Pierre Thiam Attempts to Create the World’s Highest Pop-Up Restaurant

Pictured: Pierre Thiam | Photo credit: Evan Sung

January 31, 2013

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There is a new pop-up restaurant set to open this fall. But it is not where you would expect. If you are up for a little (or maybe a lot) of adventure, a trip out of the country and once in a lifetime hike, then make plans to join world-renowned chef Pierre Thiam, ET African Journeys and the non-profit organization Mama Hope as they set out to dine at the world’s highest-altitude pop-up restaurant 12,500 feet above sea level at base camp on Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.

Mama Hope Kilimanjaro Expedition is a fundraising hike to benefit Moshi, Tanzania’s St. Timothy School. Thiam is joining the project to specially prepare African regional dishes made from ingredients foraged during the hike. He was first approached about the project while in Zimbabwe and now is set to take a team there who will cook for around 20 climbers.

On the Way to Making History

Born in Senegal, Thiam has made a name for himself working around the world. As author, restaurateur and consultant, Thiam is about delivering a true ethnic culinary experience drawing from a variety of culinary influences. His cookbook, “Yolele!” was also the namesake of his first restaurant in New York. He has given lectures for the California Culinary Institute at Greystone and as well as hosted cooking classes and prepared dinner for visitors from Guatemala and Mexico in which he featured dishes that showcased the influence of African food in South America. He’s coming to Savanna Jazz in San Francisco February 7-10 to conduct master classes and host a pop-up restaurant.

Dates for the trip and restaurant will be confirmed soon but if you are interested, you may want to start saving your pennies and working out a little more now. The trip is scheduled to leave from Washington, D.C. for 12 days and includes airfare, lodging, Kilimanjaro climb and a gourmet meal. Following the hike, travelers will spend two days volunteering at St. Timothy’s School, a school built by Mama Hope to educate Tanzanian orphans. The expedition will help to fund a boarding house for the orphans. The trip is not only designed to support a worthy cause but to always offer another reason for Americans to come to Africa and to get involved.

The beauty of pop-up restaurants is the creativity to go a little more over the top and so far this project is showing that there truly are no limits.

The package price for the Mama Hope Kilimanjaro Expedition is $5400. For more information, please call 800-662-5406 or visit www.etafricanjourneys.com/mamahope.