Sam Sifton
Sam Sifton is a food writer, cookbook author and founding editor of NYT Cooking who now hosts The Morning newsletter at The New York Times.
At 100 nudges, fangea sends Sam’s team an official invite.
🔒 Star boosts open once Sam claims this page.
Latest
Sam’s happenings, collected from public sources, plus their backstory and Starbook, where fans write.
Known for
Cookbook
Cookbook
CookbookOverview
- Known for
- Founding NYT Cooking and helping readers find their way around the kitchen.
- Now
- Host of The Morning at The New York Times.
- Early career
- Public-school teacher, then writer and editor at New York Press.
- Joined The Times
- 2002.
- Cooking milestone
- NYT Cooking launched in September 2014.
Mini bio
How it started.
Sam grew up in New York, where family shopping trips across Manhattan and Brooklyn helped spark an interest in food. In college, a job at Harvest in Harvard Square led from restaurant work into the kitchen. Before becoming a full-time journalist, Sam taught social studies at Bushwick High School and wrote for New York Press.
From critic to cooking companion.
After work at New York Press and Talk magazine, Sam joined The New York Times in 2002. Roles there included restaurant critic, culture editor and national editor. A defining project was NYT Cooking, which launched in September 2014 to help readers use the newspaper’s recipe archive at home.
Room to improvise.
Sam began sharing no-recipe cooking prompts in the newsletter in 2015. That approach became The New York Times Cooking No-Recipe Recipes in 2021, encouraging readers to work with the ingredients they have. Thanksgiving: How to Cook It Well and See You on Sunday focus on the practical work of feeding people and bringing them together.
A wider conversation.
In September 2025, The Times announced that Sam would become the writer, host and anchor of The Morning. The appointment brought the familiar newsletter voice to a broader daily conversation about news, culture and everyday life.
Creditschronological, newest first
Books
- 2021The New York Times Cooking No-Recipe RecipesAuthor
- 2020See You on SundayAuthor
- 2012Thanksgiving: How to Cook It WellAuthor
Journalism
- 2025The MorningNamed writer, host and anchor
- 2014NYT CookingFounding editor
Podcasts
Awards
Quotes
But mostly I cook. Sometimes that’s with recipes. Often times, increasingly, it’s not.Sam Sifton, Penguin Random House
From the March 16, 2021 introduction to No-Recipe Recipes: https://global.penguinrandomhouse.com/announcements/sam-sifton-introduces-his-new-cookbook/
Trivia
- Family ingredient-shopping trips after Saturday music lessons helped kindle Sam’s interest in food.
- Before full-time newspaper work, Sam taught social studies at Bushwick High School in Brooklyn.
- The no-recipe prompts began as a Wednesday newsletter feature in 2015.
Find Sam
Find Sam’s writing, recipes and updates through these official profiles.
Are you Sam Sifton?
Fans built this page. Claim it to connect with them and unlock Star boosts, or request a takedown if you’d rather it not exist.