Southern Chefs Team Up With City Grit for Protest Dinner

Several heavy-hitting Southern chefs are teaming up with City Grit to host a dinner called the Big Gay Mississippi Welcome Table on June 13, in protest of Mississippi's new law, the Mississippi Religious Freedom Restoration Act. That law allows business owners to turn away customers who might, as the Times puts it, "put a substantial burden on their religious beliefs," which many argue will open the doors to discrimination against gays and lesbians, as well as others.

Chefs John Currence of City Grocery, Art Smith of Table Fifty-Two, and Kelly English of Restaurant Iris will collaborate on the meal, which takes place the night before 35th Annual Mississippi Picnic in Central Park. The menu will be "traditional – yet progressive, modern and open-minded – southern fare," and the dinner will also feature chef/author Bill Smith, Southern food expert Virginia Willis, pastry chef Dwayne Ingraham, and Doug Quint and Bryan Petroff of Big Gay Ice Cream. The location is still TBD, but tickets to the meal are $95 per person and will go on sale later this week.
· Chefs to Throw Big Gay Mississippi Welcome Table in NYC [~EN~]
· Mississippi Chefs to Protest State Law on Eve of Annual Picnic [NYT]
· All Coverage of City Grit [~ENY~]
[Photo: Facebook/City Grit]