Bryant Terry opens the introduction to his new cookbook, Afro-Vegan, by recounting a search-engine query for “African-American beans” — a search whose first page of results, he explains, yielded not one article about the types of beans that have historically occupied a place of honor in African-American cooking. There were no recipes for long-simmered green beans, no paeans to Creole red beans and rice, or to black-eyed peas. Instead, there were multiple links to articles about black beans — that staple of Latin-American cuisine — and one about the film Catfish in Black Bean Sauce.
Terry writes, “In many ways, that comically sad moment on the Internet symbolizes the invisibility and marginalization of food from the African diaspora that was a major impetus for writing this book.”
Bryant Terry. Credits: Paige Green
And so Afro-Vegan puts the traditional foods of the African diaspora — whether it be people who settled in Morocco, Jamaica, or Terry’s own native Tennessee — front and center. It’s a vegan cookbook that Terry hopes omnivores will also find inspiring. And, perhaps more than anything, it’s a book that Terry hopes will instill in folks of African descent some sense of pride and ownership.
Terry, the Oakland-based vegan chef and food justice advocate, has never been shy about mixing food and politics. His most well-known book, 2009’s Vegan Soul Kitchen, was an effort to reclaim African-American cooking traditions in the face of widespread vilification — all those articles about how soul food is killing black people. Vegan Soul Kitchen was a cookbook, but it was also a series of history lessons proving that African-American food hasn’t always been, and needn’t be, all mac ‘n’ cheese and meats cooked in rendered animal fats: Just a couple generations ago, many black Americans had an everyday diet that consisted mostly of nutrient-dense leafy greens, legumes, beans, and tubers.
“If we want to address this public health crisis among people of African descent, we needn’t look beyond our cultural foods,” Terry said in an interview.
Afro-Vegan takes that same argument and extends it to cover not just traditional African-American dishes but the entire spectrum of foods eaten and developed by people in the African diaspora, using a mix-and-match approach inspired by the collages of African-American artist Romare Bearden. For example, for one recipe Terry tops creamy Southern-style grits with slow-cooked collard greens, which he describes as a version of Ethiopian gomen wat.
Discussion about ethical eating and “slow” food inevitably raises the question of whether those lifestyle choices are only accessible to the wealthy. One of the things I appreciate about Afro-Vegan is how down-to-earth and economical many of the recipes are. There’s one recipe for making a stock using leftover corncobs; there are dozens of others — for hand-mixed spice blends, pickled vegetables, and simple cooked grains — that don’t require more than a vegetable or two in addition to items that most home cooks already have in their pantry. Terry said he tried to be mindful of the fact that not all of his readers would have access to a fancy natural-foods store.
“It’s a balancing act,” Terry said. “I don’t want to be patronizing to the reader either — assuming that certain people won’t have the ingredients to make these dishes. Even in communities that look barren from the outside, there are people growing their ancestral foods in their backyards.”
Indeed, Terry said he can’t help but feel hopeful when he looks at the changes that are already occurring in places like West Oakland, where a grocery store and an abundance of urban farms and community gardens have sprouted up in the past few years.
“I know that folks are figuring out how to make a way,” he said.
Terry will speak at the Oakland branch of Whole Foods (230 Bay Place) at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, April 22 — Earth Day — as part of this year’s Oakland Veg Week (April 21-26). In addition to his talk, Terry will do a brief cooking demo and sign copies of Afro-Vegan.
Tidbits
KronnerBurger owner Chris Kronner may have revealed the as-of-yet-unannounced location of his new permanent brick-and-mortar digs in Oakland during a recent pop-up event. The image on the cards Kronner passed out indicated that KronnerBurger will take over the long-shuttered J’s Mexican and American Food spot (4063 Piedmont Ave.). What the Fork reached out to Kronner for confirmation, but he’s staying mum for the time being. …
Downtown Oakland’s long-shuttered bar The Golden Bull (412 14th St.) reopened last week under new ownership. Meanwhile, the bar’s building-mate, Analog — a vinyl- and VHS-themed restaurant — has faced delays, and likely won’t open until the summer, chef-owner Sean Asmar said.
