PBS’ “TO THE CONTRARY” Woman Thought Leader Tracye Mcquirter Host: Bonnie Erbe Sept 18th, 2019 Interviewee: Tracye McQuirter Announcer 0:00 Funding for To The Contrary provided by the Cornell Douglas foundation committed to encouraging stewardship of the environment, land conservation, watershed protection and eliminating harmful chemicals. Additional funding provided by the Wallace genetic Foundation, Colcom Foundation and the Charles A. Frueauff Foundation. Tracye McQuirter 0:01 You're more likely to see advertising from fast food companies. They want to take the money where they can get it. But the cost of that is consumers of their products actually being bombarded with these messages from these unhealthy companies. Bonnie Erbe 0:15 Hello, I'm Bonnie Erbe. Welcome to To The Contrary. This week, veganism in the black community. We speak with award-winning nutritionist and best selling author Tracye McQuirter. Her newest book is called Ageless Vegan, the Secret to Living a Long and Healthy Plant Based Life, written with her mother, Mary. So welcome Tracye. Great to have you here. Tracye McQuirter 0:56 Thank you, Ronnie. Great to be here. Bonnie Erbe 0:58 So whose idea was this book, yours or your mother's? Tracye McQuirter 1:01 It was mine. It was my idea. My mother was reluctant. Because she's like, who wants to hear my story? But, you know, she's a black woman who started, who's from the south who went vegan in her 50s and it's now 83 and doing great, still vegan, so I wanted to share her story. Bonnie Erbe 1:17 And how did you become vegan? Tracye McQuirter 1:20 I became vegan 32 years ago, as a sophomore at Amherst College. Our Black Student Union brought Dick Gregory to campus and to talk about the state of black America. And instead he talks about the plate of black America and how unhelpfully most folks eat. And he traced the path of a hamburger from a cow on a factory farm through the slaughterhouse process, to a fast food restaurant to a clogged artery to a heart attack. And that's what started me on my journey. Bonnie Erbe 1:56 Do you think, given that heart diseases, the biggest killer in this country, bigger than all cancers combined, do you think Americans have gotten that message that connects animal fat with heart disease? Tracye McQuirter 2:12 It's improving. I mean, I think more and more people are getting the message, but clearly not enough. We're dealing with marketing, food advertising, we're dealing with a USDA and food guidelines that are biased towards, you know, industry towards the food industry, not necessarily promoting health, but promoting the food industry, right? That's their job. And so we have this contradiction there. The message is getting out more and more, I mean, I see the difference in the last 32 years from when I started. But, you know, there's more to be done. Bonnie Erbe 2:58 Tell me about the differences if they exist between white people and communities of color, different communities of color, and vegetarian or veganism? Tracye McQuirter 3:09 As of 2016, 3% or nearly 1.5 million African Americans are vegan and vegetarian. And another 32% say that when they eat out, they regularly or sometimes order meatless meals. So that's an additional 15 million people. African Americans are pioneers in veganism. I mean, starting from the late 1800s, to African Americans who were Seventh Day Adventist, were eating vegetarian food on up through the civil rights movement, because of the practice of non-violence, many folks actually expanded that non violence towards animals. So in terms of the need for African Americans to eat more plant based foods, whether it's, you know, more all the way going vegan, it's to me essential, because we have the worst health outcomes in the country, there are about 300,000 African American deaths from primarily chronic diseases, preventable diet related chronic diseases every year. That's more than 800 people a day. And so this is a real crisis in our community. And there are lots of reasons that people are eating unhealthy foods, but we also have the power to take back control of our health. //And that's how did Gregory became a vegetarian starting in 1965, and then vegan in 1967. So when he came to my campus, 20 years later, he was he had been vegan for 20 years. So, you know, there's always been this, what I call a stream of African Americans who have been into veganism and healthy eating next to this big river or ocean of folks, you know, who were not, but you know, that number is improving. Bonnie Erbe 5:05 I've often thought dying of heart attacks at young ages must be associated with eating a lot of animal fat and hardening of the arteries, etc. Is that accurate? Tracye McQuirter 5:14 Yes, definitely. I mean, it's the number of heart disease. It's the number one cause of death among African Americans as well. There's certain cancers, breast cancer, ovarian cancer, uterine cancer, there's stroke, there's unhealthy weight, obesity, there's diabetes. And there's also oxidative stress, right? So oxidative stress can be caused by diet, it's kind of resting of the cells prematurely, that can be caused by diet, but that can also be caused by racism and sexism, right? External factors. Bonnie Erbe 5:49 Stress. Tracye McQuirter 5:50 Stress. Absolutely. Bonnie Erbe 5:53 But a lot of what you've said is also true. The white community, yes, not so much the Asian community, they tend to eat more better, I think, than just about any other ethnic group in this country, including whites. Tracye McQuirter 6:32 Well, you know, what's really interesting about that to Bonnie is that before fast food companies began to target African American communities, urban areas, African Americans were actually meeting the USDA recommendations for fiber for healthy fats for whole grains for fruits and vegetables more than white Americans were. So this is in the 1960s. And then the fast food companies decided to target and actually prey on low income communities of color, particularly African American communities starting in the early 1970s. And that completely changed the way that low income black folks in cities were eating. Bonnie Erbe 7:17 I was, it's funny, because I was going to ask you whether fast food was a factor in African Americans eating, you know, having these problems? And have you done, have you tried to do any work with these companies to? I mean, you always see McDonald's. Tracye McQuirter 7:35 Yeah. Bonnie Erbe 7:35 Sponsoring McDonald's, Ronald McDonald Houses in low income areas, you see them targeting them, and Coke and Pepsi and targeting black communities with ads, with ads during sporting events that attract African Americans more so. What can be, you know, have you had discussions with them about knocking this off? It's a hard question for a lot of organizations and companies at school systems, because they're underfunded, right? And so and they're not getting the same funding that primarily white organizations or institutions might get, and in terms of African American media, you know, over the decades, that has been the same, you're more likely to see advertising from fast food companies at an earlier time from cigarette industries, because they didn't get the funding. They didn't get other advertising that the primarily white media was getting. They want to take the money where they can get it. But the cost of that is African American consumers of their products actually being bombarded with these messages from these unhealthy companies. According to a 2016 poll by the Pew organization, so 9% of Americans will say that they are vegetarian, almost vegetarian, or vegan or almost vegan combined. That still seems low to me, when I see the huge increase of vegetarian and vegan restaurants across the country. Some even becoming chains like not sweet green, which is healthy food, not... Tracye McQuirter 10:49 Vege grill as an example. Bonnie Erbe 10:50 Right exactly. So you said 32% of African Americans, if you include an occasional vegetarian meal or vegan meal. Tracye McQuirter 11:01 Right, so these restaurants that you're seeing more of, they are actually catering to vegans and vegetarians, but primarily to omnivores, right? That's why you're seeing more. So just like a third of African Americans are ordering meatless meals, you know, when regularly or sometimes, so was the general population. Bonnie Erbe 11:27 How important are things like books like your book, which I want to talk about in a couple of minutes, and your pamphlet and documentaries about the food industry? I remember when I was still eating pretty much all dairy products. Somebody told me about the there was a documentary out about dairy product that they mixed, I don't remember what it was. But I think it was something it showed how the dairy industry would mix germs, germs that came out of the cows that didn't get out through pasteurization, or fats that contain germs back in with the milk before when they processed it and all the awful things then, and I realized, Hey, I gotta quit this stuff, too.