Omid Jaffari adores truffles. The mushroom kind. The culinary delicacy that grows underground in very precise circumstances—in the roots of oak or hazelnut trees in a handful of regions with certain soil and light conditions—and is dug up by specially trained pigs or dogs.
I didn’t know anything about truffles (other than they are delicious and well out of my price range) until my first conversation with Omid. He and I had spent months crossing paths nearly daily, both frequenting the same café, but never speaking or acknowledging our recognition of one another. He was intimidating—small, handsome, stern—until, suddenly, he spoke to me.
Fifteen minutes later, I walked away intrigued, slightly bewildered, and sufficiently enthused about truffles to order a $49 truffle pizza that very night.
Such is Omid Jaffari’s infectious passion for food: it can compel you to drop four days’ food budget on a single meal. It is not surprising, then, that he has successfully turned this passion into a successful career as a chef and food blogger, stylist, and photographer.
As he puts the finishing touches on desserts for a catering event—individual chocolate-dipped vanilla bean ice cream bars creatively served on small tree branches—Omid tells me that he believes “good food has good atmosphere, and vice versa.” You can tell when food has been lovingly created.
“You can be an unhappy person if you eat bad food, and you will be a happier person if you eat good food. That is basically me.”
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