Bryant Terry co-wrote "Grub: Ideas for an Urban Organic Kitchen" with Anna Lappé. His second book, "Vegan Soul Kitchen," came out in 2009 from Da Capo/Perseus. He hosted the PBS series "The Endless Feast" and was one of the commentators on "Big Ideas for a Small Planet." In 2001 Bryant founded b-healthy (Build Healthy Eating and Lifestyles to Help Youth), a five-year initiative created to raise awareness about food justice issues.

Bryant Terry: I grew up in Memphis, Tennessee. Both my grandfathers came from rural Mississippi and lived and worked on farms that their families owned. When they migrated to Memphis, they carried with them the food ways, agrarian knowledge, and their connection to the land– the rhythms of living in the country. My grandparents used to talk about their "natural" gardens, they didn’t say "sustainable" or "organic," but they were certainly clear that they didn’t want any chemicals on their food, and composting was important. They didn’t think about it being some type of intervention, it was just the way they lived.

I was brought out to the Bay area in 2003 by the People’s Grocery (it develops creative solutions to health problems that stem from a lack of access to and knowledge of healthy foods. People’s Grocery believes in “food justice,” that nutritious food is a human right.) They wanted me to teach at their Collards in Commerce summer program. So I began teaching cooking classes in Oakland and fell in love with the Bay Area. I decided that I needed to move out here, and in 2006 that’s just what I did. I’m here to stay. I also plan on purchasing property in Tennessee. There’s a lot that I want to do around health, food, and farming in the south.

Online at: Bryant Terry.com