14 Facts About Samin Nosrat

Samin Nosrat is an Iranian-American chef, TV host, food writer and podcaster.

Samin Nosrat was raised in University City, San Diego and attended La Jolla High School.

Samin Nosrat grew up eating mostly Iranian cuisine, and though she did not learn to cook until she was an adult, she has said that food was an important part of her childhood.

Samin Nosrat attended the University of California, Berkeley, majoring in English.

In 2000, as a sophomore in college, Samin Nosrat ate dinner at Chez Panisse and immediately applied to work there as a busser.

Samin Nosrat worked as a sous-chef and took catering jobs before starting to teach private cooking classes in 2007.

Samin Nosrat has said that she soon felt that a television show would be a more efficient way of teaching; however, it would be years before that would happen.

Samin Nosrat later worked with Michael Pollan, and was included in his book and the 2016 Netflix documentary television series Cooked as "the chef who taught Michael Pollan how to cook".

In episode 1, Samin Nosrat goes to Italy to talk about the use of fat in cooking; in episode 2, Japan for salt; in episode 3, Mexico for acid; and in episode 4, returns to the United States, cooking at Chez Panisse as well as with her own mother, to discuss heat.

From 2017 to 2021, Samin Nosrat was a regular "Eat" columnist for The New York Times Magazine.

In March 2019, Samin Nosrat announced a second cookbook, again in collaboration with MacNaughton, titled What to Cook.

Samin Nosrat called them the "invisible set of constraints you face every time you set out to cook".

In March 2025, Samin Nosrat announced a different title and concept for the cookbook.

In 2021, Samin Nosrat made a guest appearance on Michelle Obama's children's cooking show called Waffles + Mochi on Netflix.