Sami Tamimi is a Palestinian chef, restaurateur and food writer. His cooking career began at 17 working in a hotel in Jerusalem. From there he went on to work at different restaurants to gain experience. 1997 marked a move to London where Sami was running the main kitchen at Baker & Spice, a bakery shop in Chelsea. In 2002, Sami partnered with Yotam Ottolenghi (whom he met and worked with at Baker & Spice), and Noam Bar in opening the first Ottolenghi deli in Notting Hill. The company has since expanded to more locations in London and other parts of the UK, including 7 delis and two restaurants: NOPI and ROVI. Sami and Yotam have written two critically acclaimed cookbooks, Ottolenghi: The Cookbook and Jerusalem A Cookbook, the latter winning many awards, including the International Book Award from the James Beard Foundation in 2013. Jerusalem has been credited with starting many cookbook clubs all over the world. Sami’s third cookbook Falastin, co-authored with Tara Wigley, was the winner of the Fortnum & Mason Cookery Book of the Year 2021, James Beard Award Nominee 2022, IACP Award winner and was Longlisted for The Art Of Eating Prize 2021. Nowadays, Sami divide his time between London and Umbria in Italy.
