According to a 2016 Prosperity Now report, the median income for African American households in New Orleans is $25,806, while the median of the city's white households is $64,377. One chef recently came up with a uniquely interesting way to raise awareness of this fact, and to start a conversation around that very racial wealth disparity, The Independent reports.
New Orleans chef Tunde Wey is known for his authentic Nigerian cuisine, and recently decided to combine that deliciousness with some wisdom.
At his pop-up restaurant called Saartj, Wey drops the New Orleans disparity statistics for his customers. Here's the kicker. He tells his black customers that lunch will cost $12; he offers them $18 as well. His white customers have two choices: either pay the $12 for lunch, or pay $30, which reflects the New Orleans wealth gap. Wey redistributes the profits from the $30 payments to people of color.
While some white people have walked out after being told of Wey's social experiment, the chef says that about 78 percent of his white customers chose the $30 option.
“Refusing to pay more comes off as anti-social and people don’t want to be judged for that,” Wey told Civil Eats. “People look on the other side of the till and see me standing there and they’re thinking that I’m judging them."
Some customers of color refused to take the $18 credit and others even offered to pay the $30, encouraging Wey to give it to someone who "needs it." With the help of a Tulane University student, Wey even crafted a series of survey questions in order to scientifically measure responses.
Saartj, which is located in the Roux Carre market, is named after Saartjie Baartman aka Venus Hottentot. If you're in New Orleans, and considering a visit, you better hurry: Wey's pop-up social experiment ends on March 4.
