Sam Holland, the professional chef and younger brother of actor Tom Holland, sent a selection of plant-based recipes from his debut cookbook to his sibling so Tom could prepare meals for Zendaya while she filmed in Boston.
In interviews promoting Kitchen Kickstart, released in August 2025, the 26-year-old chef said he was especially proud of the book’s vegetarian section. “Zendaya has a plant-based diet, and I sent those recipes Tom’s way as he was on dinner duty while she was making a movie in Boston. He went through them one by one and really enjoyed them,” Sam told The Times.
The film was A24’s The Drama, co-starring Robert Pattinson, which shot primarily in and around Boston in late 2024. Tom later described taking on most of the cooking during that period and admitted the results were mixed. “They haven’t been great. There’s been a few like, ‘Let’s just order-ins,’” he said on the Dish podcast, while praising Zendaya’s own spicy vodka fusilli as delicious.
Sam Holland was born on February 14, 1999, in Kingston upon Thames, England, the twin of filmmaker Harry Holland and younger brother to Tom. Their younger brother is actor and painter Paddy Holland. Their parents are comedian and author Dominic Holland and photographer Nikki Holland. The family remains close and still lives in the Kingston area.
Sam discovered cooking through his grandmother Tess and later trained at Leiths School of Food and Wine in London, graduating at 22. He worked at the Gleneagles hotel in Perthshire and the Michelin-starred Chez Bruce in Wandsworth before deciding the high-pressure restaurant culture was not for him. Encouraged by his twin, he turned to social media, building large followings on Instagram and TikTok with approachable recipe videos aimed at beginners and students.
Kitchen Kickstart focuses on quick, affordable, simple dishes divided into practical chapters. Sam tested many of the recipes on his brothers, describing them as “probably a bit worse than beginner cooks.” Tom publicly supported the launch, posting an Instagram photo of Sam with the book and writing that he had been “smashing these recipes.”
In a later interview with Jennifer Hudson, Zendaya confirmed Tom still pulls out the cookbook to try vegetarian recipes for her. She also said she believes he is the better cook of the two. The couple became engaged over the 2024 holidays; the engagement became public in January 2025 when Zendaya wore a diamond ring at the Golden Globes.
Sam has previously cooked for Tom on set. During production of Spider-Man: Far From Home, Tom arranged for the studio to hire his brother as a personal chef. Sam has also spoken about preparing family Christmas dinners and testing dishes that later appeared in the book.
Gordon Ramsay has publicly described Sam as someone “born to cook.” Sam has said his goal is to help a new generation of home cooks prepare healthy meals without intimidation, drawing on both his formal training and the everyday cooking he learned at home.
