Simple Too: An Evening with Yotam Ottolenghi

Hosted By Evan Kleiman

Wed Oct 14, 2026 at 8pm

Artist Sponsor
Craig and Kirsten Springer

Media Sponsor

This performance is presented without an intermission.

For chef, writer, and restaurateur Yotam Ottolenghi, food is about more than what we eat. It is about joy, pleasure, and surprise. It is about a sense of place and home. It is about commonality, an act that brings people together. The popular chef has stated, “It’s tragic that we are so good at adapting ourselves to different cuisines and enjoy being super international, yet we are not able to apply the same level of tolerance to the actual people that cook them.” Simply put, this philosopher of the kitchen is passionate about making people happy through food full of harmonious contradictions.

Ottolenghi is widely beloved for his beautiful, inspirational, and award-winning cookbooks, yet he had an unlikely beginning. In 1997, Ottolenghi completed a combined bachelor’s and master’s degree in comparative literature at Tel Aviv University; his thesis was on the philosophy of the photographic image. That same year, he moved to Amsterdam, where he worked at a Dutch-Jewish weekly and considered pursuing a doctorate at Yale. Instead, and against the advice of his father, family, and friends, he moved to London to study French cooking at Le Cordon Bleu. Soon, Ottolenghi found work as a pastry chef and eventually met Palestinian chef Sami Tamimi.

Ottolenghi and Tamimi discovered that they had grown up on opposite sides of Jerusalem. They became friends and eventual business partners, bonding over their shared language and a joint “incomprehension of traditional English food.”

Ottolenghi’s debut cookbook, Ottolenghi, co-authored with Tamimi, was published in 2008. Ten more internationally bestselling volumes have followed, including Plenty (2010) and Plenty More (2014), which explore the possibilities of vegetable-forward cooking; Jerusalem (2012), co-authored with Tamimi and inspired by the flavors of their home city; Nopi (2015), a cookbook from his acclaimed London restaurant; Sweet (2017), a dessert cookbook; Ottolenghi Simple (2018); Ottolenghi Flavor (2020), co-written with Ixta Belfrage; Ottolenghi Test Kitchen: Shelf Love (2021), co-written with Noor Murad; Ottolenghi Test Kitchen: Extra Good Things (2022), also co-written with Murad; and Ottolenghi Comfort (2024), written with Helen Goh, Verena Lochmuller, and Tara Wigley. His books have sold more than 1.5 million copies in North America and 5 million worldwide. His newest book, written with Verena Lochmuller, is Simple Too (Ten Speed Press, October 6, 2026).

Ottolenghi’s cookbooks have proven influential, with The New York Times noting that they are widely imitated for their plain-spoken instructions and enticing photographs, overseen by Ottolenghi himself. They have been praised by Nigel Slater, David Lebovitz, Deborah Madison, Food & Wine, and The Wall Street Journal. Mark Bittman said, “Plenty... is among the most generous and luxurious nonmeat cookbooks ever produced, one that instantly reminds us that you don't need meat to produce over-the-top food.”

In 2014, the London Evening Standard noted that Ottolenghi had “radically rewritten the way Londoners cook and eat,” while Bon Appétit wrote that he had “made the world love vegetables.” Jerusalem was awarded Cookbook of the Year by the International Association of Culinary Professionals and Best International Cookbook by the James Beard Foundation. Ottolenghi’s books have been named among the best books of the year by The New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, and NPR. The documentary film Ottolenghi and the Cakes of Versailles, directed by Laura Gabbert, was released in theaters and on demand on September 25, 2020. Ottolenghi has also been an instructor with MasterClass, the streaming education platform, since 2020.

Yotam Ottolenghi grew up in Israel to parents of Italian and German descent and spent childhood summers in Italy. Long based in London, where he co-owns an eponymous group of deli shops and the fine-dining restaurants NOPI and ROVI, Ottolenghi spends much of his time creating and testing recipes for his weekly column in The Guardian and monthly column in The New York Times. When he is not cooking, he oversees the day-to-day running of his business and makes occasional television programs. Family life with his two sons, along with Pilates, are much-loved distractions.