By Caylee Caldwell
On Feb. 11, through an online Zoom conference hosted by The Outback Farm, Destiny Dejesus and Amy Quichiz from the organization Veggie Mijas joined Western students to discuss decolonizing veganism.
The Outback Farm partnered with the Sustainability, Equity, and Justice Fund and Western Alumni Association to host Dejesus, Quichiz and Caitlin Paddock, Outback engagement coordinator, to talk about “hood politics and food sovereignty.”
Dejesus, community organizer for Veggie Mijas, is a plant based activist with her own brand, Eat Yo Destiny, that is committed to educating people on the possibilities of being vegan on a budget. Quichiz, founder of Veggie Mijas, dedicated her career to bringing awareness to the Latinx community and fighting against gender violence and discrimination.
Quichiz first came up with the idea that would become Veggie Mijas in 2018 with the goal of bringing together vegans of color. It began with a simple Google sheet of information, collecting people’s contacts with no idea how big it would someday become. By 2020, Veggie Mijas had over 10 chapters in all different cities around the United States with plans to go international.
“At first, Veggie Mijas was just an Instagram page where folks could just share recipes, and then out of nowhere I just felt, like, really lonely and I wanted more vegan friends,” Quichiz said. “And then I created a spreadsheet where I was like ‘hey, does anyone want to share more than just recipes’ … and I started creating a list of people in different states.”
Veggie Mijas is now an organization of women, non-binary and femmes of color who value a plant based diet while also discussing race, gender identity, class and sexuality. The goal and passion of the organization is to spread awareness of the lack of available healthy resources in lower income communities as well as animal liberation and environmental justice. Their mission is to create safe places where people can share their experiences with specifically plant based diets connection with marginalization.
Veggie Mijas shares plant based recipes and other resource suggestions like Food Finder, Why Hunger and Our Calling App on their website and their Instagram, @veggiemijas.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic began, Veggie Mijas hosted events such as beach cleanups, healing circles, flea markets, hiking trips and many other things. With lockdowns now in place, the organization has found new ways to bring people together with community fridges and virtual book clubs, healing circles and cooking demos among other activities.
“I will always remember when we went to the Bronx to clean up a garden, and so many folks were like ‘wow, I didn’t even know there was a garden there because it was so hidden,’ or just people didn’t notice … and people were so excited to go there and be in their community,” Quichiz said.
There are some important distinctions within this community and organization that Quichiz and Dejesus made sure to cover in their presentation. Veganism, complete elimination of the consumption or use of animal products, and plant based diets, elimination of animal products from one’s diet, are two of the terms that were covered, as people very often mix up their meanings.
“We can’t really talk about colonizing veganism without talking about what actual intersectional veganism is. Unfortunately, the mainstream media version of veganism is not intersectional, but an intersection of veganism really looks like just really recognizing that food is political,” Dejesus said.
Dejesus addressed the term “white veganism”, a term that can be dangerous with the idea of food sovereignty. “White veganism” ecompasses ideas of prioritizing animal welfare over human welfare such as farm workers or marginalized peoples with less access to vegan products.
“We cannot compare a life of a human being, especially a person who is a person of color, to the life of a chicken or a pig,” Dejesus said.
White veganism can lead directly into food colonialism, which is a lack of respect and recognition of where food comes from or the culture behind it. This can be changed by eating local or giving credit to local businesses, which many people don’t understand.
Oftentimes, neighborhoods and cities have fewer local businesses and more chain restaurants or quick eats, which makes it hard for the community to access fresh food and resources. This lack of resources is called a food desert.
“I think it’s really important to note that the BIPOC community has been eating a plant based diet for centuries, like for years. This is not something new,” Dejesus said.
With that information, it is easier to understand what exactly food sovereignty actually is. Food sovereignty is having access to food and having a say in what food is available to you and your community. It is an acknowledgement of what the community truly needs rather than creating chain restaurants and fast food places.
To give communities this food sovereignty, Veggie Mijas creates community gardens, community fridges and provides vegan meals for protesters in different cities across the United States. These resources will build food justice that they hope to share with as many people as they can, creating a view of food that sees healthy options as a human right for all people.
“We think about lands and we think about people and we think about space, but we don’t talk about food and food is very important when it comes to colonialism. I think food is the connector, everybody has a different relationship with food,” Dejesus said.
Veggie Mijas doesn’t just provide resources though, they also talk about ways that everyone can help the food justice movement. The first step in moving towards food sovereignty is to ask questions. Everyone should question the circumstances that involve their food as that consciousness will create a healthy environment for the community. Being conscious creates awareness for necessary change or for volunteering, awareness for limits and reliance.
“Just be sure to ask the community what it is that they need, you know, and I wish that this is something that bigger corporations would take the time to do. Unfortunately, a lot of times, they don’t,” Dejesus said.
Western is also trying to spread awareness and resources for their students on food justice.
“Western Washington University has started expanding food pantries here for the students, so we do weekly pop ups for students,” Paddock said.
There is also a Veggie Mijas chapter in Seattle and Paddock encourages students to get involved or consider starting a smaller chapter in Bellingham.
“Food is power, food is political,” Dejesus said.