ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that analyzing two vegan cookbooks through the lens of critical race theory opens up possibilities for an anti-racist vegan critique. Afro-Vegan (2014) and Decolonize Your Diet (2015) are two contemporary cookbooks that highlight the knowledge, experiences, and voices of African American and Mexican American communities as they have engaged in vegan food preparation and consumption. More specifically, these cookbooks critique structural and systemic racism through the site of the recipe. While veganism has typically been framed as a white-centered movement, Decolonize Your Diet and Afro-Vegan demonstrate that African Americans and Mexican Americans have participated in veganism as a means to resist food inequities and produce culinary knowledge. Analyzing how communities of color engage in the ideals of veganism while simultaneously diverging from it demonstrates how African American and Mexican American communities claim their own stake in food politics. This essay brings together literature in critical race theory, ethnic studies, food studies, and cultural studies to argue that Decolonize Your Diet and Afro-Vegan are sites of political contestation. The authors produce (1) an anti-racist vegan critique by engaging racial difference and (2) subjectivity by showing the agency of oppressed communities as initiators of social change.
