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Portland, Oregon, the strip club capital of America, lacks healthy late-night foods – so a local chef created ‘Meals 4 Six Inch Heels‘ to fill this void.
Around 10 most nights, chef Nikeisah Newton packs up a few bowls of brown rice and massaged kale and drives her 2004 Nissan Altima into downtown Portland to deliver the healthy food options to sex workers working late nights.
On Friday nights, Newton delivers meals to the Stag, the Old Town gay bar known for its dancers.
“Men grab bowls dressed in marinated artichokes or Costa Rican salsa lizano for a quick meal after a night of dancing when most of the dining options involve a deep-fryer or too long a walk to justify,” reports Eater.
Her company strives to support a community that she feels has been shunned and taken advantage of for too long.
“One of the best forms of activism is feeding people,” Newton told the New York Times.
Customers reach out to Newton via Instagram message and Twitter direct messages, ordering bowls with lemon-pepper couscous with Italian pickled vegetables or oven-roasted acorn and butternut squash with savory sauteed cremini mushrooms.
Newton cooks all of the food in a commercial kitchen near her house. Meals, which cost fifteen dollars and include free delivery, are vegetarian and can be made vegan, and/or gluten-free upon request.
“It’s pretty much a simple equation,” says Newton. “Portland is known for its food scene and also known for its strip club scene.”
Newton, who worked in the kitchen at Taqueria Nueve, came up with the meal delivery service when she was dating a dancer years ago.
She remembers finding fast-food containers in the back of her girlfriend’s car — out of character for the health-conscious dancer and rugby player.
“Her job requires her to be in shape and not eat food like that,” Newton said about her girlfriend. “She was a healthy person in general, so I was just like, ‘What are you doing?’”
According to Newton, many dancers don’t drive, and some feel uncomfortable going to a restaurant after work. “In her words, she didn’t want to go eat at Tik Tok or Hotcake House if she smelled like balls,” Newton says. “But everyone should have access to healthy food… It blows me away that this is Strip City and dancers aren’t getting fed.”
“I hope it puts a positive spin on sex work and empowered women,” she says. “And that I can be a positive black, gay role model.”
Newton says she has heard from sex workers across the United States, from Minneapolis to Seattle to Las Vegas, who are interested in bringing it to their cities.
She is now looking to turn any new Meals 4 Heels branches she opens into co-ops that are owned and run by the sex workers, themselves. “When you’re more invested, you’re part of something, you care about it more,” she says.
“The goal would be to have 10% of revenue go back into marginalized groups and communities I care about or am part of,” she says.
“No matter if it’s running a business, if this is what you believe in, what you enjoy, take that step. That’s seriously the hardest part, but do it, do it, do it. It was the best decision I’ve made in my life.”
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