Ideal Bite

Bryant Terry

Cook the Books

04.10.2009

Submitted by hsnavely on Thu, 04/09/2009 - 11:24pm.

San Francisco

The Bite:

Your diet lacking a healthy balance? Eco-chef and food-justice activist (making organic, sustainable food accessible to everyone) Bryant Terry’ll set things right – in your kitchen and the world. BT coauthored Grub: Ideas for an Urban Organic Kitchen with Anna Lappé, and his newest book, Vegan Soul Kitchen (yep, that’s vegan Southern food), shows there is accounting for taste.

What does it mean to be an “eco-chef?”
BT: It means helping people connect with their environment through tasty food.

Why did you decide to create a vegan soul-food cookbook?
BT: I wanted to provide a much-needed intervention in a genre oversaturated with books that include animal products.

What drove you to get involved with being green?
BT: Greenzo from 30 Rock. No, seriously, spending time in my grandparents’ backyard gardens as a child. During summers, my sister, cousins, and I would help Paw Paw (Grandpa) plant, tend, harvest, shell, shuck, and snap everything from acorn squash to zucchini.

What's your eco-confession?
BT: I take long showers.

Who's your eco-hero?
BT: Toss up: Edna Lewis and Alice Waters.

Wanna Try:

We hear you can find this foodie taking bites at Pizzaiolo, 5008 Telegraph Ave., Oakland (510-652-4888). Vegan Soul Kitchen, $13-$19 at major retailers.

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Cocktail Fact

The first American cookbook had the sound-bite-friendly title, American Cookery, or the Art of Dressing Viands, Fish, Poultry and Vegetables, and the Best Modes of Making Pâtés, Puffs, Pies, Tarts, Puddings, Custards and Preserves and All Kinds of Cakes, from the Imperial Plumb to Plain Cake, Adapted to This Country and All Grades of Life.