Yotam Ottolenghi

Yotam Ottolenghi is an Israeli-British chef, food writer and restauranteur. He grew up in West Jerusalem, in a family of Italian-Jewish and German-Jewish descent. After obtaining a Master’s degree in Comparative Literature from Tel Aviv University, Ottolenghi worked as a copy editor and journalist until 1997, when he moved to London to study French cooking at Le Cordon Bleu.

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Biography

Ottolenghi’s culinary career began as a pastry chef in London, during which time he met Arab-Palestinian chef Sami Tamimi. In 2002, the duo founded the first Ottolenghi delicatessen in Notting Hill; the place became instantly popular, and in the years that followed, Ottolenghi opened a further two delis and three restaurants in London.

In 2006, Ottolenghi started a weekly food column The New Vegetarian in the Guardian, and his first cookbook Ottolenghi was published two years later. It was followed by another six bestsellers: Plenty (2010), Plenty More (2014), Jerusalem (2012), Nopi (2015), the dessert cookbook Sweet (2017) and Ottolenghi Simple (2018). His latest book Shelf Love is published in September 2021.