Veganism is gaining ground around the world, but it has yet to be mainstreamed in Africa. “Afro-veganism,” the veganism practiced by people of African descent, is emerging as a promising solution for democratizing plant-based diets on the continent.

By 2050, 23% of the world’s population is likely to be from sub-Saharan Africa, and Africa’s urban population could triple by mid-century. As a result of these demographic and urbanization trends, meat consumption in Africa is expected to increase by 30 percent by 2030. The rise of the African middle class driven by economic growth will also be accompanied by a “nutrition transition” on the continent.

From an ethical, health, wellness, environmental, and development standpoint, an increase in the consumption of animal proteins on the continent is not desirable. A return to whole-food, plant-based diets is therefore imperative for the sustainable development of African countries.

Although many African communities have historically incorporated plant-based meals into their staple diet, veganism still suffers from many misconceptions in Africa. This defiance is primarily caused by the lack of education on veganism and African cuisine.

Afro-veganism is not just a diet, but a philosophy and movement that thinks veganism from an intersectional perspective. This positioning in society aims to combat various systems of exploitation, including racism and animal cruelty, by encouraging individuals to take back control of their food, reclaim the heritage of their ancestors, and fully embrace their culture by reconciling with Caribbean and African foods. In their essay Aphro-ism, Aph Ko and Syl Ko were the first to coin the term “black veganism.” Their definition provides a useful framework for understanding the concept of “Afro-veganism”:

Black veganism, then, encourages activists to think about and articulate the animal situation as they see fit through their lived situation. Sometimes, this might even mean never addressing the exploitation and oppression of animals directly. It’s a way of being vegan, which suggests that there are lots of equally legitimate ways to understand, articulate, and resist how it is that animals are negatively impacted by our systems of power. As the name black veganism suggests, we believe our identification as black affects what our veganism will look like.Aph Ko and Syl Ko

Thus, Afro-veganism can be a powerful tool to help Africans decolonize their diets and reconnect with their ancestors, reclaim their food sovereignty, and resist systems of oppression, and finally, promote the creativity and richness of African foods and products on the international vegan scene.

Veganism is often associated with Western societies and whiteness, but plant-based diets were common in many African societies before European colonization. In fact, the massive consumption of meat is linked to the process of colonization. As Zimbabwean chef, pioneer of the Afro-vegan movement and founder of the African Vegan On A Budget movement, Nicola Kagoro, says:

I particularly think it’s important to spread veganism around Africa because it originated in Africa (…). Our ancestors didn’t eat as much meat. It is through colonization that we learned these crazy meat-eating practices.Nicola Kagoro 

Meat consumption was reserved for festivities because recipes based on animal proteins were associated with wealth and special occasions. Gradually, festive dishes became everyday dishes, and the menu of the wealthy became more democratic. This slow transformation of current African recipes illustrates that African dishes containing animal protein are not necessarily traditional, as some might claim. On the contrary, discovering how people ate before colonialism in Africa could be an effective way to decolonize African meals.

As food is an essential part of our identity and culture, these traditional plant-based, local, whole-food dishes offer a way to reconnect with the food of our ancestors by making us aware of the centrality of European and American products in our recipes, and how they have distorted our recipes, diets, and tastes. Not only colonization changed African diets, but also resulted in several development issues such as land access and ownership, wellness and health and crop diversity. As Tendai Chipara, a Zimbabwean plant-based blogger puts it:

The unfortunate thing that happened to us [as] a people was colonization which led to a massive change to our food production, access to land, and the emergence of processed foods.Tendai Chipara

On the health aspect, African diets were considered healthier than European diets according to a study by The Lancet in 2015. But with the opening of several fast-food restaurants in Africa, there is a major public health risk for Africans. There is a need to increase awareness of the dangers of processed foods, which African communities are particularly exposed to.

The quest for traditional recipes, products and ingredients is an important way for Africans to reappropriate their African history. Gastronomy touches on notions of transmission, cultural heritage, and the history of peoples and individuals. Afro-veganism allows us to propose other narratives around the cuisine of Africa. This movement embodies a return to the roots towards healthy products, which are an integral part of the African culinary heritage: roots, leaves, vegetables, seeds. It is also a way to counter the aura of superiority that surrounds Western food. This approach allows us to decolonize our visions of gastronomy and to give back to Afro descendants the pride of their origins.

Finally, Africans have a vested interest in turning to veganism to ensure that they retain control over their recipes, dishes, and stories in the context of the cultural appropriation of African culture in the realm of vegan gastronomy and entrepreneurship. Fortunately, there are many entrepreneurs, chefs, influencers, and activists spreading Afro-veganism around the world, such as Glory Kabe, Afia Amoako, Aurore Nameni, Charlotte Polifonte, Marie Kacouchia, or Phoebe Dunn, linking veganism, the fight against all forms of oppression, climate activism and feminism. They all manage to illustrate the inventiveness, diversity, depth, originality, and abundance of African plant-based cuisines. They brilliantly demonstrate that when it comes to afro-vegan cuisine “Less is More”.

But these leaders will need the work of other actors to generalize plant-based diets on the continent. Strong cooperation from the Afro-vegan ecosystem will be needed to move African diets toward the adoption of more whole and local plant-based foods, including investors, entrepreneurs, educators, and governments.

Veganism needs to be recentered on Africa.

African veganism is on the move.