#64 - Bryant Terry on Getting In Your Own Way, Quieting Your Mind and PMA (Positive Mental Attitude)

Bryant Terry is a James Beard & NAACP Image Award-winning chef, educator, and author renowned for his activism to create a healthy, just, and sustainable food system. He is editor-in-chief of 4 Color Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House and Ten Speed Press, and he is co-principal and innovation director of Zenmi, a creative studio he founded. In 2015, he was named the inaugural Chef-in-Residence for the Museum of the African Diaspora in San Francisco.

His newest book, Black Food, has just been released – a visual and spiritual feast of recipes, art, and stories from over 100 black cultural luminaries.

Many know Bryant as the inspirational, artful, and inventive person that he is, trailblazing on many fronts from bridging the gap between black food and veganism in the cookbook space to exposing and celebrating the lost treasures and traditions of historical black culture .

But behind all this, Bryant has experienced a personal journey that has enabled all this work to come to fruition. It’s these life lessons and skills that we touch upon in this very authentic episode. You’ll hear Bryant talk about how important it is to manage you, so you don’t get in your own way, what his mom referred to as “blocking your blessings”. He also credits quiet in the sparking his potentiality at times when it laid dormant. And of course we talk about how he defines success. What I love most about Bryant is his keen self-awareness, and his unrelenting desire to show up in a way that resembles who he truly is in the purest sense. It’s that uncompromising purity that touches so many. 

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More on Bryant:

Bryant Terry is a James Beard & NAACP Image Award-winning chef, educator, and author renowned for his activism to create a healthy, just, and sustainable food system. He is editor-in-chief of 4 Color Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House and Ten Speed Press, and he is co-principal and innovation director of Zenmi, a creative studio he founded. Since 2015 he has been the Chef-in-Residence at the Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD) in San Francisco where he creates public programming at the intersection of food, farming, health, activism, art, culture, and the African Diaspora. His forthcoming collection of recipes, art, and stories entitled Black Food will be published by 4 Color Books/Ten Speed Press in the fall of 2021. In regard to his work, Bryant’s mentor Alice Waters says, “Bryant Terry knows that good food should be an everyday right and not a privilege.” San Francisco Magazine included Bryant among 11 Smartest People in the Bay Area Food Scene, and Fast Company named him one of 9 People Who Are Changing the Future of Food. 

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Connect with Bryant:

Website: https://www.bryant-terry.com/

Black Food: https://www.amazon.com/Black-Food-Stories-Diaspora-Cookbook/dp/1984859722

Twitter: https://twitter.com/bryantterry

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bryantterry

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For more from Host Pooja Mottl:  https://www.poojamottl.com/

Podcast Producer: https://www.go-toproductions.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/poojamottl

Instagram: 

https://www.instagram.com/poojamottl/

https://www.instagram.com/thecalmandfreepodcast/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/poojamottl/

Special thanks to:

Kris Kosach for voiceover: https://www.sites.google.com/view/textproserocknroll/home

Jessica Panian: for graphic design: https://www.jessicapanian.com/

Sufi Kaur for social graphics