'Food is a language everyone understands': Yotam Ottolenghi on how cuisine connects people

The famed chef and author tells the BBC's Katty Kay that it was finding academia too “esoteric” that led him to seek out a simpler path: to help the world simplify its food.

Yotam Ottolenghi's singular style of cooking has been embraced across the globe. Focusing on simple ingredients and treating food as a way to bring friends and family together, he's become a renowned chef, a best-selling author and a touchstone for home cooks looking to incorporate global flavours into their everyday rotations.

The chef, father and former philosophy student explains to BBC special correspondent Katty Kay, in her interview series Influential, that having parents who cooked helped shape his path. However, he says that it was the sense of belonging that came with cooking – not family expectations – that truly drew him in.

"There was a quiet expectation that I would probably become an academic," he says. "I don't having a conversation, which must have happened. 'What do you want to be when you grow up">window._taboola = window._taboola || []; _taboola.push({ mode: 'alternating-thumbnails-a', container: 'taboola-below-article', placement: 'Below Article', target_type: 'mix' });