Mamba's 'Food Network's Chopped' Dinner: A Fundraiser for Freedom House with Baobab Fare
Hamissi Mamba’s first time cooking a scallop was actually (very recently) as a contestant on the Food Network’s Chopped. For anyone else, handling such a foreign ingredient in the pressure cooker of television production might have been too much, but Mamba himself was used to being a fish out of water. He learned to cook with his senses, using whatever was available in his native Burundi, a land-locked country in East Africa.
The TV judges were blown away, watching Mamba create culinary genius from a random collection of mystery ingredients placed in a trifecta of baskets. Turning ostrich, truffle, blueberry pie, and leeks into dishes that led him the big victory of not getting chopped!
But it wasn’t winning the $10,000 prize that was his goal. Rather, Mamba’s explosive motivation to talk about Detroit, his country, and the mission of Freedom House Detroit, where he and his wife Nadia, who fled political violence in Burundi, found asylum upon arriving to Detroit.
Since then, their East African restaurant Baobab Fare has earned mad-fab cult status, making them some of the busiest peeps in the industry. But when finding a date for Mamba and Nadia to return to Frame to share their next-up dream adventure with us, clearing the calendar was a breeze.
For one very special July night, we’ll be ready for you — with drinks in hand — as together we raise money for this power couple’s next up runaway success story of raising funds for a new kitchen for Freedom House Detroit and Burundi Kids, a nonprofit dedicated to the health and education for women and children in Burundi.
Prepare to drool over this wildly incredible evening, led by James Beard Award semifinalists Nadia and Mamba, our most gracious hosts, taking over the Frame kitchen, re-creating the ‘Food Network’s Chopped’ dinner via a wildly fun menu based on the same mystery baskets from the show.
The show’s winnings are kicking off the Freedom House fundraising efforts to build a new shelter kitchen. But they’ve only just begun. Learn about this one-of-a-kind humanitarian organization that provides housing and support to refugees and asylum seekers as we gather for supper, sipping and support, alongside the The Kresge Foundation.
It’s together, with you and your infectious enthusiasm that we can truly make a difference.
And it’s the nights just like these at Frame that make us fall in love over and over with our incredible community.