By Jessica Scott-Reid
Jessica is a Canadian writer, animal advocate and plant-based food expert. Her work appears regularly in media across Canada and the US.
Despite being highly sustainable, one of the arguments against plant-based eating is the inaccessibility of plant proteins, fresh produce and vegan alternatives, for certain communities. And the argument is compelling. The issue of food deserts — areas with limited access to grocery stores — impacts predominantly Black neighbourhoods in the US about twice as much as it impacts predominantly white neighbourhoods.
Research shows that ads for unhealthy fast foods are specifically targeted at communities of colour, and fast food restaurants are more concentrated in predominantly Black areas. And yet, reports are showing that in the US, plant-based eating is growing faster among Black people than the general public. There actually appears to be a food revolution taking place, as various Black vegan chefs, nutrition experts, food justice activists and documentary filmmakers are publicly linking racial oppression with the inaccessibility of healthy food. And many are taking action to change that.
Nil Zacharias, host of the “Eat for the Planet” podcast and co-author of the “Eat for the Planet” books, is also a co-founder of a new initiative called Plantega. Yes, it’s a take on the word bodega but Plantegas — which are located within more than a dozen independent corner stores across New York City — provide healthier, more eco-friendly plant-based versions of typical on-the-go foods. “We make it a no-brainer to try tasty classic bodega favorites like the Chopped Cheese, Sausage Egg and Cheese, and Deli Slice Sandwiches (but 100% plant-based), without having to leave your neighborhood,” says the Plantega website. “They also happen to be better for you and for the planet!”
Photo: Sol Sips
And Plantegas aren’t the only plant-based options on the block. In New York’s Bushwick neighbourhood, where almost 90 percent of residents are people of colour, a sliding-scale vegan brunch is on offer at Sol Sips. Costing between $7-$15, whatever each diner can afford, the brunch features healthful plant-based dishes such as oyster mushroom chick’n with avocado, fried plantains and curried mango sauce. According to Civil Eats, one in five people in the Bushwick area is food insecure, with residents having access to only half of the food retail space that those on the Lower East Side of Manhattan do.
And in the Harlem neighbourhood, Seasoned Vegan restaurant has been serving up plant-based food, including vegan crawfish made of burdock root, since 2014. In an interview with VICE, co-owner Aaron Beener said: “When we were writing our business plan we said we wanted Seasoned Vegan to be a beacon of healthy living for all of us.”
Photo: Seasoned Vegan
The principle of New York’s neighbourhood vegan scene is food equality — making healthy, eco-friendly plant-based foods available to everyone, not just the privileged few. That is also a driving force behind the California-based Food Empowerment Project (FEP). One of the goals of FEP, “is to highlight the inequity of the food system in the United States, which has led to higher rates of health problems among people of color and in low-income communities, including diabetes, due to the lack of access to healthy foods,” according to the food justice organization’s website.
One way FEP does this is by shining a light on areas most impacted by inequitable food distribution, through various impactful reports. As well, the group puts on an annual Healthy Food Fest in one of those districts, Vallejo, California, serving vegan food to hundreds of local people each year.
Photo: Sol Sips
Food inequity in America, and the rise (and history) of veganism among communities of colour, are deep rooted and nuanced topics that continue to be well illuminated by Black authors in outlets such as Eater, The Guardian and Civil Eats.
And now, it’s the topic of a new documentary as a follow up to the ground-breaking doc, What the Health. Created by Keegan Kuhn (co-creator of What the Health) and John Lewis (aka The Badass Vegan), They're Trying to Kill Us is a feature length film that connects the dots among food access and food deserts, nutritional and environmental racism, diet-related diseases and racial disparities of disease, animal cruelty and climate change. The film was an official selection at the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival, and is currently seeking a distributor.
Breaking barriers and increasing access to healthy plant foods for all communities democratizes food systems and empowers people through healthy eating. Much work is already being done to make access to good food just and equitable, but much more is needed. The benefits promise to be transformational.