Sami Tamimi is a Palestinian chef, successful restaurateur and food writer. His cookbook, Boustany: A Celebration of Palestinian Food came out in 2025 to great acclaim.
His cooking career began at 17 working in a hotel in Jerusalem. From there he went on to work in different restaurants, to gain further experience.
1997 marked a move to London where Sami was running the savoury kitchen at Baker & Spice, a bakery in Chelsea.
In 2002, Sami partnered with Yotam Ottolenghi (whom he met and worked with at Baker & Spice), in opening the first Ottolenghi deli in Notting Hill. The company has since expanded to five more locations in London, including two restaurants, NOPI and ROVI.
Sami and Yotam have written two critically acclaimed cookbooks, Ottolenghi and Jerusalem, the latter winning many awards. Jerusalem has been credited with starting many cookbook clubs all over the world. Sami's book Boustany: A Celebration of Palestinian Food was published by Ebury.
Sami’s third cookbook Falastin was co-authored with Tara Wigly and is a 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 runs regular supper clubs and divides his time between London and Umbria in Italy.
