My Top 7 Vegan Cookbooks During COVID-19
By Michelle Beadle Holder, PhD
Months into COVID-19 and many of us have become intimately familiar with the kitchen. If you’ve done so kicking and screaming, you are not alone. If you have cooked with joy, that’s great.
As we live through this pandemic, it is vital to eat as healthy as we can. A healthy diet is especially important for people of African descent who are among the groups hardest hit by COVID-19.
While I already eat a mostly plant-based diet, I’m always looking for ways to eat healthier and to share what I learn. Recently I became interested in the topic of veganism, after reading Sistah Vegan and after learning about the rising number of Black vegans in the US.
Vegans are people who, for ethical or health reasons, do not eat foods that include animal products. Although I am not vegan, I discovered a handful of very exciting vegan cookbooks written by Black authors.
Check Out These Black Vegan Cookbook
Below are 7 vegan cookbooks by people of African descent, reflecting different voices and perspectives of Black food, culture, and health. Most of these authors were compelled to design healthy vegan recipes that cater to their taste and rich cultural heritage. As Bryant Terry, the author of Afro-Vegan, explains,
“Culturally appropriate food is an important criterion for determining what is ‘healthy,' and people of African descent need not look any further than our own historical foodways for better well-being.”
May this resource encourage you on a healthy, happy, and soulful journey during COVID-19 and beyond.
Afro-Vegan by Bryant Terry
Afro-Vegan is one of my favorite cookbooks. Chef, activist, and Tennessee native, Bryant Terry shares many tasty recipes with inspiring images. Each recipe profiles ingredients and flavors from the American South, the Caribbean, and different regions of Africa.
His mouth-watering recipes include Savory Grits with Slow-Cooked Collard Greens, Sweet Potato and Pumpkin Soup, Creole-Spiced Plantain Chips, and Maple Glazed Banana Johnnycakes.
Terry pairs each dish with references to music, books, or film by artists from the African diaspora, which adds a special touch. You can also check out Terry’s latest book, Vegetable Kingdom, which he explains is inspired by his daughters’ and his family’s vegetable garden.
2. Caribbean Vegan by Taymer Mason
I was so excited to discover Caribbean Vegan that I bought two. My mom has the first edition. I have the second. A key reason I was so excited about this book is because of my Jamaican heritage. Some of the recipes I was most thrilled about are the “Beef” Patties, Jerk Pizza with Sweet Potato Crust, Coconut Orange Pancake, and Fermented Ginger Beer.
Author Taymer Mason is a food scientist from Barbados. She notes that vegan is not new to the Caribbean. Rastas created Ital food, which is a plant-based or vegan Caribbean cuisine. Rastafarianism is a spiritual way of life that emerged out of Jamaica in the 1930s and spread throughout the Caribbean and the rest of the world.
Some of the most orthodox Rastas abstain from salt or replace it with culinary herbs such as celery. Ital is another word for vital or nutritious food. Caribbean Vegan was developed to carry on the tradition of Ital food with a contemporary approach.
3. Ageless Vegan by Tracye McQuirter and Mary McQuirter
I absolutely love Ageless Vegan in part because it’s written by a mother and daughter team. Tracye McQuirter and Mary McQuirter were inspired to write this cookbook to celebrate 30 years of being vegans. They share that,
“By ageless, we simply mean living free from the diet-related diseases and decline most commonly associated with growing older.”
Another thing I love about the book is that it speaks to the significance of family and community support, and the power of information and Black institution building in regions of the country like the DC metropolitan area.
Ageless Vegan includes many beautiful and simple recipes, such as Watermelon Kiwi Lime Smoothie, Sweet Pea Hummus, Peanut Soup with Collards, Cajun Quinoa with Okra and Tomato, and No-Bake Chocolate Pie with Pistachios. Trayce McQuirter is also the author of By Any Greens Necessary, a book specifically designed for Black women.
4. Rachel Ama’s Vegan Eats by Rachel Ama
Meet Rachel Ama, one of my favorite YouTubers. After years of cooking up tasty vegan recipes on YouTube, she published her first cookbook, Rachel Ama’s Vegan Eats.
