Hedai Offaim

Hedai Offaim was born in 1979 in Haifa

Hedai Offaim was born in 1979 in Haifa, the youngest of three brothers. His father, Yankale, was a Holocaust survivor from Poland, and his mother, Bracha, grew up on Kibbutz Yagur. He studied at the Leo Baeck Education Center and later worked as a guide at field schools of the Society for the Protection of Nature.

He joined the IDF in 1999 and served as an officer in the Shaldag Unit until 2003. He then studied Jewish history and geography at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem while running a catering company he founded.

In 2008 he and his brother Yinon founded the Offaim Farm in the Arava, which received government support and hosts farmers who come to learn sustainable methods. He is the head cheesemaker of its dairy and head chef of its cafes, which opened in places such as Jerusalem, Binyamina and Jaffa. In 2020 he set up another farm in the Elah Valley, and in 2023 he launched the wine brand Mekomi.

He has written food columns for Maariv, Haaretz and Calcalist and has presented regular segments on Reshet Bet radio. In 2020 he began hosting a series in which Israeli musicians joined him in his kitchen. He is married to Eti Libman-Offaim, they have 2 children, and they live in Moshav Tzafririm.