sam fore is a chef and recipe developer based in kentucky.

Sam Fore stepped into the culinary landscape in 2016; her Sri Lanka meets the South dishes from her pop up Tuk Tuk Sri Lankan Bites took off after traditional brunches in her home outgrew her dining room. Fore’s cooking reflects her first generation upbringing in the American South; dishes include her spin on Southern classics and new riffs on her family's time-tested recipes. Her recipes can be found in multiple national publications and across the internet — her take on tomato pie graced the cover of Food & Wine in 2019. She was named one of Plate Magazine’s Chefs to Watch (2018),  Southern Living’s inaugural Cooks of the Year (2020) and one of Taste of the South’s Taste 50 (2022). In 2021 she joined the cast of Christopher Kimball’s Milk Street, which airs nationally on PBS stations. Most recently she's appeared on the Food Network as a featured chef for the third season of competition show 24 in 24: Last Chef Standing.

Over the last decade Fore has become a staple presence at nationwide food festivals and events; she has been featured at the Kentucky Derby, Charleston Wine and Food, Pebble Beach Food and Wine and the Food and Wine Classic in Aspen while also representing non-profit organizations for national fundraisers and lobbying efforts. She has also been retained by national brands to revamp and invigorate their culinary marketing strategies. In 2023, Fore was recognized as a Finalist by the James Beard Foundation Awards, her hometown of Lexington, Kentucky's first and only finalist for the award in the category Best Chef: Southeast. That fall she opened her first restaurant, Tuk Tuk Snack Shop. In just over two years as a brick and mortar restaurant, it was recognized nationwide and named one of Garden and Gun’s best new restaurants of the South in 2025. As food costs and tariffs heavily affected the restaurant’s viability, Fore shuttered the brick and mortar to shift into an online only presence, reserving in house dining for The SnackEasy, a curated pop up supper club experience featuring guest chefs or intimate dinners with her at the stove.