A who’s who of New Orleans chefs and bartenders plan to come together on June 22 to sell baked goods and cocktails to raise money for Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast Inc. and The New Orleans Abortion Fund.

More than 50 chefs and bartenders are slated to participate in the event called “Just Cause – A Boozy Bake Sale for Reproductive Rights,” which will run from 3 to 7 p.m. at Magazine Merchant House, 1150 Magazine St., organizers said in a press release.

At the all-ages event, attendees can buy $5 tickets for food and drink. One to two tickets will be needed to sample each of the variety of sweet and savory baked goods for sale. For the 21 and older crowd, bartenders will make cocktails, too.

The event is being organized by chef Mason Hereford and Lauren Agudo of Turkey and the Wolf and Molly’s Rise and Shine, chef Megan Forman of Gracious Bakery and event coordinator Mandi Bordelon. Others, like Ashlee Arceneaux Jones of Smallchalk who is providing artwork and graphics, are offering in-kind services.

The fundraiser was created in response to the strict abortion bans being enacted across the United States, including in Louisiana, which passed a law this year banning abortion when a fetal heartbeat is detected as early as six weeks into a pregnancy.

Louisiana lawmakers add new regulations for abortion clinics

The idea for the bake sale in New Orleans was inspired by similar fundraisers popping up around the country.

“When Lauren mentioned the idea for this event and how much money the bake-sale in New York raised, we immediately hopped on the phone to gauge interest from our chef friends,” Hereford said in a press release.

“The event outgrew its original scope in about five seconds. We joined forces with Megan Forman, who was already planning an event of her own,” he said. “The New Orleans restaurant community is a big old family, and the crew has united on an issue we feel very passionate about.”

Contacted by phone this morning, Megan Forman said the event gained momentum over about 24 hours, with chefs calling one another.

“For me, I just see an erosion of rights in general,” she said. “When people’s rights are endangered, it’s a cause for alarm.

Forman said she has had pushback with at least one customer saying he will never patronize her business again.

“It’s scary when you might alienate customers, but I feel so strongly about this,” she said.

Opinions on reproductive rights and abortion likely vary among even the dozens of chefs and bartenders participating, Forman said, but she said all of them felt called to action.

“Everybody has this top of mind right now,” she said. “It’s been such a gift to me to be able to do something instead of just feeling frustrated.”

Among the participating chefs and bartenders will be: Nina Compton of Compére Lapin and Bywater American Bistro; Kristen Essig of Coquette, Kelly Fields of Willa Jean Bakery; Liz Hollinger and Jessica Tiedman Stokes of Molly’s Rise and Shine and Turkey and the Wolf; Neal Bodenheimer and Kirk Estopinal of Cure and Cane and Table; and Bronwen Wyatt of Bacchanal.

For more details, visit the event’s Facebook page.

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