Sam Talbot

Sam Talbot is the former executive chef of Imperial No. Nine, a sustainable seafood restaurant located in New York's Mondrian SoHo hotel. Talbot is also executive chef at Surf Lodge in Montauk, N.Y. In October 2011, Talbot published his first cookbook, "The Sweet Life: Diabetes Without Boundaries," with Rodale Books.

Talbot is at the forefront of the 'integrative kitchen' movement, which seeks to break down the walls between the way we eat and the way we live. When conceiving dishes, Talbot keeps a few simple questions in mind: What is the food? Who's eating it? Where? When? His approach to cooking is understanding how these questions -- and their answers -- interconnect. His outlook on life is the same: Talbot surfs, snowboards, practices yoga and travels widely.

Diagnosed at a young age with juvenile diabetes, Talbot lives every hour with a profound understanding of the impact of food on life, and life on food. That understanding has become a uniquely driving force for his cooking style and recipes. Talbot volunteers extensively with the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and uses his newfound celebrity to increase awareness of the disease. To that end, Talbot and JDRF have established an annual series of events to raise money for their fight against juvenile diabetes.

Talbot was a semi-finalist on Bravo's acclaimed series 'Top Chef' and voted the viewers' "Fan Favorite" for the season.