{"id":8430,"date":"2014-10-17T00:07:11","date_gmt":"2014-10-17T07:07:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=8430"},"modified":"2014-10-21T10:39:09","modified_gmt":"2014-10-21T17:39:09","slug":"food-as-delight-and-comfort","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2014\/10\/17\/food-as-delight-and-comfort\/","title":{"rendered":"Food as delight and comfort"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yotam Ottolenghi is in Vancouver on Oct. 21 for a sold-out pre-Jewish Book Festival event to promote his newest cookbook, Plenty More<\/em>. (photo from Yotam Ottolenghi)<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Israeli-born chef, restaurateur and TV personality Yotam Ottolenghi has made a name for himself by bringing creative Middle Eastern and gourmet vegetarian cuisine into the homes of everyday cooks. His debut cookbook, Ottolenghi: The Cookbook<\/em>, published in 2008, co-written with fellow Jerusalem native Sami Tamimi, features nearly 150 recipes selected from his restaurants. Ottolenghi has since published two other bestselling cookbooks, Plenty<\/em>, which focuses exclusively on vegetarian cooking, in 2011, and Jerusalem<\/em>, co-written with Tamimi, in 2012. The star chef and author is in Vancouver on Oct. 21 for a sold-out pre-Jewish Book Festival event to promote his newest cookbook, Plenty More<\/em>, which was published this week by Random House.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always enjoyed food very much since I was very young, but never considered it as a career option,\u201d Ottolenghi told the Independent<\/em>. \u201cBut when I finished my studies at university, I decided to see if I could make it into the profession, so I enrolled in a culinary course in London in 1997 and really loved it. I thought it was very liberating and very immediately gratifying as opposed to the things I did before. It felt great feeding people and getting immediate feedback from them.\u201d<\/p>\n

After graduating from culinary school, Ottolenghi worked in various restaurants, but a defining moment arrived when he teamed up with a group of people and started a deli in London\u2019s Notting Hill neighborhood that specialized in fresh food and pastries.<\/p>\n

\"image<\/a>\u201cI really enjoyed doing it, it became extremely popular very early on,\u201d he said. \u201cWe made some nice vegetable dishes, things with pasta and grain that are deeply ingrained in the Middle Eastern food culture,\u201d and it took off. Since then, he\u2019s convinced millions around the world to open up their palates and culinary appetites and take a chance on Middle Eastern food.<\/p>\n

In his newest book, Plenty More<\/em>, vegetables are again the focus and he writes about his cooking methods and gives readers a glimpse into his process. \u201cIt was an organic process \u2013 the recipes are based on those I write for the Guardian<\/em> newspaper\u2019s weekend magazine \u2013 but the inspiration, or \u2018penny-drop\u2019 moment, came when I realized I wanted to organize the chapters around cooking methods rather than ingredients. Certain vegetables can get pigeon-holed \u2013 a courgette gets steamed, a squash gets roasted and so forth; focusing on the cooking method, instead, really allowed me to showcase how much more versatile vegetables are than this,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

His next project is already in the works, he said. \u201cI am working on a new book with our head chef at NOPI [in London] and we have plans to open a new Ottolenghi deli in East London next year. That\u2019s keeping the big picture busy, and then the day-to-day work in the test kitchen continues on apace,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Ottolenghi said he hopes to continue immersing himself in the food world, and do the work that he loves to do \u2013 while preparing his own favorites, as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I love in food is the ability to surprise, delight and comfort all at once. My favorites will change depending on the context, so it will be meatballs cooked with dried Iranian lime one day and tinned smoked oysters tipped onto toast and eaten for breakfast the next,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Perhaps he\u2019ll even gain a new favorite while he\u2019s in Canada. \u201cFestivals are just a great place to exchange ideas and enthusiasm with like-minded people so I\u2019m looking forward to just being there, having a good time and learning about more ways I can get some great maple syrup into my cooking,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

For more information about the Cherie Smith JCCGV Jewish Book Festival and a full schedule of events, visit\u00a0jewishbookfestival.ca<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Vicky Tobianah<\/strong> is a freelance writer and editor based in Toronto. Connect with her on Twitter, @vicktob, or at vtobianah@gmail.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yotam Ottolenghi is in Vancouver on Oct. 21 for a sold-out pre-Jewish Book Festival event to promote his newest cookbook, Plenty More. (photo from Yotam Ottolenghi) Israeli-born chef, restaurateur and TV personality Yotam Ottolenghi has made a name for himself by bringing creative Middle Eastern and gourmet vegetarian cuisine into the homes of everyday cooks. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8385,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[2212,2211,2210],"class_list":["post-8430","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local","tag-jccgv-cherie-smith-jewish-book-festival","tag-sami-tamimi","tag-yotam-ottolenghi"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8430","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8430"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8430\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8385"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}