001:1 THE BLACK VEGAN ANOMALY
I am a Black vegan anomaly… A little experiment.
Who was raised in a neighborhood, among a community of people, that had been set up to have limited economic freedom and even more limited food options. Nothing about my location lent itself to being raised vegan, yet everything was perfectly aligned, leading to a successful Vegan upbringing.
It may seem like nothing, but let me paint you a picture.
Activism has encouraged me to research years of motivation behind cultural food habits in Black communities. Even the current economic landscape in cities across the country provides clues to why the everyday eating habits of poor and/or Black/Brown people have little nutritional value. We’re talking miles between clusters of Black and Brown neighborhoods without a grocery store or market that provides high quality ingredients and fresh produce. Public transportation is limited, and a personal vehicle can be out of the question, which means hauling groceries from the nearest White-neighborhood store is highly inconvenient. Which also means that an omnivorous diet, that doesn’t just include lower quality animal derived products, but also the consumption of foods containing harmful chemicals, is a matter of survival. Not much about this has improved since my childhood in the 90s and 2000s.
It is a fascinating choice that my parents made to make eating a special kind of complicated for us, at least more complicated than from which they came. It was a choice that brought on a lot of isolation and sacrifice, a driving force that I find even more interesting than the choice itself (Check out what I've learned about Black culinary culture). My parents, like many Black people who decided to embark on an alternate path, were a spectacle among family members and old friends when we did not partake in the same meals as they did. It is the sense of cultural rejection, or even hurt, that complicates cutting out pork, dairy, chicken, and other animal products for Black people.
After decades of deciding who we would be in the United States of America, Black people had claimed a right to cling to culinary traditions and food preparations that somewhat defined being African-American. To those family members and friends, removing yourself from that identity was bizarre.
When I was eight years old, we moved to a predominantly Black neighborhood that was just beginning its final phase of economic downfall. It had been on the brink of economic detriment for a while. The only major chain grocery store in the area lasted just a few more years after we moved there before shutting down. Many of the Black-owned businesses in the area were closing and/or had moved away. The only food options that became available in our ‘hood were from fast food restaurants and corner stores, neither of which accommodated my family’s vegan diet.
My parents were commuting to grocery stores outside of our neighborhood, spending a dollar or two more per item than the average American eater, on these long shopping trips, every couple of weeks. Aside from not eating the same things at family gatherings, we never experienced the school cafeteria (due to being homeschooled), the pizza parlor, movie snacks, and picking up a “juice” from the corner store (which I had to learn technically wasn’t juice at all). There were no ice cream trucks, and no restaurants up until I was a teenager and the city’s first vegan joint opened up. Diverse processed plant-based food options have just now made an appearance onto the scene, so we were practically eating a ton of whole foods and tofu.
The Black Vegan's Driving Force
My parent's sacrifice was perhaps eased by the attachment to the communal microcosm that was the Black Cultural Community, a “racially liberated” version of African-American identity. Many of the prominent members of this community were of two generations: the “Civil Rights” generation & the “Hip-Hop” generation. From there, they broke out into the Nation of Islam, Rastafarians, Hebrew Israelites, Garveyites, etc. My parents are of the “Hip Hop” generation, and their introduction to topics such as Black liberation and eating healthier came with both the music and the ideals floating in conversations among their peers. Growing up I was surrounded by talks of cutting out pork, eating to live, concepts that suggested that breaking out of oppressive racial cycles is directly tied to what you put in your mouth. No, not all of the talkers were vegan, but having an alternative lifestyle and alternative eating habits was commonplace and widely accepted.
I’ve considered the amount privilege that this presents my siblings and I to have had; We did not grow up with the same limitations in knowledge and economics that other kids in our neighborhood did. It has made me truly recognize myself as an anomaly and to even consider how unreasonable some of the expectations placed on Black communities to change their eating habits were that I recall hearing from speakers growing up. It was never easy, but I don’t believe any of my peers from that community were without vehicles or without parents with steady jobs. It was rare, but some of them had parents that were born to people who had been living an alternative lifestyle for decades, giving them access to a wealth of knowledge. Though there wasn’t much of a blueprint, to even make an effort to raise a Black family as a family of vegans, during a time when it was highly unpopular, came from a place of privilege.
What Do You Think?
I've had several parents ask me what I eat on a daily basis, and they wanted to hear any insight I had on being raised vegan. My perspective is always a positive one, but I am always up front about how this lifestyle will separate their child from their peers. My siblings and I are comfortable with being vegan because we understand much Veganism improves the health of humans, animals, and the planet, plus nothing we eat tastes disgusting. But, honestly, it was the level of social isolation we lived through, keeping us from being influenced by others, that made the lifestyle stick.
Nowadays there is a little more tolerance, information, and a plethora of eating styles. Would you be willing to sacrifice you and your children's social & economic comfort for a lifestyle that you know in the long-run would benefit you? I'd love to hear your thoughts.
ABOUT NAIMAH
Naimah is a 25+ year vegan model, designer, and artist after being converted to the lifestyle at only 2 years old by her parents. Growing up she was taught to prepare meals using whole foods and plant-based meat substitutes, and was educated on the variety of benefits and motivations behind having a vegan diet. Her ways of eating sparked conversations with her peers in adulthood, leading Naimah to become interested in exploring the boundlessness of vegan cuisine.
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