Vegan soul food from Oakland, CA

Oakland is a very interesting place in the Bay area. Though not as well-known as its neighbors San Francisco and Berkeley and reeling from a high crime rate reputation, it has a lot of character and offers plenty to explore. Even by Bay area standards, it's incredibly racially diverse with sizable African American, Chinese, Hispanic, and Vietnamese populations. It embodies the Bay area's free-wheeling spirit, but you are also likely to find people who follow a wide range of other lifestyles. Quality dining options are abundant and at affordable prices, which makes it more appealing from a guerrilla perspective.

I was therefore delighted to learn that Bryant Terry, food-justice activist and chef who generated a lot of buzz in the food blogosphere earlier this year, is from Oakland. His new cookbook, Vegan Soul Kitchen: Fresh, Healthy and Creative African-American Cuisine, received positive reviews across the board from 101 Cookbooks to VegNews magazine. I used to live in Washington, DC, which has a large African American population, so African-American/Southern/soul food is very much part of the local culinary fabric. But West-Coast soul food? This was new to me. I had always perceived soul food to be heavy on meat and fat, so Bryant's approach that focuses on fresh produce and healthy cooking is pretty refreshing.

I tried two recipes from his book: Sweet Coconut-Ginger Creamed Corn (I added green beans) and New World Red Rice. Both were hearty and delicious like any good soul food, but not greasy at all. I rarely paired ginger with coconut milk except in a Thai curry, and the combination brought a sharpness that counterbalanced the creaminess of the corn. The rice dish, according to Bryant, is an adaption of Senegalese red rice. It's rice cooked with onion, garlic, tomatoes, chili powder, jalapeno, cayenne pepper, thyme, tamari, and paprika (which I didn't have so I left it out). The flavors were complex and exploded in my mouth. I love spicy food and this rice really did it for me.

Vegan soul: Sweet Coconut-Ginger Creamed Corn and Green Beans, served with New World Red Rice

I am a watermelon purist, meaning that I don't add anything such as salt to the fruit when I eat it. But I was tempted to try Bryant's sophisticated-sounding Watermelon Slices with Basil Sea Salt. The basil sea salt (essentially salt mixed with chopped fresh basil) elevated the watermelon so it turned out sweeter with a contrasting, like-it-or-hate-it touch of basil. The result was decent, but I'd say I still like my watermelon plain, without embellishment.

Interesting Watermelon Slices with Basil Sea Salt