Chef Hamid Salimian
A gathering place.
Leading the brigade in Diva at the Met’s open kitchen, executive chef Hamid Salimian is a study in concentration. He works with quiet assurance, assembling the components of each dish with precision and skill. Salimian’s masterfully plated creations are a gourmand’s delight, enthralling diners with the likes of mussel coal, foie gras walnuts, and translucent “glass” potato crisps. Yet his soaring trips through the culinary stratosphere are grounded in passionate reverence for the growing process and the integrity of top-quality ingredients.
Chef Salimian spent his childhood with his fingers in the dirt, so to speak. As a young boy, he accompanied his father and uncles on trips to northern Iran, where they constructed a citrus orchard and dairy farm from the ground up. He also clocked up countless hours in his mother’s remarkable garden. A skilled hobby farmer, she cultivated a profusion of fruits, vegetables, and flowers. “Cucumbers, zucchini, many different types of beans, peaches and plums, roses—you name it,” Salimian reminisces with a smile. “Mom always made us kids work in the garden to get our allowance each week. I’m so happy she did. My mother and father wanted me to know the value of life, and if you want something you have to work for it.”
This storehouse of food-centric boyhood memories motivated Salimian’s desire to source naturally grown, sustainable ingredients. “Iran is such a rustic country,” he says. “I grew up around food and watched people live off the land. Learning about the balance between growing and harvesting inspired me to follow the same path.” His first experiences building meals around Iran’s native ingredients included fishing for river trout, hunting for pigeons, and picking wild herbs to perfume the meat. Today, he translates the joy and wonder of these early food-gathering expeditions into his exploration of the Lower Mainland’s foraged treasures.