A. Breeze Harper - Sistah Vegan: Food, Identity, Health, and Society: Black Female Vegans Speak

2010

Lantern Books

128 Second Place

Brooklyn, NY 11231

www.lanternbooks.com

Copyright 2010 by A. Breeze Harper.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written permission of Lantern Books.

Cover artwork: Yum! by Janine Jackson, 2006. Jackson says about the piece: Delicious. Nourishing. Life. Various recipes swirl about her reminding her of the multiple delights she experiences while consuming natural foods. Yum!

Notice: This book is intended as a reference volume only, not as a medical manual. The information given here is designed to help you make informed decisions about your health. It's not intended as a substitute for any treatment that may have been prescribed or recommendations given by your health care provider. If you suspect that you have a medical problem, we urge you to seek competent medical help.

Printed in Canada

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA

Sistah vegan : food, identity, health, and society : black female vegans speak / A. Breeze Harper.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN-13: 978-1-59056-145-4 (alk. paper)

ISBN-10: 1-59056-145-7 (alk. paper)

1. VegetarianismUnited States. 2. VeganismUnited States. 3. African American women. I. Harper, A. Breeze.

TX392.S56 2009

641.5'636dc22

2009015277

Dr. Psyche Williams-Forson

A. Breeze Harper

Michelle R. Loyd-Paige

Layli Phillips

A. Breeze Harper

Delicia Dunham

Melissa Danielle

Joi Marie Probus

Venus Taylor

Ain Drew

Robin Lee

Ma'at Sincere Earth

Melissa Santosa

Tara Sophia Bahna-James

Mary Spears

Tasha Edwards

Olu Butterfly Woods

Thea Moore

Tishana Joy Trainor

Nia Yaa

Angelique Shofar

Ajowa Nzinga Ifateyo

Adama Maweja

Iya Raet

Tashee Meadows

Tara Sophia Bahna-James

Compiled by A. Breeze Harper

pattrice jones

T here are so many people to thank and acknowledge who supported me through this project and through life in general!

Thanks Dad for first introducing me to the world of herbalism and holistic health while I was growing up. Thanks Mom and Talmadge for always encouraging me to write and to approach whatever I am passionate about with confidence.

Much love, gratitude, and appreciation to Oliver, for being a wonderful soul mate and introducing me to compassionate consumption and mindful living.

Dick Gregory and Queen Afua: Although I have never met you in real life, your philosophies took my activismin terms of empowering Black peopleto a holistic level. I hope to one day meet you lovely spirits.

Thich Nhat Hanh: Your translation of the fourteen precepts in your book Inter-Being is a blessing. I meditate on it every week to remember that my health and food activism should continue to be grounded in compassion, love, and nonviolence.

Bryant, your brilliance as a food-justice chef and author continue to inspire me. Thank you for being a positive force for people of color and food-justice activism.

Emily, our food, health, and feminist brainstorming chit chats have helped encourage me to develop this anthology in creative and thought-provoking ways. Thanks!

Raquel, my twin sis! So glad you came into my life and I appreciate your wisdom at such a young age.

Jason, your dedication to your activism with your Oakland Food Connection constantly inspires me and keeps me on the path of doing the work that I do. Thank you for being part of my life!

Tulaine, thank you for teaching me about leadership as well as compassion, when addressing the emotional subject of health and food with my peers.

Noah, I am glad my initial email to you did not scare you away! I am forever grateful for your support and courage to fight against the status quo and inequality for nonhuman animals and us human animals. Thanks for being an ally, despite the challenges you faced in your animal-rights work.

Kevin, thank you for getting it and constantly sending me news about local and global injustices about food, environment, and health, around the world.

Frances Ufkes, thank you for introducing me to the wonderful world of Food and Geography, freshman year at Dartmouth College. Since then, I have never looked at food quite the same way.

Zoe E. Masongsong, thank you so much for volunteering to help Sistah Vegans edit their anthology pieces. This was a truly a selfless act and I know some sistahs may not have had the confidence to submit their creative-genius pieces had you not been there to let them know they could do it.

Derrick, you always said I could do it. Thank you for your support and believing in my potential to publish this project.

Pandora, my beautiful sistah: our intense dialogues about healing, love, food, institutionalized racism, and life in general have helped me to never forget that we are what we've been waiting for. Thank you for such a tremendous gift.

Sister Jayne, I love you big sister! Thank you for your love and support. Your enthusiasm for my health and food activism has helped me stay on my spiritual path to help humanity understand that we have the power of the divine within ourselves to be our own healers.

To the staff at Lantern Books, thank you for believing in the importance of this book, and for giving it such care and attention through the process.

Lastly, thank you Holly and Uriel, my best buds since freshman year in college. Your trust in me to help heal your ailments through the years made me realize that I can be a leader and teacher of holistic healing through literary activism, and share my wisdom with all who are willing to embrace it.

A. Breeze Harper

I n 2006, Dr. Ian Smith partnered with State Farm Insurance to issue a clarion call in promoting healthier lives and more nutritious diets, primarily among African-Americans. As the latest data illustrate, obesity is the number one health crisis facing all Americanschildren and adults alike. The statistics on African-Americans are almost at an extreme, with the majority of adult women and men being categorically defined as overweight. As more and more young people of color contract Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, and even heart disease, the combination of poor diet, lack of exercise, and inadequate medical guidance and care is all the more lethal.

At least one solution is being provided by Smith's 50 Million Pound Challenge. Other solutions, however, can be found in taking control over one's life by engaging in a more conscious effort to consume foods that are deemed wholefresh (organic even) fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and so on. To be sure, making healthier lifestyle decisions is key to living longer and stronger.

But how is this option possible when one has little or no control over one's environment? How is making healthy lifestyle choices directly tied to issues of racismenvironmental and medicaland even genocide? These and other questions are at the heart of the Sistah Vegan anthology.

This book brings to the fore an awareness that adopting a lifestyle of vegetarianism and veganism is not limited to one racial or age group. Rather, there are many people of color who adhere to this way of thinking, consuming, and engaging the earth and its bounty. In the instance of this powerful anthology, voices come from far and wide to represent women of color who speak not only to food and choice, but also to food and its intersections with numerous forms of injustice that are insidiously destructive to their lives.