Soul food is the quintessential comfort cuisine, yet the mere mention of it can bring thoughts of clogged arteries. Bryant Terry offers recipes that leave out heavy salt and refined sugar, "bad" fats, and unhealthy cooking techniques, and leave in the down-home flavor by using fresh, high-quality, healthy ingredients and cooking techniques.

Terry's new recipes have been created through the prism of the African Diaspora--cutting, pasting, reworking, and remixing African, Caribbean, African American, Native American, and European staples, cooking techniques, and distinctive dishes to come up with something familiar, comforting--and deliciously unique. Reinterpreting popular dishes from African and Caribbean countries as well as his favorite childhood dishes, Terry reinvents soul food--capitalizing on the complex flavors of the tradition, without the animal products.

Here is a sampling of the delicious recipes you'll find in Vegan Soul Kitchen: Uncle Don's Double Mustard Greens and Roasted Yam Soup, Red-Rocket Salad with Watermelon-Basil Vinaigrette, Roasted Plantain Pieces with Roasted Garlic-Lime Dipping Sauce, Black-Eyed Pea Fritters with Hot Pepper Sauce, Chilled and Grilled Okra, Corn, and Heirloom Tomato Salad, Butternut Squash-Bartlett Pear Soup with Roasted Butternut Squash Seeds, Little Potato and Sweet Potato Pancakes, Baked BBQ Black-Eyed Peas, and Coconut-Pecan Pralines.