Chef, food writer and restaurateur Sami Tamimi is credited with changing the way people eat, bringing Middle Eastern flavors into everyday meals. He and chef Yotam Ottolenghi won the James Beard Foundation International Book Award for “Jerusalem: A Cookbook,” and, more recently, Tamimi co-authored the award-winning “Falastin.”
Now, the Palestinian chef, who’s lived in Jerusalem, Italy and the United Kingdom, has released “Boustany: A Celebration of Vegetables from my Palestine,” his most personal cookbook yet. It’s as much a love letter to Palestinian food and culture as it is to his grandparents, whose farm introduced him to the flavors of his homeland.
Tamimi joins host Robin Young to discuss his new book and what it means to him.
Book excerpt: ‘Boustany: A Celebration of Vegetables from my Palestine’
By Sami Tamimi
Eggplant & chickpeas with green lemon sauce
Asparagus, leek and hazelnut galette
Loaded sweet potatoes with black-eyes peas
Reprinted with permission from “Boustany: A Celebration of Vegetables from my Palestine” by Sammi Tamimi, copyright 2025. Published by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of Penguin Random House.
This article was originally published on WBUR.org.
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