Bryant Terry is an eco chef, food justice activist, co-author of the book Grub: Ideas for an Urban Organic Kitchen and author of the forthcoming Vegan Soul Kitchen (VSK): Fresh, Healthy, and Creative African-American Cuisine (Da Capo/Perseus March 2009). Terry has been working toward building a more just and sustainable food system for the past 8 years, using cooking as a tool to illuminate the intersections between poverty, structural racism, and food insecurity.
Terry founded b-healthy! (Build Healthy Eating and Lifestyles to Help Youth) in 2002, a program created to raise awareness about food justice issues that inspires and empowers youth to get involved in creating a more just and sustainable food system. Terry’s motivation was simple: he felt like people living in poor communities, where high quality, fresh food isn’t always readily available, get the short end of the stick. Since then he has become one of the most important voices speaking out for the rights of poor communities to have access to healthy, sustainable food.
He’s also a fellow at the Food and Society Policy Fellows Program, which “provides fellowships to professionals in food and agriculture from across North America, enabling them to use mass media channels to inform and shape the public agenda, in alignment with the goals of creating sustainable food systems that promote good health, vibrant communities, environmental stewardship, worker justice, and accessibility by all.”
Terry has been honored with many awards for his work, including the inaugural Natural Gourmet Institute Award for Excellence in Health-Supportive Food Education. He was honored as one of 7×7’s ‘Hot 20 under 40’, and has frequently contributed essays and recipes to online and print outlets like Food and Wine, The New York Times Magazine, Vibe, Domino and Gourmet. He’s also made many national television and radio appearances including serving as host on The Endless Feast, a 13-episode public television series that explored the connection between the earth and the food on our plates.
The blog Eat.Drink.Better asked Terry what he thought could be done to change the perception of local food as “elitist”, and make healthy and sustainable local food available to everyone:
I don’t necessarily think that the local foods movement is elitist, I simply think that communities are self-interested. In order to ensure that historically-excluded communities have access to grub members of those communities need to ask/cajole/pressure/demand that existing institutions in the communities (i.e., places of worship, community-based organizations, and the like) take the lead in creating locally-driven and community owned food systems.
In addition to people, many of these institutions have financial capital, land, and other resources. By creating community gardens, rooftop gardens, urban farms, Community Supported Agriculture (CSAs), value added businesses, food buying clubs, food coops, local restaurants, and independently owned grocery stores, these institutions would not only address food injustice but also spur economic development, community beautification, youth empowerment, and a host of actions that would strengthen marginalized communities.
We all can ask/cajole/pressure/demand our elected officials to reform our Farm Bill so that it restores fairness to America’s food and farm policy; improves access to healthy, affordable foods in low-income and underserved communities; and expands market opportunities for small and mid-sized farms.
If you’re ever looking for some delicious, healthy recipes, be sure to check out Terry’s blog posts at Eco-Soul Food on TheRoot.com, which features mouthwatering photos of his culinary creations like Cajun-Creole-Spiced Frittata.
Bryant Terry’s Green Score: 28,582