Check out these signature dishes in the cookbook: African Peanut Stew, Jollof Rice, Jerk Mushroom, “Saltfish” with Caribbean Dumplings, Ackee Scramble, Spiced Ginger Cake, and Chocolate Brownies with Hazelnut Swirl.
Born in North London, England, Rachel’s large extended family has roots in the Caribbean, Sierra Leone, and Wales. Rachel explains that she was driven to start her YouTube channel because of the lack of representation of people who look like her preparing vegan food on that platform. Through her book and YouTube videos, Rachel is part of a larger movement that makes Caribbean and West African-style vegan food more visible and accessible.
5. Sweet Potato Soul by Jenne Claiborne
Jenne Claiborne is another of my favorite YouTubers, who is also a cookbook author. Jenne is an African American woman from Georgia who brings Southern vegan cooking to the masses.
Highlights of Sweet Potato Soul are dishes like the Southern Buddha Bowl, New Orleans-Style Red Beans and Rice, Crispy Eggplant Bacon, No-Bake Stone Fruit Cobbler, and many delicious sweet potato recipes.
Jenne has an interesting vegan family history. Her dad was raised vegan in the Hebrew Israelite community, which largely comprises African Americans, many based in Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Israel. In Sweet Potato Soul, Jenne recalls her father’s sisters bringing vegan dishes to family gatherings. Her dad taught her the foundations of vegan cooking. Jenne is the owner of Nourishing Vegan, a personal chef and coaching business in Los Angeles. Check out her YouTube channel.
6. A Southern Girl’s Guide to Plant Based Cooking by Cametria Hill
Many people believe that vegan food, or even healthy food, is expensive. In her cookbook, A Southern Girl’s Guide to PlantBased Eating, Cametria Hill designs inexpensive vegan recipes that appeal to the taste and culture of Black people.
Her recipes include Philly Cheese “Steak” Wraps, Carrie B’s Cornbread Dressing, Garlicky “Shrimp” and Grits, Palm Po’Boy with Creamy Cocktail Sauce, and Banana Nut Hush Puppies.
An interesting aspect of this cookbook is what Cametria refers to as her “root to leaf philosophy.” This philosophy draws upon the tradition of resourcefulness and sustainability in Soul Food cuisine, specifically “using the scraps and undesired pieces of food that were left over for the ‘help.’” The cookbook contains “tips on eating out, finding support, and even getting more active as you go about your day.” Cametria was inspired by her concern for the health and well-being of her family.
7. Living Lively by Haile Thomas
The saying goes “the young shall lead the way.” Well, I’m not sure if that’s exactly how the saying goes, but you get the point. Nothing gets me more excited than seeing young people take the lead and show us their brilliance. Haile was around 19 when she published this book. However, she was inspired to take the path of vegan or plant-based cooking at age 8, after discovering that her dad had diabetes.
Like all of the books in this list, Living Lively includes recipes, but these are recipes I think any teenager will love. For example: Chickpea Power-Pancakes, Golden Milk Granola, Purple Sweet Potato Apple Toast, Tropical Citrus Smoothie Bowl, and Islander Lively Bowl.
Yet Haile Thomas explains, “this isn’t just a cookbook—it’s an interactive book to encourage self-reflection, self-love, and self-empowerment! It’s got a lot to do with self…and that ain’t selfish.” Living Lively is a lovely book for teenagers who are health conscious as well as those who might be struggling with issues of acceptance, bullying, or racial discrimination in school.
Library as a Resource
Your local library may have some or all of these books. If not, ask your librarian to add them to their inventory.
Thanks to Maryland’s Howard County Library System for making many of these books available. I taught “Introduction to African Culinary Heritage” as part of the Ellicott City Branch’s Cultural Connection Garden Initiative in 2019.
Michelle is the founder of Food at the Center. She is a medical sociologist and former college professor who was inspired by her mother’s determination to take charge of her health and life through food. Michelle used the framework of mindfulness to teach undergraduates at the University of Maryland. She has also used mindfulness to develop programs to improve the health and well-being of Black or African American women and their loved ones. Michelle was born in Jamaica and currently resides in Columbia, Maryland.