Tunde Wey

Tunde Wey is a New Orleans-based Nigerian chef pushing the limits of what a pop-up restaurant can do. His work focuses on racial inequity and asks diners to engage with inequality in the United States. In 2016, Wey started the Blackness in America Dinner Series, which offered a chance for people to come together in 14 cities across the country to discuss how blackness intersects with their work and lives. His next project, 1882, was a dinner series that explored anti-immigrant attitudes in the United States, starting with the Chinese Exclusion Act. And last year’s 4:44 considered racial wealth disparities and their impact on food systems. His latest project popped up this past February in New Orleans, via a limited edition lunch counter at the Roux Carre center called Saartj, after Saartjie Baartman, a South African woman who was brought to Europe in the 19th century and paraded as an attraction due to the shape of her body. All the profits will be redistributed to his black customers who want it “regardless of their income or circumstance.” http://www.fromlagos.com/