It's a pretty safe bet the food cooked up by "Sam the Cooking Guy" in Juvenile Hall on Thursday was a shade better than the usual fare.
Sam Zien and executive chef Matt Gordon of Urban Solace gathered with a group of troubled teens at the East Mesa Juvenile Detention Facility for a cooking demonstration.
Their audience was made up of 16 males in the San Diego County Probation Department’s Youthful Offender Unit, the most serious juvenile offenders.
The message presented to these youth: it's never too late to turn your life around and do something productive with it.
Zien's story, it is hoped, will serve as an inspiration. While he has no formal training as a chef and was not an experienced television performer when he set out at age 40, he's now an Emmy-award winner whose show airs on Channel 4 and Discovery Health.
“It’s really important that all of us work to show kids what options they have in the world," he said. "I try to do that with my own kids, but kids that have fallen off the path and ended up in the juvenile system need it especially.”
The program is one of a number offered by Probation Department for young people who end up incarcerated in the juvenile court system, according to Chief Probation Officer Mack Jenkins.
Learn more about the Probation Department’s programs for juvenile offenders at www.sdcounty.ca.gov/probation.
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