African, Caribbean, and southern food are all known and loved as vibrant and flavor-packed cuisines. In Afro-Vegan, renowned chef and food justice activist Bryant Terry reworks and remixes the favorite staples, ingredients, and classic dishes of the African Diaspora to present wholly new, creative culinary combinations that will amaze vegans, vegetarians, and omnivores alike.
Blending these colorful cuisines results in delicious recipes like Smashed Potatoes, Peas, and Corn with Chile-Garlic Oil, a recipe inspired by the Kenyan dish irio, and Cinnamon-Soaked Wheat Berry Salad with dried apricots, carrots, and almonds, which is based on a Moroccan tagine. Creamy Coconut-Cashew Soup with Okra, Corn, and Tomatoes pays homage to a popular Brazilian dish while incorporating classic Southern ingredients, and Crispy Teff and Grit Cakes with Eggplant, Tomatoes, and Peanuts combines the Ethiopian grain teff with stone-ground corn grits from the Deep South and North African zalook dip. There’s perfect potluck fare, such as the simple, warming, and intensely flavored Collard Greens and Cabbage with Lots of Garlic, and the Caribbean-inspired Cocoa Spice Cake with Crystallized Ginger and Coconut-Chocolate Ganache, plus a refreshing Roselle-Rooibos Drink that will satisfy any sweet tooth.
With more than 100 modern and delicious dishes that draw on Terry’s personal memories as well as the history of food that has traveled from the African continent, Afro-Vegan takes you on an international food journey. Accompanying the recipes are Terry’s insights about building community around food, along with suggested music tracks from around the world and book recommendations. For anyone interested in improving their well-being, Afro-Vegan’s groundbreaking recipes offer innovative, plant-based global cuisine that is fresh, healthy, and forges a new direction in vegan cooking.
From Booklist
Chef-author Terry (Vegan Soul Kitchen, 2009; The Inspired Vegan, 2012) introduces the concept of food justice, a philosophy that he defines as good food being an everyday right, and not just a privilege. His book is also an introduction to the various ways (more than 100, in short) that African cuisine can go mainstream. Pointing out the high incidence of African Americans with diet-preventable diseases, such as hypertension and type 2 diabetes, Terry sets out to help correct that situation one meal at a time, jumping right into specific dishes and their preparation. The first section is about spices and sauces. For instance, familiar seasonings tango with pomegranate-peach barbecue sauce, while slow-braised mustard greens dance with an all-green spring slaw. Each recipe, interestingly, includes at least one soundtrack recommendation, which frequently is also accompanied by a film or book suggestion. His sidebars cover, among other topics, toasting whole spices and cooking black-eyed peas and millet. He’s careful not to overemphasize (and overproselytize) the vegan nature of his recipe collection; instead, he focuses on flavor, on coaxing out unique smells and tastes. --Barbara Jacobs
Review
“I’m a big fan of food. I’m also a fan of stories. What Bryant Terry has done with Afro-Vegan is tell a new and important story of food. He’s connected health with history and culture and made the combination delicious. As important, he’s encouraging all of us to learn the story of the food we make and consume and helping us generate our own stories as we share these healthy eats with the communities we love.”
—Baratunde Thurston, best-selling author of How to Be Black and CEO and cofounder of Cultivated Wit
“Bryant Terry crafts recipes and weaves narrative to shine truth on Southern food. This is cooking that empowers and encourages, and tells the story of the nourishment of a community. Afro-Vegan shows us how to be proud of our storied, vegetable-rich foodways.”
—Hugh Acheson, chef and author of A New Turn in the South
“Afro-Vegan animates the cuisine of the African diaspora with the detail, reverence, and passion it deserves. Bryant elevates our often-overlooked culinary traditions and infuses a personal, smart, and practical love. He goes beyond teaching us to cook. He inspires us to celebrate and explore.”
—Dayo Olopade, author of The Bright Continent: Breaking Rules and Making Change in Modern Africa
“If A People’s History Of The United States and Joy of Cooking had a baby, Afro-Vegan would be it!”
—Isa Chandra Moskowitz, author of Veganomicon and Isa Does It
“In this beautiful, casual collection of recipes from across the African diaspora, Bryant Terry brings to life a vegetable, grain, spice-based culinary heritage too often ignored. Afro-Vegan is a historically compelling, delicious blueprint for both a plant-based diet and a true, African-derived cuisine.”
—Tamar Adler, author of An Everlasting Meal