A talk by the author of “Vegan Soul Kitchen”? At the Denver Botanic Gardens? With a meatless buffet?
If the citrus collard greens, barbecue black-eyed peas and arugula with a roasted beet vinaigrette weren’t enough, simple curiosity drew a diverse crown of about 100 to chef/ writer/activist Bryant Terry’s speech Thursday as part of the year-long Bonfils-Stanton lecture series focusing on food.
Some came to discuss issues of food and class. Others came with a raised eyebrow at the seeming oxymoron of “vegan” and “soul food.”
Community organizer Seth Donovan didn’t need any proof of the flavorfulness of Terry’s meat-free cooking style. “I love his recipes. His cookbook is one of my cooking bibles at home,” she said between bites of black-eyed- peas and collards.
But Donovan, who is a program coordinator with Flobots , the social action arm of the Denver band, was equally interested in Terry’s message.
“It’s important to me to listen to leaders who are part of a community of color,” said Donovan.
Darren Conner and his wife, Melinda Hughes-Conner, took their kids to taste the healthy versions of the kind of soul food Conner, who grew up in Louisiana, cooks at home. They were surprised to see Maya, 10, and Kye, 7, eating the greens. “I like the beans and the dessert,” said Kye of the black-eyed peas and the chocolate cookies.
“I like what he does because he doesn’t try to substitute. It’s not fake food,” said Carrie Balkcom, a chef and Slow Food member who, along with Beet Box Catering and Denver chef-educator Gigia Kolouch, prepared the buffet for the Thursday-night event. Balkcom, executive director of the American Grassfed Association, joked that even a “committed carnivore” like herself could appreciate the layered flavors of Terry’s recipes.
Like his recipes, Terry’s myth-busting talk wove themes of culture, food and politics.
“So often, we hear these stories about the young, well-educated, pretty people doing this cool hip stuff in the cities,” said Terry, who grew up in Memphis, playing in his grandparents’ gardens. “People have been doing this for decades — African-Americans, immigrant communities — and so often these stories aren’t being told.”
The stories that are told are often oversimplified, and sometimes wrong. Terry’s grandfather never fried a chicken, he said. “He always baked chicken. He lightly sauteed greens. All these stereotypical ways people imagine African-American cuisine, that was the opposite of the way my grandfather cooked — food that was as local as the backyard garden, always in season, preserved for leaner times, and sustainable.”
After a brief affair with fast food — “I didn’t want to be this brown hippie kid eating this baked chicken and greens” — Terry changed his eating style.
“Have you ever met a self- righteous, dogmatic, proselytizing vegetarian? I was that guy,” Terry told the laughing crowd before demonstrating how to make his collards.
“I think it’s important to move past that phase, and allow people to be on their journey,” said Terry, whose own journey took through a master’s in American History from Yale and training at the New York Natural Gourmet Institute for Health and Culinary Arts.
“My guiding philosophy is to start with the visceral, move to the cerebral and end at the political,” he said, as the smell of citrus, garlic and greens filled the room. “This dish is a metaphor for where I want to see African-American cuisine go: bright, bold, refreshing and cutting edge.”
Kristen Browning-Blas: 303-954-1440 or kbrowning@denverpost.com
Eugenia Bone, July 29
The next lecture in the Denver Botanic Gardens Bonfils-Stanton series is July 29, “The Kitchen Ecosystem” with author and Denver Post blogger Eugenia Bone. The author of “Well-Preserved: Recipes and Techniques for Putting Up Small Batches of Seasonal Foods,” Bone will lead a tour of seasonal edible plants in the gardens, followed by a tasting hosted by Slow Food Denver, a talk and book signing. More info: .
