The information we get from doctors around food and health can often be scary or off-putting. Robert Karimi, performing as Mero Cocinero, wants to bring together stories, culture and other recipes for good health. Are we to take what doctors tell us as gospel, or is it just another level of chisme? Karimi’s new performance project, Viva la Soul Power! is a pop up performance kitchen with delicious happenings all throughout Chicago to get people to reconnect to their cultures to promote well-being and counter Type 2 Diabetes and obesity. It has online and live events in Chicago throughout the month of October.

Mero Cocinero Karimi is an Iranian-Guatemalan cook to revolutionaries & dreamers, and host of The Cooking Show con Karimi & Comrades, a live cooking performance for your heart, mind, stomach & funny bone. His role as an advocate for healthy communities through laughter & cooking has brought him to Alaska, Mexico, and everywhere in between. A frequent speaker on television shows & at universities, the Associated Press called his show ‘a globally flavored recipe that packs some punch lines.’