Vegan Soul Food Adventure

(upbeat music) - We're in Inglewood, California. We're going to eat a lot of

vegan

soul

food

. - Let me tell you something about

soul

food

, okay? - So Daisha here, she's in another video right now. She is doing a 30 day

vegan

food challenge. -What do I know about soul food? I think macaroni and cheese. I think fried chicken. I think cornbread. (upbeat music) - Inglewood, like many low-income areas of Los Angeles, really struggles to feed people healthy, quality foods. - Oh, welcome to Things I Eat. - Babette opened this restaurant in 2008 to try to combat that problem.

She is inspiring the community to understand the food they love in a broader context. - I think we should take care of creating a rubric. - This is all based on a party in your mouth, okay? So the first thing is a party. If things are, “Oh, wow, this is cool.” "I'd probably eat this on my own time, but I'm not in love, that's a Kickback. Then the next level is a house party. - House party. - Alright, house party. And then if we're completely impressed, all it is is just a Rave (bleep). So is this your first dish of soul food, vegan?

So first of all, let me describe to you exactly what you have in this dish. Is this vegan? - This is all vegan, 100% kale, black-eyed peas. - Vegan tofu and potato salad. You have gluten-free cornbread and yam. - Collin, you're an animal. I'm an animal (upbeat music). - Yeah, I wouldn't say it tastes, you know, like traditional macaroni and cheese. - It's not trying to imitate macaroni and cheese. normal cheese. He made them his own. and it's amazing. - Every day, I eat this every day. - Macaroni and cheese is a house party for me. - I think this is a tofu house party. - I had never eaten tofu before. - That? - I have never eaten tofu.

In my opinion, it has always been like this: - Weird. - scary and strange, yes. - Did you eat this coleslaw? This is a delusion. - The coleslaw is amazing - The coleslaw is wonderful. (bleep) - Daisha, Daisha (unintelligible) eat well. Esteban. - My plate, almost ready. - Freddy, speed up your pace, Freddy. - I'm coming, I'm coming, I'm coming. - What is your definition of a balanced meal? - That. - This? - What did you expect me to say? (laughs) So when we first moved here, I introduced the Soul Food Platter. It was just going to be a special.

A couple of local residents came by. They had the soul food dish and they liked it, but the next day it was gone. And they said, "Well, what happened to that?" And I said, "Well, it was just special." They left. That happened several times, several weeks in a row and we just made the Soul Food Platter part of the menu and I think that's how we became the vegan soul food restaurant. - Why did you want to open in Inglewood? - I live down the street. First of all, every time I wanted a decent vegan meal, I had to drive across town.

There are many health-conscious people living in this community. The rental was amazing. I won't pay $20,000 a month in rent. Miss me Beverly Hills. And they needed me here. They needed this located right here where it is and why not? Why not a good vegan restaurant in my community? - So since you've been here, have you noticed that more people from the neighborhood have started coming? - Oh, definitely. - Do you like people who are not vegan and who only come for the food? - Most of my clients are not vegan. I am so grateful to have been introduced to this lifestyle and made the transition.

I really am. I started at 40 years old. I will be 65 in December. I can still jump and do push-ups. I'm still running hills. I'm not taking medications. - Your life is (unintelligible) - My life is (laughs) my life is wonderful right now. - You know I never thought for a second about going vegan, but now I'm legitimately considering it. For example, with how good the food is and how good you look. (laughs) - If I could say one thing, if there are kids eating those hot Cheetos, maybe you shouldn't eat that stuff and that's all I have to say about hot Cheetos.

I know we're not talking about hot Cheetos.