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Vegan soulstice stockton4/10/2023 What’s an example of a dish on your menu that is popular? It just filled a need in the community around veganism and eating healthy as a healing practice in Black and Brown communities. That spread through word of mouth and online and it took off from there. we cooked for 200 people and it sold out. My day job used a kitchen whenever we needed to cook for kids, so we used that. At the time, we had a partner in culinary school-my cousin-and we figured we could try to do it together. Then, one of our friends at the time was hosting an event and their caterer backed out at the last minute, so she asked us to do it instead. We didn’t plan to start a business at all. And we didn't see people like us leading those conversations.Īt first, we started a food page on Instagram to raise awareness on what we were eating and cooking. We wanted our families and folks we love to join the conversation about food justice. Most of our work is in our own communities, which are food deserts, where people aren’t having conversations around veganism in a culturally connected way. We lived in a food desert as Black folks. We started this journey by wanting to eat healthy. I was a struggling pescatarian at first, and then around 2012 I transitioned to being vegan. I realized how much energy I had and how good I felt afterward. She challenged me to do a fast with her, so we did it for 30 days. But when we graduated and came home, we started to learn more about food justice. When she started her transition in college I thought she was crazy-she was eating differently and cut all her hair off. I cut out red meat, and eventually over 10 to 12 years I became full vegan. I did more research and I started the process. I had hypertension blood pressure, so my boyfriend at the time educated me on a plant-based diet, my weight and overall health. I was an undergrad at Texas Southern University, and we were roommates. Ronnishia: I started my transition into veganism in 2010, 2011. KQED: When did you each begin your individual journeys as vegans? This interview has been edited for length and clarity. I took a seat with them to hear about how it all started. It was more than enough to excite any vegan eater-whether full-time, part-time, or first-time. When I met them in a parking lot on 18th and Valencia, Ronnishia Johnson-Hasan (a licensed clinical social worker, mother and family caretaker from Hunters Point) and her business partner, Rheema Calloway (chef, caretaker and community organizer from Lakeview), were blasting Bay Area anthems from a sound system and dishing up mounds of vegan goodies, including four varieties of “loaded” french fries: Jackfruit Birria (spiced jackfruit, cilantro, diced onions, and vegan cheese sauce), Surf and Turf (Konjac Root Skrimp and Lions Maine “steak” with creamy Alfredo sauce), Jambalaya (vegan parmesan garlic butter and vegan jambalaya) and Poke (coconut-marinated papaya, seaweed, wasabi mayo and hearts of palm “Krab”). Jambalaya fries, left, and birria fries, right, served by the Vegan Hood Chefs (Briana Chazaro) And like any true Bay Area hustlers, they’re everywhere with it, posting up in the Mission, Stockton, Oakland and beyond-anywhere they can serve their flavorful heritage to hungry folks who might not yet know the pleasures of veganism. Plant-based po’ boys with oyster mushrooms? Giant plates of jambalaya using vegan sausage, bell peppers, onions, garlic, rice and celery? Marinated chunks of breaded jackfruit fried in Cajun spices? The Vegan Hood Chefs have got it all. This week I linked up with The Vegan Hood Chefs, a popular duo from San Francisco who serve bomb, Southern-inspired comfort foods while “revolutionizing hood nutrition.” They are part of a larger wave of Black vegan entrepreneurs in the Bay Area, including Souley Vegan and Vegan Mob, who are redefining what vegan food can be for diverse communities. Luckily, the Bay Area is one of the country’s leading regions for vegan options, as evidenced by events like The Bizerkeley Food Festival later this summer. Maybe after visiting my family in Mexico-a trip that began with tacos al pastor, continued with tacos al pastor and ended with tacos al pastor-I subconsciously reverted to a cleaner, lighter diet upon my return to California. ¡Hella Hungry! is a column about Bay Area foodmakers, exploring the region's culinary cultures through the mouth of a first-generation local.
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