Greg Sams
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Gregory Sams (born 1948) is a UK-based, American-born, fractal artist, social thinker, author, publisher, inventor, macrobioticist and creator of the veggie burger.
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[edit] Life and works
Greg moved to London and, aged 19, opened SEED, a macrobiotic restaurant in Paddington with his brother Craig Sams in 1968.
SEED Restaurant soon became popular with the 1960s London psychedelic scene, and was frequented by John Lennon among others, who drew a cartoon about his experiences at SEED.[1]
The Sams brothers opened a specialised macrobiotic foodshop, Ceres Grain, the following year. To spread the word about Ceres and SEED, Greg published three editions of a specialised magazine called 'Harmony'. During the 1970s, Greg, his brother Craig and their father Ken edited and published a magazine called 'Seed, the Journal of Organic Living' over a five year period.
In 1970 Greg and Craig set up Harmony Foods, which eventually became known as Whole Earth Foods.
In 1982, Greg left Whole Earth Foods to his brother who went on to become chairperson of the Soil Association, and develop Green & Blacks organic chocolate with his partner. Instead, Greg went on to invent the first veggie burger, which he christened VegeBurger, which became a worldwide success.[2]
In 1990, Greg opened in London Strange Attractions, the only shop in the world dedicated to the chaos theory. He became famous for his fractal art, his designs adorning postcards, t-shirts and textiles all over the world.
An enthusiast of the counterculture movement, such as the non-violent direct action street reclaiming events in the UK and elsewhere such as Reclaim the Streets, Greg Sams began writing books that were promoted at these events, as well as during various trance music, psytrance and acid techno raves and free parties around the UK. Uncommon Sense - the State is Out of Date was published in 1998 to great acclaim, showing the importance of chaos theory in the way we live - and should live - our lives. In 2006 he completed a new book, Perhaps - stuff is smarter than we think.
Greg has been a regular on the world music festival scene ever since he provided the macrobiotic catering at the first Glastonbury Festival in 1970. A regular of events such as Pendragon at the now defunct Tyssen Street Theatre Factory, he still travels to worldwide music festivals, solar eclipses, and festivals such as The Glade. He was interviewed on the Liquid Crystal Vision film which has been viewed at many festivals worldwide.
Greg has been a wheelchair user since falling from a tree whilst a freshman at the University of California, Berkeley.
[edit] Books
- Uncommon Sense - the State is Out of Date
- Perhaps - stuff is smarter than we think
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.chaos-works.com/vegeburger7.html John Lennon Cartoon about Greg Sams and his macrobiotic restaurant SEED
- ^ And Here Comes the VegeBurger. The Observer. Retrieved on 2006-11-11.
