Chef, activist, and author Bryant Terry has been on a mission to transform what he refers to as our “messed up food system”. His cookbooks inspire with delicious plant based recipes rooted in Black culinary traditions. Through dynamic public events as Chef in Residence at the San Francisco Museum of the African Diaspora (MOAD), Bryant supports learning and community building to start to address some of the root causes of food issues, such as poverty and corporate greed. 

Bryant’s fifth book, Vegetable Kingdom, is stunning, and expands on his work to highlight foods of the Black diaspora. This cookbook also includes some of the Asian foodways of his wife and children’s heritage. This book was written for his two daughters, “to make a diversity of foods of the plant kingdom irresistible to them, to inspire their curiosity, and to show them the pleasure of a lifelong adventure with good nourishing food.” Vegetable Kingdom is organized by the part of the plant being cooked, a system borrowed from his daughter Mila’s school garden class. The recipes are a window into Bryant’s culinary creativity and deep love of ancestral cooking traditions. They are also infused with the a rainbow of seasonal produce from northern California, which is so diverse and lush, you might find yourself simultaneously crushing on it, and feeling waves of jealousy if you happen to live in a less abundant region.

Shaved asparagus bursts off the page piled high with lemon zest, ash roasted sweet potatoes splitting open from the heat of the coals, jerk tofu wrapped in collard greens is elegant and intriguing, not to mention spinach and kale grit cakes, fresh slaws, ferments, grains, sauces and garnishes drawing on the immensity of the African and Asian food diasporas. The recipes elevate basic ingredients, and range from simple to more complex, which helps make them accessible to a wide range of home cooks and types of meals. Another element of creativity and connection to his readers, is the soundtrack that accompanies each recipe in Bryant Terry’s cookbooks. This time around, you can find the whole Vegetable Kingdom playlist on Spotify, and listen while you cook.

Bryant’s work as a chef however extends far beyond the kitchen. He uses food as a medium to connect with people and inspire the change he wants to see in the world. He speaks widely about the fact that life giving food is a basic human right. While many in the food world point to people’s individual food choices as the primary way to impact health issues and climate change, Bryant knows the solutions are bigger. He points to the reality that many Black and Brown people, as well as people living in poverty, are dying due to diet related diseases and pollution caused by racist policies and an industrialized food system that prioritizes profits over people, animals, or the environment. He looks to the wisdom of his elders and ancestors in developing his recipes AND for inspiration in collective actions to change society. The feeding programs of the Black Panther Party for Self Defense, were direct actions that met the basic needs of people in the Black community intentionally neglected by the US government, and has guided Bryant’s work in community, including founding b-healthy a youth program in NYC in 2002, through his work as Chef in Residence at MOAD today.

Below: A sample of Bryant’s Chef in Residence Events
@ Museum of the African Diaspora San Francisco

Host of The Table Underground, Tagan Engel caught up with Bryant on the first leg of his book tour and co-hosted some events in New Haven, CT. Bryant sat in conversation with his friend and Yale College Dean Ferentz Lafargue (below) at the Afro American Cultural Center at Yale.

Bryant also welcomed students and community members to share their stories of food in the African Diaspora, and concluded with a talk, cooking demo, and book party. Photos below including storytellers: Jamillah Rasheed, Shefau Dabre, Sarah Menard, Kenia Hale, Logan Klutse, and Shayla Streeter.

Events were sponsored by The Yale Sustainable Food Program, and hosted in collaboration with the Afro-American Cultural Center, the Yale Center for the Study of Race, Indigeneity, and Transnational Migration, Saybrook College, People Get Ready! Books, the Table Underground, and LoveFed New Haven. Big thanks go out to Erwin Li for all his organizing work, and looking fly and happy in the process!

Check out the full interview with Bryant Terry at the top of this post, or by PODCAST to hear more about this brilliant human and all the good he is inspiring in food and the world.

Many thanks to Dj Cavem for the use of his eco hip hop music for this episode of The Table Underground! Check out his music and videos HERE.

Ep. 65 — The Table Underground — Mar 13, 2020