It's time for the Vegan Hood Chefs to go mobile!
The Vegan Hood Chefs is a Black women owned business founded in 2017 by best friends Ronnishia Johnson and Rheema Calloway. Their passion for community organizing, creativity, and food has allowed them to launch a food initiative to help fight food apartheid and social inequity within the San Francisco community.
Descending from long lineages of Black San Franciscans, they recognize that the war waged on Black communities isn’t solely based on genritication and police brutality. Food injustice (Food Apartheid) is a huge problem in their community.
Early on in their journey to transition into a plant-based diet, they turned to social media to inspire family and friends. But it wasn’t until they catered a friend’s party, feeding 200 guests and selling out their inventory, that they realized there was a need for their business!
Both Ronnishia and Rheema come from predominantly Black neighborhoods in San Francisco that are considered ‘food deserts’. They infuse activism in their approach to food in order to shine light on how their communities experience what they have renamed ‘food apartheid’. Deserts are natural but the lack of access to healthy food in their communities (like so many other Black communities across the country) is by design. This design of racial inequity has harmed generations of Black families as the lack of access to affordable, healthy food can be linked to illnesses such as diabetes, cancer, high blood pressure, and obesity (which are all prevalent in their communities).
The Vegan Hood Chefs currently operates as a catering pop up, which has been an effective model for them so far. They are proud to reach folks where they’re at! That is why they want to expand the business by purchasing a food truck. Having a food truck gives them the opportunity to have a broader reach with the ability to go into spaces that have been historically marginalized and plagued with fast food restaurants.
As a solutions-based business, The Vegan Hood Chefs realize that their work is part of the fight to end systemic food insecurity in Black and Brown communities. Their goal is to create their own lane in the vegan community by using vegan food as their vehicle to feed & heal their community.
Veganism is becoming more popular and with popularity there are many products out there to aid someone's transition to a vegan lifestyle. However, they know just because someone is eating vegan food doesn’t mean it's healthy. The Vegan Hood Chefs are very intentional in their cooking as well as their approach to food. They flip traditional Creole meals into delicious plant-based alternatives and find a way to infuse the soul of foods through plant-based ingredients! They have successfully grabbed the attention of the vegan community within the Bay Area one delicious meal at time!
Since their inception, the Vegan Hood Chefs has been very intentional, partnering with several nonprofits that work within their communities by offering free cooking demos to youth and seniors. Their goal is to teach communities of color that healthy food options can be flavorful and creative.
With your help they will be able to reach the HOOD first and continue their journey to introduce plant-based cuisine into our peoples palettes and revolutionize hood nutrition one neighborhood at a time!
The Heal the Hood Tour starts now! Picture us Rolling! Click here to donate to our campaign https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-the-vegan-hood-chefs