Customer Reviews

Sistah Vegan: Food, Identity, Health, and Society: Black Female Vegans Speak

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I have been a vegetarian on and off for 15 years and two years ago, I became a vegan. Like a lot of black women, I became interested in vegetarianism for both health and spiritual reasons. I've read books by Queen Afua, Dr. Laila Afrika and others. As I changed my eating habits, I also became aware of the large amounts of chemicals and animal products in my personal care items and I have begun to weed them out and replace them with vegan ones. My goal is to live a life that honors our Great Mother Earth.

With all that said, I never considered the connection between human rights and animal rights until I read Sistah Vegan. The collection of essays are thought provoking and made me question my dedication to liberation for all. I am the person that recycles, doesn't litter and is looking to start an organic garden yet I had no problem going and buying a fly pair of leather shoes. I wouldn't own a pet because it reminded me of some form of slavery but I would wear another creature's hide to be fashionable. The hypocrisy stood out glaringly.

And that's what this book does: It makes you see other points of views in veganism: The sistah who became vegan for health, the one who wants to live in tune with the earth, those who follow Ma'at as their code of ethics and yes, the animal rights lover. It shows our commonalities and our differences. It is my hope that all vegans, vegetarians, political activists, earth lovers and spiritual people read this book so that these voices may be heard.

What an amazing book and read this book was for me. I waited anxiously for my copy to arrive and when it did it just made my day. I have really found a lot of information and support from this book. Reading about the experiences and thoughts of all these women is so crucial since African-American women are a rare face to be seen in the Vegan community. Hopefully, other women will feel inspired to read this book, and really take in its love and wisdom. You are not alone! Others share your concerns!

I also loved that in the end there was contact info for these women. I will definitely reach out to a few of them.

Blessings to A. Breeze Harper and her crucially needed book!

I am a new vegan and was super excited to read Sistah Vegan. I love the fact that the anthology offers different perspectives on veganism and the tone is non-judgemental. It definitely provided me with food for thought because I had never pondered animal rights or being a vegan as a political statement. This will be a book that I will read again and again for support along my new dietary lifestyle!

Rev. Jennifer Rogers

As someone "flirting" with the idea of veganism, this book was so refreshing! To here black women from many walks of life sharing their journeys and experiences was so very helpful to me. This book is definitely not a one-time read. It is a reference that you can keep referring back to...especially for those times that friends/family question your new lifestyle. Job well done A. Breeze Harper!!!

I really liked this book, with a few exceptions. The book explores veganism from a health and spirituality perspective, rather than an animal rights perspective, and the focus is on what a vegan diet can do for us as humans. As such, there was little gory details of animal suffering, which I appreciated as someone burnt out on such details. The book explores the environmental aspects of veganism as well. This is the crucial perspective missing in white vegan writing--looking at food issues from an antiracist, anticolonial perspective, and including issues of class/access to healthy food in disadvantaged communities. I believe if veganism ever catches on and becomes widespread, it will be because of vegans of color like Breeze Adams and not white vegans--and I am white. If there was anything I didn't like about the book, it was that sometimes it veered off into a general discussion of black female health and away from veganism in particular--for example, there is a lengthy discussion of pregnancy which mentions a vegan diet only in passing and goes on and on about pregnant women's health in general. A great book and, as there are many vegans of color that are seldom heard from, it's a book whose time has come.

No other book has really touched me on such a personal level as this anthology of stories from other Black-identified female vegans. I finally feel as if there are others out there whose experience mirrors mine. Some of the writings referenced in the book are on my to-do list for new books to read, especially Queen Afua's book on healing. I like the uniqueness of each contributor; I never felt as if I was reading the same story twice. I'm in the final chapter of the book and am sad that it's coming to a close. I really hope for a second volume to this book for I would definitely love to contribute a personal story.

This anthology of essays is simply amazing! It's quite difficult to find the voice of women of color in the world of food and nutrition due to mainstream press. I use Sista Vegan in my Food Justice courses with youth and adults. All the essays are highly informative and come from practical, real-life experiences of women of color without all the technical jargon. Returning to a whole foods based diet is essential to optimal health and wellness. This book lifts this thinking up and then some! Purchase this book TODAY!

I wanted to get this book as soon as I saw it - it seems very rare to come across a book about vegans from an African American woman's perspective. I've enjoyed the vegans of color blog and recently picked up Vegan Soul Kitchen, but I had yet to come across anything specific to African American women. And after reading, I think this is a great anthology. I was impressed with the diversity of experiences in the book and it was nice to find some voices that I could relate to. If you are a vegetarian or vegan and a woman of color, you will certainly find some connections here.

Most informative to me were the essays that focused on African American health. Many authors highlighted the undeniable link between health concerns in the black community and poor diets. Some authors also highlighted animal rights. While becoming a vegetarian and vegan to me had never been explicitly about animal rights, I discovered new perspectives the authors espoused on doing no harm to other living creatures. All in all this was a great read - informative, fun, accessible, and encouraging. You will surely see yourself in it and learn something new, no matter how long you have been a vegan.

I am a female vegan and very grateful for this book of personal narratives and research. I am a white person uncomfortable initiating certain discussions with Black people. I would love to know more about oppression and simply get to know people whose qualities I don't share may shape their experiences. I don't wish to intrude or offend. I do want to help create the liberation we so badly need for all oppressed beings. This book has moved me deeply, right up there with _White Like Me_ by Tim Wise (originally recommended to me by _Sistah Vegan_ author/editor A. Breeze Harper). As a white person of privilege, I've never doubted my voice would be heard. So I now shut up and welcome the voices of others.

A Platform for Unity

Sistah Vegan was sitting in the New Books section of my college's library and caught my eye--by title and then by the schematic cover. The subtitle, Black Female Vegans Speak on Food, Identity, Health and Society is an apt description, but as an attractant effort leaves out the discussions on sex, too!

In this slim volume, about 25 ladies write about their experiences coming into and enjoying the vegan world. Some are relatively new to the vegan diet; others have been vegans for years. Most readers will gain a lot from listening to the progress stories of the very different writers. The stories set a basis for the timid to seriously consider joining the movement to better their health--and the health of their associates, to address the travesty of the euphemistically-called Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs), to plea for animal rights, to assure more social and economic justice across the world, to drive toward a sustainable future. And, the stories are striking in that a large number of diverse and scattered black females could be drawn together into a seriously-leveraging body to generate real change on a wide basis!

Sistah Vegan is hardly a reference book. Rather, it is a book to read and ruminate on, before loaning to a friend, and loaning to a friend, . . ., until you lose that copy and get another to loan to a friend, etc.--always hoping to make a nudge some small changes into a snowball of greater change for the good of our health, lives, economy, and world.

Truth in advertising requires that you know that I am a vegan and an associate of the author of the lead contribution. However, dip into Sistah Vegan for yourself for an enjoyable read. And, did I mention, the short writings provide a perfect format for you to take this Sistah Vegan in doses? Furthermore, you will be surprised to find that some of the writings are not just essays or brief histories--some are even brought to you in artful poems.

Get Sistah Vegan, read it---as you like--then, pass it on, and on.