And, start listening to Black people.
A while ago, probably at least five years, maybe six, because it was when he was living in Chicago and that was 2013-2017, I bought my son Al the Thug Kitchen Cookbook.
I naively, unawarely, no doubt, thought it seemed suited to his sensibilities, as a young, hip, white man, and pop culture maven. The cookbook was based on a podcast of the same name.
Turns out that Thug Kitchen (TK) was actually created by a white couple, Matt and Michelle. A Black vegan chef and activist, Bryant Terry, wrote a piece in 2014 questioning TK, and outting Matt and Michelle. I am ashamed to admit that even though I own two of Terry’s cookbooks (and just ordered his newest, Vegetable Kingdom) I did not see this until just this year, 2020. During a week when in addition to the protests over the killings of Black people, prominent white editors have stepped down at the New York Times, and at Bon Appetit for perhaps implicit, but feels like overt, racism.
You can hear Bryant Terry talking about it, here:
This book has seasonal menus, paired with music. I’ve been making BBQ Tofu Po’Boys based on the Spicy Barbecue Tofu Triangles from Grub for years
This one has a BBQ tempeh recipe that I like to make – sometimes as the vegan option when there’s also meat, sometimes just because it’s so good.
I’m waiting for my copy of this to come from Semicolon in Chicago
TK has now announced changes, but they haven’t really apologized, or shown any understanding of what they did, and they’ve made a ton of money off it. I told my kids to feel free to burn Thug Kitchen.
And maybe, hopefully, this is another sign of real change that we can bring, if we all work on it, together.