Debra Samuels has been working with children, families, and food in a variety of settings for over twenty-five years. She owned and operated Eats Meets West, a successful catering firm in the 1980s and has taught cooking for over two decades. After moving to Boston’s Children’s Museum in 1992, she developed the popular ‘Kids Are Cooking’ series, a program on food, culture and nutrition that ran for three years. In 2003, she helped produce a nutrition education and cooking guide for teens-- “The Power of Eating Right”-- for Operation Frontline, part of the national organization, Share Our Strength, focused on ending hunger in the United States. She also is a Chef-Volunteer for their local programs in the Boston area.
Debra has lived abroad for more than a decade in Japan and Italy, and has studied Italian, Indian, Korean, and Japanese cuisine. She has done countless cooking demonstrations and classes all over the Boston area as well as for the United States Embassy in Tokyo and its American Cultural Centers in Nagoya, Osaka, and Fukuoka. Margot Carrington, the Program Development Officer of the U.S. Embassy, reports that Debra “has a unique talent to break down barriers between people…There is no telling how much stronger U.S.-Japan relations will become as a result! We simply could not recommend her any more highly for Public Diplomacy programming of a new and truly delicious kind.” Over the past year Debra has taught several programs on Korean cuisine including a Bibimbap class at Columbia University and a Kimchi Workshop at The Consulate for the Republic of South Korea, both in New York.
In addition to offering a range of cooking classes, Debra is a food writer and food stylist for The Boston Globe and the coauthor of The Korean Table (Tuttle Publishing 2008). Her articles appear in the Food and Travel Sections and reflect her love of food, travel, and teaching. Her new project is a Japanese cookbook based on a lifetime of cooking with friends in Japan. She also has published in Japanese magazines and journals.
Debra says “food is an international language, a bridge across cultures.” Her objective is to educate, entertain and encourage people of all ages to be creative and to care about what they and their families are eating.