Sami Tamimi is a Palestinian chef, restaurateur and food writerbased between London and Umbria in Italy.
Sami grew up in the old city of Jerusalem, before leaving on a journey of self-discovery, first to Tel Aviv and then London.
With over 35 years of experience, Sami’s fascination with food, that later turned into an obsession, began at an early age in his mum Na’ama’s kitchen.
His cooking career began at 17 working at at boutique hotel Mount Zion in Jerusalem as a porter. He quickly became a chef in charge of breakfast in the hotel. The journey continued in different restaurants, cafes and even a hospital kitchen, giving him a large and diverse scale of experiences.
At 21 Sami set up a small catering business in Tel-Aviv and continued to work in restaurants. Soon he was head chef at Lilith, one of the most renowned restaurants in the country at the time, where he spent five years working with Karen Handler-Kremmerman, whom he considers his mentor.
1997 marked amove to London whereSamiwas runningthe savoury kitchen at Baker & Spice.At this food and bakery shop in Chelsea,hewas given the freedom to show his talent and creativity in the deli side of the business, whichlaterturned into a successful catering. This put Baker & Spice onto thefoodiemap of London. The companypreservedSami’slegacyand expandedto different locationsin London and other parts of the world.
In 2002, SamipartneredwithYotamOttolenghi (whom he met and worked with at Baker & Spice), andNoamBarinopeningthe first Ottolenghi deli inNotting Hill. The company has sinceexpanded to more locations in London, including five delis and two restaurants: NOPIandROVI.
At Ottolenghi Sami andYotamcreated a conceptthat has provena huge success fromday one, serving trademarksavoury food, pastry, providing cateringand running two busy restaurants in central London.Over the years,Samiwas in charge offood creativityand nurturing younger chefs around the company.
Sami andYotamhave written two critically acclaimedcookbooks,OttolenghiandJerusalem, the latter winningmany awards, including the International Book Award from the James Beard Foundation in2013. Jerusalemhas been credited with starting many cookbook clubsall over the world.
Sami’s third cookbook Falastin is co-authoredwith TaraWigleyis a winner of the Fortnum & Mason Cookery Book of the Year 2021, James Beard Award Nominee 2022, IACP Award winner and Longlisted for The Art Of Eating Prize 2021
