There is trouble in the world, and wherever there is trouble, there are people who step in to help.
Enter the Meadows Pierogi Pop-Up at Side Pie in Altadena, which will happen on Wednesday, March 23, to benefit World Central Kitchen and their relief efforts in Ukraine.
The pop-up venture is a joint project from touring rock musician Imaad Wasif (Mumbai and Hyderabad), sculptor/painter Jon Pylypchuk, of Lopatyn, Ukraine, and NASA Jet Propulsion Lab Creative Director David Rager.
Wasif recently released his sixth solo album, and tours and records with the band Yeah Yeah Yeahs, along with being the former chef of the vegetarian Elf Cafe in Echo Park.
Pylypchuk is an internationally known artist and a member of the Royal Art Lodge, a collaborative group of artists based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, founded in1996. Meanwhile, Rager heads the graphic design team at JPL. How cool a gig is that?
According to Jose Andrés, who founded World Central Kitchen in 2010 with his wife Patricia, after the Haitian earthquake of 2010, “Cooking and eating together is what makes us human.
“Since those early days our journey has taken World Central Kitchen all over the world,” he continued. “We fed an island after Hurricane Maria destroyed Puerto Rico. We fed tens of millions struggling with the Covid-19 pandemic.
“We put boots on the ground,” he said, “when a blast devastated Beirut, bushfires ripped through Australia, and a volcano transformed a Spanish island.
“We were under a bridge with thousands of asylum seekers in Texas, in a demolished Kentucky town after brutal tornadoes, on the Louisiana coast when yet another enormous hurricane made landfall,” he added.
According to Pylypchuk, the pierogies are inspired from Saturday morning gatherings at an urban farm at his home, with their children feeding the goats and cleaning the chicken coops during a pandemic-induced hiatus from usual travel schedules. Meadows Pierogi is actually a Ukranian-Indian concept.
The menu will feature pairings such as aloo bhaaji/tomato masala pierogi and vegan shiitake bacon/cosmic kraut, alongside classics like potato/cheese/onion pierogi and housemade Kovbasa (Ukrainian) smoked sausage.
Proceeds from Meadow’s Pierogi will go to World Central Kitchen.
Side Pie in Altadena, 900 East Altadena Dr, Altadena, CA.Wednesday, March 23rd, 5pm till sold out.
