BLACK BRITISH vegan experts are encouraging the black community to consider cutting back on meat to help improve their health. 

According to Diabetes UK, the number of people living with diabetes has hit an all-time high to reach over 4.9 million people and says including more fruit and vegetables in your diet is linked with a reduced risk of type 2 diabetes. 

Brits of black African and Caribbean descent are two to four times more likely to develop type 2 diabetes than those from a white background.

Those in the food industry want the health benefits of going vegan to be explored more to help dispel the idea that the diet leaves you hungry and undernourished. 

Basil Palmer from Brixton, south west London, is the co-founder of Eat of Eden, a Caribbean-inspired vegan food restaurant – which has three branches across London. 

Speaking to The Voice, he said: “We wanted to move away from the stereotypical vegan food image that some people have and incorporate dishes that our community is familiar with but cooked using all vegan ingredients.

“As a Jamaican we use this term Ital and Rasta people use to say their food is Ital and that means animal-free.

“It’s always been here but it just didn’t have that brand of veganism, so that is where we got our inspiration from in terms of creating the menu.”

Since its launch, Eat of Eden has become one of the most recognisable and talked about vegan food spots in London.

During the 1990s, at the height of the Mad Cow Disease outbreak, he decided to stop eating red meat. 

According to Mr Palmer, the decision allowed him to develop a deeper appreciation for food and nutrition and says nothing beats “being at one with the universe and nature”. 

Like many businesses in the hospitality sector, soaring energy and food costs are impacting the popular vegan Caribbean-inspired food chain.  

But despite the current economic climate, he believes choosing not to eat animals is a lifestyle choice that will be here for a long time. 

According to a survey from The Vegan Society, one in four Brits reduced their consumption of animal products (either meat, dairy or both) during the coronavirus pandemic.  

Celebrity chef and entrepreneur Levi Roots, whose real name is Keith Valentine Graham, also believes the current popularity of veganism within the black community and wider society owes a lot of credit to the Rastafari community. 

The Rastafari Movement is a religious, spiritual and cultural way of life that started in Jamaica during the 1930s. 

Members of the movement do not eat meat or animal products and only use natural ingredients in their distinct way of cooking  – which is known as Ital. 

Earlier this year, Mr Roots launched the UK’s first plant-based pop-up restaurant. 

Speaking to The Voice, he said: “It just vindicates the Rasta man for all those years saying ‘hey guys this is the way to live.’

“The Rasta man also used to teach you that you can’t just eat the food from anywhere you have to know where it is coming from, in order for it to be Ital.”

He added: “The Rasta man has always been one way and that is no blood, no heartbeat and no pulse. Ital is a lifestyle and it is not just the food.” 

The vegan movement also has deep links with the American Civil Rights Movement. 

Dick Gregory was a famous civil rights activist and comedian who gave up meat in 1965. 

For the younger generation, many are being introduced to a diet free-from meat by social media. 

Ramoan Gunter from Lewisham, southeast London, has accumulated a following of 212,000 followers on his Instagram food page RG Vegan. 

He told The Voice, his journey into veganism “happened by accident” in 2016, when he saw a 7-day vegan challenge online. 

Mr Gunter was curious to see if he could survive only on plant-based food for a week and he said by day two “he was sold.” 

He said: “I felt great straight away and everything just switched on and I was juicing fruit and vegetables also.”

“It didn’t make any sense for me to go back to how I was eating before,” he added. 

His mouth-watering dishes fuse his favourite British foods, while also paying homage to his Jamaican heritage. 

As well as sharing recipes online, he has written four e-books and has recently self-published his first hardback book Ackee and Plantain – which is full of contemporary Caribbean vegan recipes. 

Despite his success, he wouldn’t advise people to go completely vegan, saying: “The majority of products on the shelf now are still processed foods and a lot of people attach the word vegan to being healthy but nothing beats cooking from scratch using whole foods.” 

While there are no official statistics of how many black vegans exist in the UK, several black communities embrace veganism and vegetarianism including Seventh Day Adventists, the Nation of Islam and Ethiopian Orthodox Christians. 

Several public figures like Lewis Hamilton, rapper JME and Beyonce are all known for consuming vegan diets – which could also be encouraging others to go down a similar path. 

With almost all UK fast-food chains offering vegan options nationwide, critics are sceptical about how healthy the vegan meat alternatives actually are and are urging Britain’s black communities to consider veganism only through a black lens. 

Nathan Harrison, from Central London, is a nutritionist, chef, personal trainer and Bio-Mineralist, who describes some of the most popular foods in the black community as “trauma foods”. 

“We need to address why so many of us are sick,” he declared. 

“The food that we are consuming is slave food that was given to us during slavery, and tradition is killing us!

“We should focus on eating nature’s foods like our ancestors; plant-based foods that grow wild in our natural habitats and environments in the Caribbean or Africa.” 

Mr Harrison recommends people reduce their meat consumption, so the body doesn’t “go into shock” and says it is key to eat foods that are “in season.” 

His partner Kyrae Patterson, also from Central London, told The Voice she recently transitioned to a strict African-focused vegan way of eating.

She is adamant that a lot of the food in the Caribbean has been “Americanised and Westernised”, and these habits are also being adopted in Britain’s black communities – which is having a detrimental impact on black lives. 

“When you speak to any black family, we are all eating similar foods and we all have similar health issues.” 

PETA’s Director of Corporate Projects Dawn Carr told The Voice, the past five years has been “monumental for the vegan movement.”