Igor Mezencev is a renowned chef, culinary expert, and trendsetter of gastronomic events. He is a speaker from Ukraine at the Madrid Fusion international gastro-congress, the Creative Chefs Summit, and an ambassador of the Ukrainian Gastro Show.
For the past few years, he has been promoting Ukrainian national cuisine on the global gastronomic scene. Having worked as a chef for many years in various restaurants, he felt the need to return to his roots, find a special approach to cooking, study local ingredients, and understand the history of Ukrainian cooking. In 2019, Igor, together with Dmytro Bahta and Anna Smoliakova, created the unique TOPOT project, and in 2021, together with Ievgen Klopotenko, he conducted a gastronomic tour for European journalists. In 2022, at the beginning of the full-scale war, he created the Varti project to support Ukrainian chefs during the war, and is also a co-founder of the Forest Dinner project. Now, he is the current chef at Fairmont Grand Hotel Kyiv.