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Editor's Note: Bryant Terry is an eco chef, food justice activist, and author of Vegan Soul Kitchen (VSK): Fresh, Healthy, and Creative African-American Cuisine. For the past nine years he has used cooking as a tool to illuminate the intersections between poverty, structural racism, and food insecurity. Producer Malcolm Marshall spoke to Terry about the inspiration behind writing this book and how the Black community received to a vegan soul food cookbook. 

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MM: Bryant Terry, thank you so much for making time for us. It's great to see you. How have you been?

BT: It's been a busy year. My latest book, Vegan Soul Kitchen, came out in March of this year and I've done close to 80 events since March.

 

MM: Tell me about Vegan Soul Kitchen in a nutshell. What is it all about?

BT: Well, Vegan Soul Kitchen is a book I've wanted to write all my life, or at least all my professional life working around health food and farming issues. It's my attempt to reclaim the rich traditions of African American cuisine. I think so often people have it stuck in two places: Either this antebellum survival food, you know the scraps of the plantation owners table, and people also keep it stuck in the comforts foods--the deep fried fatty meats, the sugary desserts. Those are certainly parts of this culinary heritage, African American food ways, but it's not the extent of it.  What I want to encourage people to do is to just look back a couple generations and think about their grandparents and great grandparents down South and the many people who migrated to the West and up North. Think about these people who had backyard gardens and were growing their own food, who were eating lots of fresh, nutrient-dense leafy greens, and tubers, and good food that's their own food.

 

MM: Bringing it back, to go to the future, so to speak.

BT: I'd like to think so. I'm really trying to push it forward. I think most people are aware that African Americans are suffering from some of the highest rates of diet-related illnesses, like obesity, type two diabetes, and certain cancers. These are preventable diet-related illnesses, things that people can prevent with a wholesome, healthy diet, lots of physical activity, and just a positive attitude. So this is my attempt to help heal our people.

Despite vegan being in the title, I wrote this book for people, regardless of whether they consider themselves vegetarian, vegan or full-blown meat eaters, because it's just real food. That's what I'm working with here. I thought it was important to write a book that looked at this cuisine without the animal products because it's kind of diametrically opposed to the way people imagine African American cuisine. They think of African American food as being replete with deep fried fatty meats and pork and lard and all that. I wanted to show that you can still maintain the integrity of the cuisine and have it without any of that. It's gonna be just as delicious and banging!

 

MM: I like that word banging. Good is one thing but banging is a whole another thing. I have to ask you about the response you've received, especially with Black folks and the word vegan.

BT: That's an interesting question. Initially, I didn't want the word vegan in the title. I wanted to call the book Eco-Soul Kitchen because my focus was on using fresh, local, seasonal, sustainable ingredients. The type of food that  people of African decent have been eating throughout history. If you local, fresh, seasonal food, that's half the battle. You can't go wrong. It's gonna be delicious just because if you use the best ingredients, you'll have the best meals. But I also did want to do [this book] without the animal products. So my editor thought to help people wrap their minds around it, we should call it a vegan cookbook. I was afraid that it would alienate a lot of African Americans. I knew a lot of my cool Bohemian friends out in Brooklyn and in the Bay Area would be into it, but I was fearful that a lot of people who I wanted to make sure the book resonated with, people who live in the Deep South, my family in Arkansas,Tennessee and Mississippi and the Midwest, would be scared off by the word vegan. Surprisingly, the book resonated with all types of folks. Regular, everyday Black folks. 

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BT: I think it's because the word vegan is less scary than it was 10 years ago. Oprah Winfrey went on her six week vegan diet last year. A lot of people started to understand and recognize the benefits of this whole vegan thing. Just to give you an example, I was in D.C. with my fiancee and we were on the bus to the metro. The bus driver asked us about what we were in D.C for and I told him I was promoting my book. So he's driving and checking the book out and telling me about having diabetes. He had heard about how this whole vegan diet is something people are using to treat diabetes, and in some cases, to cure diabetes. He wrote me a check right there on the bus and he took the book with him. And that's just one example. I get at least half a dozen emails from people every week who writes things like, "look Bryant, I'm not a vegetarian or vegan, but I love your book. This is the type of food I grew up eating and this is the type of food my grandmother use to cook." And so I'm just helping people remember; A lot of people have forgotten what this type of food is and how good it can make you feel.

 

MM: You mention Washington D.C. which is my number one food city in the U.S.  There's so much good food on every corner. What's your favorite food city?

BT: I have to say the Bay Area because there's so much emphasis out here on fresh, local, seasonal good food.  I always go for that! Here, there's a farmers market where you can go and buy your food from local farmers 50 to 100 miles outside of the city almost every day of the week. And so that's what I do. Rarely do I shop at regular grocery stores for produce. I might get my staples there, but in terms of fresh fruits and vegetables, I go to the farmers market. I'm well aware, and more people are becoming aware of that when you get food locally, it's much more nutritious. As soon as you harvest vegetables and fruits, the food starts to lose its nutrient value. When you get the stuff in the grocery stores, often times it has been shipped across the country or across the globe. The food has been sitting in warehouses for days, if not weeks. The food gets to grocery store and sits in refrigerator for a long time. But when you get it from the farmer's market or small stores that get their food from local farmers, then you're getting stuff that probably been harvested that morning or a couple days before, so the food will be much more nutritious. Beyond that, the thing that resonates with most people is the flavor. The flavor is banging! 

 

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