Reclaiming a Cuisine

ECO-CHEF AND FOOD JUSTICE activist Bryant Terry ate
sustainable, local, and organic long before those words became the
battle cry of an agricultural and culinary movement. You could say it’s
in his blood.

At 35, Terry has fond memories of growing up in Memphis, Tennessee,
with grandparents from rural Mississippi who “practically converted
their backyard garden into an urban farm—every bit of space being
used to grow food,” he remembers.

Terry helped plant those gardens, and once they were harvested he
helped his grandmother prepare meals. “It gave me a good sense of the
interconnectedness of all living beings in a very pragmatic and tactile
way,” he says. “That was something dear to me.”

As a social activist in New York, he wanted to share that experience
with young people from low-income urban communities and fellow
activists, in order to both nurture their understanding of
sustainability, health, and good food, and to dismantle food
insecurity. It was an idea inspired, in large part, by his research
into the Black Panther Party, as a graduate student at New York
University.

“I was intrigued with the work they were doing around the
intersection of poverty, malnutrition, and institutional
racism—addressing it with grocery giveaways and their Free
Breakfast for School Children Program.” Terry says. “They understood
that education was the key to finding liberation. A lot of poor black
kids in Oakland were going to school hungry, and how could they
possibly assimilate what they were learning if they weren’t being
fed?”

This connection between good food and social justice prompted him to
create an initiative called b-healthy! (Build Healthy Eating and
Lifestyles to Help Youth), which aims to help youth “be active in
creating a more just and sustainable food system.”

But there was something missing. Terry found that youth could have
access to all the good food they could handle, but it didn’t mean much
if they didn’t know what to do with it. He enrolled in cooking
school.

Since then, cooking has become his main tool to help combat urban
“food deserts” where the number of liquor stores far outstrips the
number of grocery stores.

“Food is such an emotional, primal need,” he says. “It just brings
up so much. The way I’ve helped people shift their understanding of
food has been making them a delicious meal.”

Terry has taken this method of persuasion and turned it into a new
cookbook, Vegan Soul Kitchen. You read that right: vegan soul
food.

“Veganism is a loaded term for some people,” Terry admits, “but it
starts the conversation.”

It also offers diversity in a cookbook market saturated with
cookbooks about African American cuisine that are laden with fat and
animal products. Terry suggests such books miss the point of food with
origins in places like the gardens of his youth.

“African American cuisine is vilified by the media and public health
officials,” he says. “People need to be reeducated. African Americans
need to reclaim the diversity and complexity of their cuisine.”

So far, so good. At a recent event in Louisville, Kentucky, he
prepared his citrus collards with raisins for a largely black audience.
He claims skepticism turned quickly to pleasure.

Portlanders can experience Bryant Terry’s revolutionary soul food
at a cooking demonstration he’ll be giving at Interstate Firehouse
Cultural Center (5340 N Interstate) on Wednesday, March 18, at 7 pm.
The event is sponsored by Slow Food Portland and costs $8.

Hot Pepper Sauce

From Vegan Soul Kitchen by Bryant Terry

excerpted by arrangement with Da Capo Lifelong. Copyright 2009.

Yield: 1 cup

Soundtrack: “Hot Lava” by Kudu, from the album Death of the
Party

This is my attempt to replicate the oh-so-slammin’ hot sauce at the
Senegalese restaurant Joloff, my favorite eatery in New York City. This
version is only slightly hot, but if you really want that fire, add one
more habanero chile.

1⁄4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1 small red onion, diced

1⁄2 teaspoon cumin

1⁄8 teaspoon cayenne

coarse sea salt

1 large clove garlic, minced

1 habanero chile, minced

1⁄4 cup tomato paste

1⁄4 cup tomato sauce

2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar

1⁄4 cup water

1⁄4 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper

In a saucepan over low heat, warm the oil. Add the onion, cumin,
cayenne, and 1⁄2 teaspoon salt and sauté until the onions
start to caramelize, about 8 minutes.

Stir in the garlic and chile and sauté for 2 minutes
more. Add the tomato paste, tomato sauce, vinegar, and water. Mix well,
and simmer until it starts to thicken, about 5 to 7 minutes.

Transfer all the ingredients to an upright blender, add the white
pepper, and puree until smooth. Season with additional salt to taste.
Store in a tightly sealed jar in the refrigerator.