Vegetarian Star

Vegan chef Bryant Terry is out to entice those looking to make diet changes that are better for human, planet and animal health with his newly released cookbook, The Inspired Vegan.

Terry is best known for his genius of transforming traditional southern African-American cuisine rich with meat, butter and cream into dishes that lack the animal products but not the taste.

The Inspired Vegan continues that tradition, but also explores plant-based Asian entrees, such as the “Two-Rice Congee with Steamed Spinach and Other Accompaniments.”

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“So often, I think that the stories that are told are from young, privileged white kids. Part of my goal is to shed light on other communities that haven’t had much of a voice. To just say that fixing food is going to help resolve issues in these communities — it’s not looking at the bigger picture. If we do have access to healthful foods, that would address a lot of other issues.”

–Bryant Terry, during an interview promoting his latest cookbook, The Inspired Vegan. With evocative chapter titles such as “Freedom Fare,” “Detroit Harvest,” and “Winter in Hong Kong,” The Inspired Vegan is a collection of Terry’s cooking instructions for his favorite fruits, vegetables and grains combined with stories that highlight issues of food justice.

Below is a clip of Terry reading a passage from The Inspired Vegan, “Farm Fresh,” a chapter dedicated to those working hard to keep our food supply stable, despite financial, weather or political setbacks. “Farm Fresh” contains mouthwatering recipes such as Coconut Quinoa and Smokey Tomatoes, Roasted Plaintains and Crumbled Tempeh, so the video is definitely worth taking a listen to–before heading out tonight to purchase the book.

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The Martin Luther King Jr. holiday is usually a reflection on racial equality and the gains this activist (who’s family embraced a veg diet) made in schools and other aspects of public access.

Equality is not just restricted to being able to eat at a restaurant, but also the ability to access quality, affordable food at supermarkets. Some might argue that we haven’t reached equal opportunity in this area.

Bryant Terry, vegan chef, author and food justice activist, gave his thoughts about how access to wholesome food may be connected to institutional racism at culinate.com:

Bryant Terry

“The first thing that comes up for me when I hear that question is the fact that just one percent of farmers in the United States are African-American, and that since the 19th century African-Americans have been systematically denied access to land.”

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Chocolate Pecan Pie

This is for Veg Star’s fantastic graduate students out there, in the middle of another grueling semester.

When a writer at Riverfront Times wanted to conduct a, ahem, “scientific” experiment on vegan goods, she tested the hypothesis that “Vegan baked goods are always readily identifiable as being vegan.”

In other words, this skeptic wanted to prove that vegan desserts are cardboard, pasty, granola pyramids of disaster. Sure hope she didn’t bet her thesis on it.

Materials for vegan chef and author Bryant Terry‘s vegan dessert included a coconut pie crust made from coconut oil in place of butter, a chocolate pecan pudding filling with non-dairy rice milk, maple syrup and arrowroot powder, a fantastic thickener for pies, puddings, gravies and other dishes that doesn’t add fat.

Results: “I don’t understand how that is vegan.” (In non-scientific terms: How the heck does it taste so good?)

Conclusion, experimenter notes and recipe below.

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Bryant Terry and Jidan Koon kept their wedding details eco-friendly, from holding the ceremony at their home using materials already owned, to using an ethical engagement ring from Brilliant Earth jewelry company.

The custom made sapphire is Jidan’s birthstone.

Brilliant Earth is an ethical jewelry company based in San Francisco that doesn’t source diamonds from regions where forces that are opposed to recognized governments control the areas and funds are used to support military action in opposition to recognized governments.

You may recall recent news stories about Naomi Campbell testifying about a diamond she received from Charles Taylor, a man accused of taking illegally mined diamonds from Sierra Leone insurgents in return for weapons that were used in a campaign of terror which killed 120,000 people and enslaved children.

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Bryant Terry Jidan Koon. Credit: Bridan-Kerry.com

Eco, vegan chef and author Bryant Terry is now officially unavailable in the line of single, vegan men who can cook to save the Earth and satisfy an appetite. Terry married Jidan Koon this weekend at the couple’s home in Oakland, California.

The couple loves to cook, combining foods from both African and Asian cultures, and for their engagement party, Terry and Koon created Afro-Asian Jung, a soul-food twist to a traditional Asian tamale-like food “jung,” that wraps a plant-based filling inside bamboo leaves.

“While glutinous or sweet rice is traditionally used to give jung its trademark stickiness, we used three kinds of rice to add color, texture and depth of flavor,” writes the couple at Hyphen Magazine. “For additional filling, we used peanuts (a staple of African and African American cooking as well as a symbol of long life for Chinese), black-eyed peas (a symbol of good luck for African Americans), and shiitake mushrooms (a symbol of longevity in Japan and China).

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Bryant Terry

Food justice champion and eco-chef Bryant Terry doesn’t use any animal products in his recipes, but the author of Vegan Soul Kitchen would prefer to keep the “V” word out of conversation.

He told Oregon Live why:

“One of the things people associate with vegan cuisine are all those processed “meat” products, like textured vegetable proteins, which I avoid entirely. I just like cooking with real food. I want people to really understand that when they’re eating plant-based, real foods it’s flavorful, delicious and healthy. That’s why I originally didn’t want my book labeled “vegan.” It’s a good way to encapsulate what I’m doing, but it’s also limiting because it’s bigger than veganism. It’s about this rich history and tradition of African Americans, and people in the South eating good, local, seasonal food. I think people need to understand that since the perceptions of African American and Southern cooking are so negative.”

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Vegan Soul Kitchen by Bryant Terry

Vegan chef Bryant Terry appeared on The Martha Stewart Show today and demonstrated his recipe for Spinach with Ginger and Chile.

The episode was meant to promote Terry’s mentor and local food proponent, Alice Waters‘ new book, In The Green Kitchen.

Part of the fun with trying new recipes is discovering an herb or spice you’ve never worked with fresh before.

Remember when you ditched the spice rack and headed for the produce section to check out those weird, finger looking plants called “ginger?”

Grab Bryant’s recipe featuring fresh chile, ginger and spinach at Martha Stewart.

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