Black Vegetarian Society of New York forms

November 21, 2002

http://www.amsterdamnews.org/News/Article/Article.asp?NewsID=18974 & sID=2011/21/2002Black Vegetarians Cookin' Up New Soul Foodby JOHN SANKOFASpecial to the AmNewsOriginally posted 11/21/2002Pop quiz: What do Angela Bassett, Erykah Badu, Carl Lewis, Brandy, Dre (of Outkast), Russell Simmons, KRS-1 and India.Arie all have in common?Answer: They are all Black vegetarians.However, if you think that vegetarianism is the exclusive domain of trim-and-fit celebrities or tight-bodied athletes, think again. In recent years, there has been a growing trend among African-Americans, who have resolutely decided to emancipate themselves from the slavery-based tradition of artery-clogging "soul food" and from the newer chains of "fast-food" - opting instead for a meatless and more natural diet.From Dallas to Miami to New York City, a rising number of Blacks on the rush hour road to unhealthy living have been taking the off-ramp. Weary of tipping the bathroom scale; getting bad test results from doctors; and losing loved ones to diabetes, heart disease, and cancer, more than a few African-Americans are now tossing out the meat, grease, and processed foods. Some are setting up local "vegetarian societies" to provide community-based support networks and health information resources.In Harlem, Tracye McQuirter, 36, a health educator and public health graduate student at NYU, recently linked arms with a few veggie-minded colleagues, including Phil Carpenter Lee, a certified fitness instructor and nutrition educator at the Harlem YMCA; and Allison Khan, a Haitian-born program coordinator at the Office for African-American, Latino and Asian American Student Services at NYU.Last Friday, the Black Vegetarian Society of New York was born, as McQuirter and her colleagues convened the organization's first public gathering at the Uptown Juice Bar in Harlem.The historic meeting, comprised of eight founding members seated at four joined tables near a bold-lettered sign reading "Black Vegetarian Society of New York," drew a number of accolades from the restaurant's early-evening clientele. "It's nice to see people concerned about how we eat," said a cheerful woman with a white crocheted cap and dark corduroys as she jotted her name on the group's contact sheet.McQuirter, 36, originally planted the seed a year ago when she first presented the idea of a resource network for Black vegetarians to Lee and Khan. Inspired by the work and guidance of Traci Thomas, director of the Atlanta-based Black Vegetarian Society of Georgia, McQuirter spent the year hashing out her simmering idea with a few veggie friends.She knew that she had a revolutionary resource to fertilize the idea: the Internet. Two years ago, Tracye and her sister, Marya, had already set up a Web site, BlackVegetarians.com, in response to a torrent of questions from friends and relatives about vegetarian recipes, nutritional requirements for a balanced diet and the big question: What about soul food?Although the Web site's traffic had waxed and waned, it had also peaked at a record high of 1,000 hits on a single day. "We're trying to find an affordable Web site designer to keep the Web site updated," said McQuirter, a vegetarian since 1987.A consummate researcher, McQuirter proceeded with her homework. She painstakingly tracked all of the Black vegetarians who visited the Web site by state and then contacted all of the New York veggies by E-mail, inviting them to attend the first planning meeting for the Black Vegetarian Society of New York at the Uptown Juice Bar - a Black-owned vegetarian restaurant, naturally.As quiet as it's kept, there are already Black vegetarian societies in Georgia, Texas, Florida and Ohio. Since McQuirter's own 1987 farewell to meat, a decision she made after hearing a rousing lecture by activist-nutritionist Dick Gregory during her sophomore year at Amherst College, she has witnessed a definite spike in veggie interest among Blacks who have grown increasingly concerned about the health impact of poor diet."I've definitely seen a shift," she said. "It's really seeped into people's consciousness."The reasons for this growing awareness of the relationship between unhealthy food and poor health are both obvious and well-documented, McQuirter said."We're the unhealthiest people in the country. Fast-food companies and soft drink companies target Black folks. We watch the most TV, and so we're disproportionately absorbing more unhealthy messages and fast-food advertising than others."Indeed, according to an "American Health Dilemma," a two-volume review of race and medicine by Linda Clayton and W. Michael Byrd, two leading Black public health researchers at Harvard University, African-Americans top the nation's charts in poor health for nearly all dietary-related illnesses, including diabetes, stroke, heart disease and cancers.According to Byrd and Clayton, Blacks have worse health in 14 of 16 major health categories than any other group in America. There are some "90,000 excess deaths" each year among African-Americans. (Excess deaths are the number of deaths that Blacks would not experience if they had the lower mortality rates of whites.)What is equally disconcerting to many health advocates like McQuirter and her colleagues is that Blacks not only have higher rates of mortality from all dietary-related illnesses, which is partly explained by poor access to culturally competent health care, but Blacks also have higher rates of onset of these diseases, which points more toward lifestyle and environment as prime suspects.Other health advocates have also cautioned that Blacks should be careful not to simply chalk it all off to genetics, an overcooked scientific argument which poses that Blacks must have rotten genes and inferior biology.The key, said McQuirter, who believes that the foundation of most chronic diseases can largely be traced to nutrition and lifestyle, is for Blacks to overcome deep cultural barriers and misinformation about vegetarianism and natural living. African-Americans also need to ensure that supermarkets in Black communities stock a generous variety of fresh and wholesome foods on their shelves for Black consumers, said McQuirter, who has one semester to go to complete her master of public health degree at NYU's Department of Nutrition and Food Studies.McQuirter and her new veggie cohorts plan to use the newly formed vegetarian society not merely as a social club for health-smart African-Americans, but as a utensil of self-determination that serves information and resources that dispel many of the myths, such as the misconception that vegetarianism erodes an important icon of Black culture: soul food."We weren't brought here in shackles saying, 'We want pig feet, chitterlings and ribs,'" McQuirter reminds us. "The unhealthy dietary patterns practiced during slavery were passed down as legacy, as a distinct cultural food for Black folks."In reality," said McQuirter, "soul food is a plantation diet."It would seem to follow, given that chattel slavery and the Southern plantation system ended over a century ago, that vegetarianism might best be understood not as an abandonment of traditional Black culture, but as a celebration of our freedom to choose.McQuirter said the Black Vegetarian Society of New York will be cooking up some succulent, heart-friendly soul food - and sharing the recipes with the community.The group is also committed to providing free information about nutrition and cost-saving strategies, providing community advocacy to solve access problems with local food markets, and ensuring a support network for both born-again and old-head vegetarians from all walks of life, McQuirter said.The society's community-minded founders - a potpourri of activists, nine-to-fivers, unemployed and self-employed veggies - also envision free "Vegetarian 101" classes at local libraries and community centers, as well as newsletters and cultural outreach activities at local health fairs and community events."It's not just about healthy individuals, it's about a healthy community," McQuirter said.For more information about the Black Vegetarian Society of New York, call 212-234-5554.Language is an expression of thought. Everytime you speak, your mind is on Parade Exodus 20:8-11 & Hebrews 4:9

Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now