"Racialized Consciousness and Impact on Food Philosophies"

When I think about vegans or the vegan diet, I often think that it is a personal choice made by people to eat certain types of food in order to make a political statement about the treatment of animals in the American food industry. I never thought, however, that veganism went far beyond that to many Black Americans who choose the vegan diet. I first stumbled upon this new way of looking at veganism through Breeze Harper's blog. Breeze Harper, PhD candidate in critical food geographies and editor of the the blog "Sistah Vegan") writes that,

My other interests are focused on the concept of the black racialized consciousness and how a people's collective experience with slavery, Jim Crow, racism, classism have shaped their relationships with and consciousness around food and health...In my observations, I see that while a majority of white people in the USA may collectively conceptualize that whole foods vegan philosophy should be rooted in the liberation of non-human animals, veganism for a black man like Afrika [Afrikan Holistic health doctor]...is perceived as a way to "decolonize the black body from the legacies of the 'white man's' diet."

It was very interesting for me to read this blog post because it raised my consciousness on the fact that differences of views on certain diets exist within different groups of people. It is an obvious fact, but often times we go on without addressing or acknowledging these differences.

Here's the blog post: http://sistahvegan.wordpress.com/2009/09/07/racialized-consciousness-and-impact-on-food-philosophies/