The Vegan Hood Chefs

The Vegan Hood Chefs

by: Cary Wong

Everyone has to eat. Yet the number of minority business owners in the food and beverage industry is shockingly low. It drops even further when focusing on vegan or gluten-free spots. But chefs and owners Ronnishia Johnson and Rheema Calloway intended to change that when they started their pop-up business in 2017. B

est friends since the ninth grade, they both have been interested in the vegan lifestyle for years. They started a vegan blog together and went into the catering business by accident, stepping in for a vendor that had fallen through. The business was very challenging to get off the ground as they both worked full-time jobs and care for their grandmothers.

"We have had to overcome many obstacles and one is being underrepresented as black women in this industry. We have had to work ten times as hard to get the recognition, payment, access, and respect because of who we are. The other obstacle is learning about the technicalities and operations of actually running a food business since we both have no professional schooling or training," they say.

Despite a flurry of online and reallife discussions about equality and social justice, minority communities still face considerable challenges in terms of food and nutrition. Chefs Johnson and Calloway realized that food choices and health issues of the community were directly linked to a lack of access and education.

As such, they wanted to create a food business that would provide Black and Brown people with healthier alternatives while uplifting and reflecting their culture.

Being a vegan/glutenfree pop-up, menu planning takes more effort. They started off by choosing some of their favorite dishes their grandmothers made for them, like jambalaya, and macaroni & cheese, then vegan-ized them.

As both families have roots in Louisiana, they incorporated some Cajun dishes into the menu as well. Last but not least, they added some African influences in the form of spices or ingredients they picked up while traveling there.

Read more at https://issuu.com/rareluxuryliving/docs/troora_san_francisco_2021_pages/148