Brooklyn Gentrification Caused By…A Condiment?

For the past two years, we’ve seen Brooklyn become more and more gentrified. It doesn’t matter which neighborhood you frequent, gentrification is present, or at least on it’s way there. Gentrification, according to Merriam Webster, can be defined as the process of renewal and rebuilding accompanying the influx of middle-class or affluent people into deteriorating areas that often displaces poorer residents. So, what the hell does this have to do with mayonnaise? Well the number one condiment in America was able to make room for discussion and raise a few brows in the process.

Earlier this year on Saturday Night Live, (the holy grail of sketch comedy), Kevin Hart, Jay Pharoah, and Keenan Thompson guest starred in a skit entitled, Corner Boys of Brooklyn, in which their characters play three neighborhood guys having casual conversation on their block somewhere in Bushwick where they are catching up with one another while discussing gentrification. They spoke about everything from spin class, to dog walking, to brunching, to BYOB paint sessions.

Although laughable, there were many real moments. One in particular, the discussion of Martha’s Mayonnaise, a store that sold the keepsake condiment in a garlic truffle flavor for a whopping $8.  The inspiration for Martha’s Mayonnaise was modeled off of an actual business, Empire’s Mayonnaise, a store located on 564 Vanderbilt Ave. dedicated to producing mayonnaise only using non-GMO oils, happy cage-free and pasture-raised eggs, and local/seasonal flavors such as sriracha, white truffle, and rosemary.
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Growing up in Brooklyn my entire life, there are certain things that you’d think you would never see. For example, take this mayonnaise store. LOL. Empire’s Mayonnaise is a sure sign of gentrification, and after watching the SNL sketch, it stirred up some conversation. Good Magazine  spoke with Elizabeth Valleau of Empire Mayonnaise to get her take on gentrification, and she said:

“I think from growing up around here, gentrification used to mean something a bit different … The pre-recession gentrification was more about new families and small businesses that actually cared about growing a future with the neighborhoods they moved into.” She also says that, “There are some aspects to what you could call gentrification that end up being for the greater good. But what’s wrong, and what really bothers me, is when folks who have lived their lives in a neighborhood can’t live there anymore, and when folks who are trying to run independent businesses in a neighborhood and be part of the community get pushed out.”

It’s kind of sad when things like this occur, everyone is affected — tenants as well as business owners, whether it be for better or for worse.