Society For The Performing Arts Presents Yotam Ottolenghi

Society for the Performing Arts presents restauranteur, author and chef Yotam Ottolenghi, on Monday, May 2, 2022 at 7:30 PM at the Wortham Center's Cullen Theater. The evening will be moderated by James Beard Award-winning Houston chef Chris Shepherd and a portion of each ticket sold will be donated to Southern Smoke. Southern Smoke is a crisis relief organization for people in the food and beverage industry. Houston independent bookseller Brazos Books will be on hand, selling pre-signed books by Yotam Ottolenghi and Chris Shepherd.

Ottolenghi is widely beloved for his beautiful, inspirational, and award-winning cookbooks, which have been named among the best books of the year by The New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, and NPR. For 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 which brings people together.

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 which 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 getting his 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 the Palestinian chef Sami Tamimi.

Ottolenghi and Tamimi discovered they had grown up just a few miles apart on opposite sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, in Jerusalem. They became friends and eventual business partners, bonding over shared language and a joint "incomprehension of traditional English food."

Ottolenghi's debut cookbook, Ottolenghi, co-authored with Tamimi, was published in 2008. Eight more internationally bestselling volumes have followed: a collection of recipes exploring the flavors of his home-city, Jerusalem with Tamimi (2012); the vegetable cookbooks Plenty (2010) and Plenty More (2014); a cookbook from his acclaimed London restaurant, Nopi (2015); a dessert cookbook, Sweet (2017); Ottolenghi Simple (2018); and Ottolenghi Flavor (co-written with Ixta Belfrage). His books have sold over 1.5 million copies in North America and 5 million worldwide. Yotam Ottolenghi's most recent book, written with Noor Murad, is Ottolenghi Test Kitchen: Shelf Love (Penguin Random House, November 2, 2021).

Ottolenghi's cookbooks have proven influential, with The New York Times noting 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 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. A documentary film, "Ottolenghi and the Cakes of Versailles," directed by Laura Gabbert, was released in theaters and on demand September 25, 2020. Yotam Ottolenghi is an instructor with Masterclass, the streaming platform.

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 appearances. Family life with his husband and two young sons and Pilates are much-loved distractions.

Midwest-raised, James Beard Award-winning Chef Chris Shepherd has helped change the landscape of the Houston culinary scene since opening Underbelly in 2012. He built the restaurant to support the Houston food community and its suppliers by buying local and drawing inspiration from the people and cultures that live in the city.

In 2018, he closed Underbelly to expand his Underbelly Hospitality restaurant group, which includes Georgia James steakhouse-named the Best New Restaurant in Texas by Texas Monthly and one of the Best New Restaurants in America by GQ and Robb Report: Georgia James Tavern, and Underbelly Burger. Underbelly Hospitality will open Wild Oats, a fresh take on traditional Texas cuisine, and Pastore, a red sauce Italian restaurant, in 2022.

Chris' foundation Southern Smoke has distributed more than $9.5 million directly to those in the food and beverage industry in need via the Emergency Relief Fund. They aim to be a safety net for the industry, taking care of their colleagues every day. They provide funds directly to people in need who are battling health crises, winter storm damage, natural disasters, mental health needs and those affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. More info at southernsmoke.org.

All audience members ages 5 and above will be required to show proof of vaccination OR negative professionally administered Covid-19 test (not an at-home self-test).

All attendees must also show a government-issued ID that matches the name on the negative test proof or vaccination record. Children up to age 18 may be accompanied by an adult with such identification. And masks are required inside the theater. For more details, please visit our FAQ page.

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