In Baba’s Kitchen
Featuring Chefs Irina Mamataliyev & Bek Mamat & Monica Pope with Special Guest Steven Givot
In 2022, UNESCO listed borscht, a culinary linchpin of Ukrainian culture, as an "Endangered Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity." How do you preserve something that is endangered? You teach others how to make it!
Be part of preserving a culinary tradition so that it doesn’t die out!
At this event Ukrainian immigrant chefs Irina Mamataliyev and Bek Mamat & Czechoslovakian chef Monica Pope will lead a cooking class and demonstration that teaches how to make borscht and pierogi and the proper way to drink vodka. Then participants will feast on the results!
World Central Kitchen alumnus, Steven Givot will be present to tell his story about cooking in Ukraine with World Central Kitchen. Attendees will be provided the opportunity to donate to World Central Kitchen.
Foreign Grill, 606 Dennis St, Houston, Texas 77006
Sunday, May 19, 2024, 3pm-6pm
Our Sponsors for this Event
MEET THE CHEFS AND SPECIAL GUEST PRESENTER STEVEN GIVOT
Irina Mamataliyev & Bek Mamat
Irina learned how to cook from her grandmother, who taught me how to prepare traditional Ukrainian dishes like borsch. The recipe I use for borsch is actually passed down from my great-grandmother.
While I’m not a trained chef myself, my husband Bek is a professional chef. Together, we have operated restaurants in Canada, New Zealand, and Qatar. Now we have immigrated to Houston and have opened Foreign Grill together. Our restaurant is a culmination of our dream of starting a new life in America for our family.
Our recipes are a blend of family traditions and Beck’s professional expertise. We aim to bring authentic flavors to our dishes while also adding our own unique twist. We look forward to welcoming you to our table!
Monica Pope
Dubbed the "Alice Waters of the Third Coast," Texas-reared chef Monica Pope has been revolutionizing Houston's culinary scene since she debuted her first restaurant in 1992. As a high school student, she dreamed of “opening a restaurant and changing the way Houston eats.” Pope shares her passion for connecting local farmers and us, the co-producers, by hosting interactive cooking classes and Pop Ups in a Field or any beautiful place. Pope has enjoyed national recognition in the form of a James Beard Award nomination and a spot competing on the 2010 second season of Top Chef Masters on Bravo. She is still the only female Texas chef to be named a Top Ten Best New Chef by Food & Wine magazine thanks to her food philosophy, "eat where your food lives".
Hailed by Travel & Leisure magazine as "one of the most ingenious restaurateurs around," Pope first learned to cook from her Czech grandmother and went on to earn her Chef's title from Prue Leith's School of Food and Wine in London, UK. After working in Europe and San Francisco, she returned home to Houston to open the Quilted Toque, which was followed by a succession of acclaimed restaurants, including Boulevard Bistrot, t'afia and Sparrow Bar + Cookshop. Pope is the founding chair of Recipe for Success Foundation's Chefs Advisory Board. She most recently co-founded the organization, I’ll Have What She’s Having, with some bad ass doctors & chefs to help raise awareness and funds in support of women’s healthcare in the hospitality industry.
Steven Givot
Immediately after the invasion of Ukraine, Houston businessman Steven Givot flew to Poland and made his way to the Ukrainian border to see how he could be of help. He ended up cooking with World Central Kitchen, which became a life-changing experience for him. He will tell the story of his work with the organization at a site near a train station on the Ukrainian-Polish border where thousands of people were fed every day.
Courtesy of Steven Givot