ABOUT SAM

The kitchen was the focal point of my upbringing in our Italian-American family in Buffalo, New York. It was no accident that people had to pass through the kitchen on their way to the rest of the house. My mother, Anna Gugino, wouldn't let you leave without having something to eat, even if it was just coffee and some of her Sicilian cucciddati cookies. Conversations invariably led to talk about food.

For as long as I can remember, I have been interested in Mom's cooking. As a kid, I'd accompany her on trips to the supermarket where I learned how to be a smart shopper. And, of course, I'd watch her cook. I think the first inkling I had that I wanted a career in food was when I successfully duplicated Mom's famous Sunday spaghetti dinner during my senior year in college-on my first try!

After being the chef and manager of two critically acclaimed restaurants in Philadelphia, and stints as a hotel food and beverage director and hospital food service administrator, I became restaurant critic at the Philadelphia Daily News in 1986. It's been great fun writing about food, and a damn site easier than standing in front of a stove for 12 hours a day. In 1988, I was named food editor of the San Jose Mercury News in San Jose, CA, where my columns were voted best among all major newspapers by the Association of Food Journalists. While in San Jose, I was a frequent guest host on radio, first on Narsai David's food show on KCBS-AM and later on "In the Kitchen with Harvey" on KNBR-AM in San Francisco.  

Loving to cook and eat great food came into conflict with my daily routine when I was at the San Jose Mercury News. After leaving work, I'd fight traffic for an hour or more before arriving at our home in the Oakland hills at 7 or 7:30 (sometimes later), tired and hungry. Not satisfied with a can of soup or a bowl of corn flakes, I was determined to create good-tasting meals in as little time as possible. I began with quick pasta dishes. I called them "throw-togethers" because I'd throw whatever was available in the fridge or the pantry together with cooked pasta. The repertoire expanded and resulted in a story in the Mercury News called "10-Minute Meals." The concept was designed for two people, like my wife and myself, and didn't even include recipes, just ideas for quick meals. (Recipes, I thought, took too long to read!)

Several years later, the concept broadened again and became the basis for the New York Times article "Beat the Clock: Inspired Meals in 10 Minutes, “which was nominated for a James Beard Journalism Award. This story, with the concept expanded from 2-person recipes to 4-person recipes, led to Cooking to Beat the Clock, published by Chronicle Books in December 1998. It was named one of the 10 Best Cookbooks of the Year by Amazon.com. My other books are Low Fat Cooking to Beat the Clock (Chronicle 2000), nominated by the International Association of Culinary Professionals for an award in the Health and Special Diet category, Eat Fresh, Stay Healthy, (Macmillan, 1997) and Matthew Kenney's Mediterranean Cooking, co-authored with Matthew Kenney (Chronicle, 1997).

From 1994 to 2000, my wife, Mary Lee Keane, and I lived in New York, where I cooked in a very tiny kitchen (and wrote about it for The New York Times). In 2000, we happily returned to Philadelphia. Today, I am Contributing Editor of Wine Spectator magazine where my Tastes food column has appeared since 1996. My wine articles can be seen in Specialty Food Magazine and on MSN.COM. I am also editor and publisher of Sam Cooks, a free monthly food and wine newsletter.

I'm a member of the Association of Food Journalists, the InternationalAssociation of Culinary Professionals and the National Writers Union.

Even after more than two decades as a food professional, I'm still passionate about what I do for a living. My wife says she can see my eyes light up when I discover a new food or dish. I'm also gratified by how I’ve been able to educate and entertain people for over two decades. In many ways it’s not much different from what Mom did in her kitchen.