business methods, in hopes of helping them with their return rate of customers. Sam has also been fortunate enough to explore this food-culture connection in Italy, Israel, Greece, and, most recently, China. It was here he observed the critical issue of the food-culture connection: whether it was in Greece, seeing the 3rd generation learning the proper techniques and having the Grandmother getting up from the corner, shuffling across the kitchen, “shooing” away the younger generation, adding MAYBE a grain of salt, looking at them, nodding, and shuffling back across to her chair; or in China, seeing family run restaurants with the entire family having some part of the experience. What makes this great is that not only are entire families participating, but ensuring that the way and know-how never dies. Sam also finds this connection in his love of learning about his personal heritage, and family recipes. He finds learning to cook these recipes that are being passed down into the next generation incredibly satisfying, even on those occasions when he asks: “Why is it done this way?” and the response is: “Because that’s the way your Grandmother did it.” Either way, Sam loves learning and combining food and culture, and truly believes that that they are connected.

Power in the Kitchen

Sam Bieber

July 22, 2015

Interesting, Politics, Rant

People think “power in the kitchen" refers to: yelling, throwing of pots and pans, demeaning someone, or verbal abuse, but they’re wrong...real power in the kitchen refers to “the extra grain of...

Street Food: China vs. Greece

Sam Bieber

May 22, 2015

Eating Styles, Interesting, International, Reviews

Whether you are on the go, or stopping to eat, “street food” is a great and delicious source of nourishment. Street food is defined as: ready-to-eat food or drink sold in a street or other public place,...