As diners showed up for their $1,500 Noma reservations on Wednesday in Silver Lake, they were met by a protest from more than a dozen workers with the labor rights group One Fair Wage.
The demonstration was organized in response to Noma co-owner and chef René Redzepi’s history of physical violence, verbal abuse, and labor exploitation of workers, which was highlighted in an exposè published by The New York Times last Friday.
The Noma pop-up that opened yesterday had already drawn criticism from Angelenos, who scoffed at its prohibitive price tag in a city struggling with an outrageous cost of living.
Jason Ignacio White, Redzepi’s former director of fermentation, who has come out against Noma’s abusive workplace culture, read an open letter demanding accountability.