Sam Choy is a chef, restaurateur, and television personality known as a founding contributor of "Pacific rim cuisine". Choy is an alumnus of the Kapiolani Community College

Kapiolani Community College

Kapiolani Community College, formerly Kapiolani Technical School, is a public, co-educational commuter college in Honolulu, Hawaii situated on the slopes of Diamond Head in Waikīkī...

 Culinary Arts program. One of his first jobs as a chef was at The Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City. He would then return to Hawaii, where he eventually opened a chain of restaurants.

In 1991, Choy founded the Poke Festival and Recipe Contest.

In 2004, Choy was awarded the James Beard Foundation Award

James Beard Foundation

The James Beard Foundation is a New York-based national professional non-profit organization named in honor of James Beard that serves to promote the culinary arts by honoring chefs, wine professionals, journalists, and cookbook authors at annual award ceremonies and providing scholarships and...

 for Sam Choy's Kaloko in Kailua-Kona

Kailua-Kona, Hawai'i

Kailua is a census-designated place in Hawaii County, Hawaii, United States, in the North Kona District of the Island of Hawaii. The population was 11,975 at the 2010 census. It is the center of commerce and of the tourist industry on West Hawaii...

, on the Big Island

Hawaii (island)

The Island of Hawaii, also called the Big Island or Hawaii Island , is a volcanic island in the North Pacific Ocean...

 of Hawaii.

Choy has appeared in several Food TV programs, including Ready.. Set... Cook!

Ready.. Set... Cook!

Ready.. Set... Cook! was a cooking game show that debuted on the Food Network in the US on October 2, 1995. The show's format was based upon the UK series Ready Steady Cook, and originally hosted by television personality Robin Young.-Hosts:...

and Iron Chef America

Iron Chef America

Iron Chef America: The Series is an American cooking show based on Fuji Television's Iron Chef, and is the second American adaptation of the series, following the failed Iron Chef USA. The show is produced by Food Network, which also carried a dubbed version of the original Iron Chef. Like the...

. He is good friends with Emeril Lagasse

Emeril Lagasse

'Emeril John Lagasse is an American celebrity chef, restaurateur, television personality, and cookbook author. A regional James Beard Award winner, he is perhaps most notable for his Food Network shows Emeril Live and Essence of Emeril as well as catchphrases such as “Kick it up a notch!” and...

, who has appeared on Choy's TV show Sam Choy's Kitchen on KHNL

KHNL

KHNL is the NBC-affiliated television station for the state of Hawaii that is licensed to Honolulu. The station broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 35 from a transmitter in Palehua...

. Lagasse has also mentioned Choy by name several times in his TV shows; one of those times he was making Poke on his live TV show, and added peanut butter to the Poke - Choy's secret ingredient. Choy has also very recently designed special Hawaiian inspired dishes for American Airlines

American Airlines

American Airlines, Inc. is the world's fourth-largest airline in passenger miles transported and operating revenues. American Airlines is a subsidiary of the AMR Corporation and is headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas adjacent to its largest hub at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport...

 first class passengers to and from Hawaii.

Personal life

Choy is the son of a Chinese

Chinese immigration to Hawaii

The Chinese in Hawaii frequently referred to by their Hawaiian name Pākē, constitute about 4.7% of the state's population, most of whom have ancestors from Zhongshan in Guangdong. This number does not include people of mixed Chinese and Hawaiian descent...

 father, Hung Sam Choy, and a Hawaiian–German mother, Clairemoana. He is married to Carol, with whom he has two sons, Sam, Jr., and Christopher.

Choy lives in Kona District, Hawaii

Kona District, Hawaii

Kona is the name of a moku or district on the Big Island of Hawaii in the State of Hawaii. In the current system of administration of Hawaii County, the moku of Kona is divided into North Kona District and South Kona District . The term "Kona" is sometimes used to refer to its largest town,...

.

Publications

• Sam Choy (1995). "With Sam Choy: Cooking from the Heart"
• Sam Choy (1999). "The Choy of Seafood"

• Sam Choy, U'I Goldsberry, & Steven Goldsberry (1999). "Sam Choy's Island Flavors"
• Sam Choy and Catherine Enomoto (2000). "Sam Choy's Cooking: Island Cuisine at Its Best"
• Sam Choy (2001). "Sam Choy Woks the Wok: Stir Fry Cooking at Its Island Best"
• Sam Choy (2001). "Sam Choy's Cooking with Kids"

• Sam Choy (2000). "Sam Choy's Sampler: Hawaii's Favorite Recipes"

• Sam Choy (2002). "Sam Choy's Polynesian Kitchen: More Than 150 Authentic Dishes from One of the World's Most Delicious and Overlooked Cuisine"
• Sam Choy (2002). "Sam Choy's visits Mr. Burkott and his farm in Hawaii"
• Sam Choy (2003). "Sam Choy's Little Hawaiian Cookbook for Big Appetites"
• Sam Choy, Lynn Cook, and Douglas Peebles (2003). "A Hawaiian Luau with Sam Choy and The Makaha Sons"
• Sam Choy and Elizabeth Meahl. (2004). "Sam Choy's A Little Hawaiian Poke Cookbook"

• Sam Choy (2006). "Aloha Cuisine"
• Sam Choy (2009). "Poke"

Restaurants

• Sam Choy's Breakfast, Lunch, and Crab (Iwilei)
• Sam Choy's (Tumon Bay, Guam)
• Sam Choy's Kai Lanai ( Big Island, Hawaii)

See also

• Cuisine of Hawaii
  Cuisine of Hawaii
  Modern Hawaiian cuisine is a fusion of many cuisines brought by multiethnic immigrants to the Hawaiian Islands, particularly of American, Chinese, Filipino, Japanese, Korean, Polynesian and Portuguese origins, including plant and animal food sources imported from around the world for agricultural...
  
  
• Iron Chef America
  Iron Chef America
  Iron Chef America: The Series is an American cooking show based on Fuji Television's Iron Chef, and is the second American adaptation of the series, following the failed Iron Chef USA. The show is produced by Food Network, which also carried a dubbed version of the original Iron Chef. Like the...
  
  
• George Mavrothalassitis
  George Mavrothalassitis
  George Mavrothalassitis is a chef and restaurateur known as one of the cofounders of Hawaii Regional Cuisine in the early 1990s. Mavrothalassitis is particularly known for individual pairings of wines with each dish in a multicourse meal.-Life:...
  
  
• Poke (Hawaii)
• Alan Wong
  Alan Wong
  Alan Wong is a chef and restaurateur known as one of 12 cofounders of Hawaii Regional Cuisine. They came together to form an organization to create a new American regional cuisine, highlighting Hawaii's locally grown ingredients and diverse ethnic styles...
  
  
• Roy Yamaguchi
  Roy Yamaguchi
  -Biography:Yamaguchi was born and raised in Tokyo, Japan but now lives in the U.S. State of Hawaii.After graduating from the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York, he spent time in Los Angeles in apprenticeships at L'Escoffier and L'Ermitage under the late master chef Jean Bertanou....
  
  

External links

• samchoy.com Choy's restaurant chain
• Food Network biography