Tuesday March 17, 2025

Irish Cultural Center and McClelland Library

Amber Sampson – Cooking demonstation chef

Amber Sampson is trained cultural anthropologist, food researcher and professional chef, who loves exploring the world through food. Sampson holds two degrees from Arizona State University, Cultural Anthropology, and Food Systems Sustainability. She is also a trained professional Chef, with a degree in culinary arts and nutrition and recently earned her Masters in Gastronomy from Boston University. She studied race, and consumption with Harvard University, brought ancient bread to life with fellow Anthropologists from Yale, and was awarded the prestigious US Government’s Gilman Scholarship for archeological research with Arizona’s Tohono O’odham Nation.

Using food as a universal language, her research focuses on the relationship between food and culture. Sampon’s family immigrated from Cork, Ireland in 1920. Specifically, Sampson enjoys studying the anthropological relationship between food and culture in ancient times. Her work brings present day relevance to ancient meals, people and customs, giving others a taste and connection to our delicious past, revealing a more sustainable and understanding future.

Sampson currently works teaching in the Gastronomy graduate department at Boston University. She volunteers on the Board of Directors at Slow Food Phoenix, and has worked with the Arizona American Indian Tourism Association, Arizona State University, and at the S’edav Va’aki Museume (formerly Pueblo Grande Museum) in Phoenix, as the Indigenous Foodways Facilitator . You can find Sampson in the warm Southwestern desert of Arizona, teaching culinary, foraging, cooking, researching, gardening, and exploring our tasty past.

Calena Franzmeier – The Lodge Cannery and Bakery

Howdy, this is Calena the owner and pastry chef of The Lodge Cannery and Bakery. I would like to tell you a little bit about myself and how this Cottage Home business began. I started my career when I was only 14 years old at the East Valley Institute of Technology (EVIT) where I completed the baking and pastry arts program as well as the culinary arts program. After three years at EVIT I won enough scholarships to attend the Arizona Culinary Institute (ACI). While at ACI I fell even more in love with the joy of creating delicious food that can and should be enjoyed by all people!

As I was still in school at ACI I was lucky enough to get an internship and eventually a full time job at the Four Seasons Resort in Scottsdale, AZ. My passion was confirmed with every new thing I learned at the resort. I became a chef and ran the whole bake shop for a couple of year. I was in charge of creating and making all the menus for the multiple restaurants and banquets, including all the wedding cakes, for the whole resort. As fate would then have it I meet my amazing husband at the Four Seasons. After we were married I turned my love for creating and serving people to a home based life!

Never turning away from my passion of baking I started creating a lot of items for dinner parties and events in the neighborhood. I also started a garden and after growing over a THOUSAND jalapenos one year I deep dived into the world of canning. Once I learned the basics I realized how fun and quite useful canning can be. Just seeing all the things that can be preserved to be enjoyed at later time (sometimes even years later!) was so amazing! So after many requests from many friends and family I decided to offer my goods to everyone. Thus, The Lodge Cannery and Bakery was born! I hope that you enjoy all that I have to offer!