Tim Ziegler
Tim Ziegler Tim Ziegler Tim Ziegler For more than 25 years, Chef Tim Ziegler ("Chef Zieg") has been The Chef Be­hind the Chefs. Early on, he im­mersed him­self in the world of spices and even­tu­al­ly be­came the go-to ex­pert among restau­rant chefs look­ing for pro­pri­etary fla­vor blends, as well as culi­nary or­ga­ni­za­tions seek­ing memorable "eater­tain­ment." The Amer­i­can Kit­chen SPICES Print Series, which he co-cre­at­ed, has often been the sub­ject of his talks.

Chef Zieg grew up in the food busi­ness, work­ing in his parents' store across the street from the Uni­ver­si­ty of Den­ver. At age twelve he was cut­ting chick­ens, break­ing down beef quar­ters, help­ing to make sand­wich­es in the deli – and pay­ing close at­ten­tion to ev­ery­thing that was go­ing on.

When he was sta­tioned on the USS Blue Ridge LCC-19, the sailors griped about the chow, so Tim of­fered to help. After work­ing in the gal­ley/bak­ery at 0300 (3 A.M.), fry­ing donuts and work­ing bread dough with a Petty Off­ic­er 3rd Class (whom he later wrote up for a Navy AchieveAchievementment Medal), he got the job.

In 1981, Chef Zieg grad­u­at­ed from Ore­gon State Uni­ver­si­ty with a B.A. in South­east Asian His­to­ry, and in 1987 he grad­u­at­ed from West­ern Culi­nary In­sti­tute with a Pro­fes­sion­al Culi­nary Arts De­gree. After work­ing as a chef for a Denver sea­food restau­rant, Chef Zieg start­ed the Colo­rado Spice Com­pa­ny to create spice blends for pro­fes­sion­al chefs and re­tail­ers.

In memo­ri­am: Sadly, Tim passed away in March of 2020. He will be missed by fam­i­ly, friends, fans, and food­ies ev­ery­where.
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