'Veganism has always been there', says Naomi Hendrix Oyegoke. 'To associate veganism and vegetarianism with whiteness, you’re totally discounting our Black cultural heritage.'
JENNIFER EPPERSON: For a state that loves its meat, Texas is increasingly welcoming to vegans, who adhere to a diet without animal products, including fish, meat, eggs, and dairy. Texas has more than two hundred vegan and vegetarian restaurants, and another 1,500 that serve vegan and vegetarian options. According to People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, Dallas (Dallas!) ranked as the seventh-friendliest city for vegans in the U.S. in 2019.
Though Blacks continue to be most closely associated with pork-infused soul food, 8 percent of Black Americans identify as strict vegans, compared with 3 percent of the general population—a slight increase from 2 percent in 2012. With roughly 3.5 million Black folks living in Texas, veganism in the state is primed for a shift away from its stereotypical association with young, highly educated whites, and toward a practice shared and celebrated by Black residents, too…
Chef Troy Gardner, owner of TLC Vegan Kitchen, World Party Pizza, and the now closed Samson’s Gourmet Hot Dogs (yes, those were vegan hot dogs) in Garland… not only has witnessed the beef-loving state embrace vegan options, but he’s also noticed a change in who frequents his restaurants… he says, “I was stunned and amazed at not just the ethnic diversity, but the social and economic diversity in the restaurant. I mean, literally, all walks of life [visited], and the biggest surprise was that the vast majority of my customers . . . were Black and Hispanic”…
This shift might feel surprising, but the idea of Black veganism is neither. “To associate veganism and vegetarianism with whiteness, you’re totally discounting our [Black] cultural heritage,” says Psyche Williams-Forson, a food scholar at the University of Maryland, in a 2019 documentary about Black veganism…
“Black veganism has always been there,” says Naomi Hendrix Oyegoke, the owner of Rooted Vegan Cuisine, a company that sells fresh and frozen plant-based meals throughout the Texas Hill Country… “When I was younger, I heard a lot about ‘oh, we don’t eat pork,’ which shifted into ‘we don’t eat red meat,’” she says…
According to sociology professor Michelle R. Loyd-Paige… the food and beverage industry profits off Black people’s frequent lack of access to, and awareness of, better dietary options. “Soul Food (a.k.a. Southern home-cooking or comfort food) is often jokingly referred to as a ‘heart-attack on plate,’” Loyd-Paige writes in an essay in Sistah Vegan, a seminal book on the Black American diet. “For African-Americans, however, it’s no laughing matter…
Of the leading causes of death for African-Americans, all but one, accidents, have a connection to diet and lifestyle… As of 2018, Black Americans were 30 percent more likely to die of heart disease than non-Hispanic whites. We are twice as likely to die of diabetes as non-Hispanic whites. Four out of five Black women are overweight or obese…
According to Oyegoke, resisting the absolutism commonly associated with veganism allows a pathway in for more Black Americans. “Meet people where they are,” she says. “We don’t need any more perfect vegans. We just need a lot more people who are willing to lean into more plant-based options.” A steadily increasing number of Black Texans, myself included, are willing—even if we might not care to eat our apples stem and all. SOURCE…
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