Meet the Chef

Sami learned the craft of preparing and cooking Chinese food in her hometown of AnJiang, China (Xiang / HuNan style food) which is a very remote and semi-tropical farming area. As a teenager, Sami moved to the East coast of China, where the wages are better and worked for 7 years in restaurants in ShenZhen (Cantonese style food) and ShangHai, China, where she met her future husband, David, an American.

Sami and David moved to Roseburg, Oregon in June 2014, where she enjoyed fishing and crabbing and gardening and playing mahjong with other Chinese ladies with American husbands.

Sami then worked at Caddock Electronics in Glide, Oregon for two years, saved her wages and bought a food truck in late 2019, and prepared for starting the business, during the uncertain Covid time.

Sami’s Chinese Xiang Cuisine food truck began serving in April 2020 at the Umpqua Valley Farmers' Market. During the next three years, Sami has served at several venues including Two Shy Brewing, Old 99 Brewing, Delfino Winery, LookingGlass Brewery, The Wine Destination shop downtown Roseburg, Mercy Hospital, Douglas County Fairgrounds - Home and Garden show, Ferraro Vineyards, and Trella Vineyards Wine shop.

David, Sami's husband, was raised on a farm in Michigan, but decided the farming profession was not to be his future vocation. He received a Master's Degree in Electrical Engineering and worked for General Motors for several decades. The last 14 of those years were 4 years in Japan and 10 years in China, where he met and then married Sami.

During those 10 years, David traveled extensively in China and neighboring SouthEast Asian countries, learning the culture, and always enjoying the local foods. Since moving to Roseburg, David has been active in the Young Entrepreneurs Society, now called the Umpqua Growth Talks, and giving presentations on electric vehicles and the charging infrastructure to local organizations, including Joseph Lane Middle School and the engineering students at the Umpqua Community College.

For the past two years David has helped Sami with social media for the food truck, taking food orders and delivering to the customer, interacting with customers about their opinion of the food, so Sami could make some modifications to the menu items.