veganism brings me back to my childhood in harlem and brooklyn. my mother the late great barbara getty's hamilton was a conservative afrocentric, community activist, scholar who was able to practice her methodology as the director of a harlem based early intervention montessori program. she also served as the organizations nutritionist and she prepared the menu. i remember very well ms. eliza a hefty caribbean woman, the head cook, complaining to my mother "barbara there's no meat here on this menu !' my mother would chuckle;" that's ok eliiiiza. foreign concoctions would grace the menu pages like fried black bean patties, corn souffle, brown rice with carrots, peanut butter putter sandwiches on thin sliced whole wheat bread,tuna fish sandwiches topped with alfalfa sprouts...at home, everything she brought for us to eat was a rich dark brown, brown rice wheatina, pumpernickle bread,way into my teenage years i was fed mint flavored cod liver oil, thousand milligrams of vitamin c , e, a, brewers yeast, cell salts . i think i had the chicken pox for like five days with one scar which my mother tenderly massaged nightly with vitamin e oil. her friends my aunties or african sisters alll were vegetarians, vegans or wholistic healthy eater of some sort. i loved going to african sister aisha's house to visit laila and andaiye, she would make the best carrot salad or curried tofu fried vegetable rice. later on as i matured a group of my sister friends were raving about this queen in brooklyn named afua. she had a temple and a concoction called "green life " i finally made my way to queen afua's temple in brooklyn.. i volunteered work hours in exchange for her products. queen afua, a brilliant herbal master and business woman whom had developed a holistic wellness system that included; diet, spirituality, creativity,movement. i learned so much from my experience being there as a devotee. i think about my grandfather spencer lee gettys who would bring home fresh collard, kale and dandelion greens home for my grandmother to prepare or that gallon bottle of water he would drink from every day stating"water is the best medicine on earth ..ahhh." when evaluating community activism, gardening,healing and even veganism there is an underlying common thread at the core of this genre of work, transformation. i enjoy eating and serving vegan food, i love the process of preparation , at times it can be challenging for me it has become an art art form, i enjoy manipulating vegetables to take on a certain flavor,texture or traveling to ethnic specialty markets to discover an unfamiliar grain, root or leaf vegetable. i adore the smiles on the faces of my customers and family members as they eat my food, earths food. this blog will document my journey as i develop my vegan food business, i started off selling collard wraps in a basket on top of a yellow folding table and now i have stands in farmers markets, my intentions though community cooking workshops, pot lucks and as a vegan food provider is to heal, feed, eat and learn, to provide visibility to eating alternatives. veganism is for everyone, it is not an exclusive club u can incorporate this diet practice into your already existing one
welcome to my kitchen
abena's kitchen
karimu abena hamilton
