Name: Brennan Gerald
Age: 25
Occupation: Captain of Expressive Frontier creative consulting, Dffrnt Wrld Deli Vegan/Raw Food Chef, Dffrnt Wrld clothing & accessories designer
Location: UPTown | Washington DC
Website: ExpressiveFrontier.com 

How long have you been vegan? And what inspired your journey?

I’ve been vegetarian since 2008, then I made the transition to vegan life in early 2009. By 2010 my detox path led to a mostly raw foods diet. When 2011 began I was first developing my vegan/raw food chef trade. All along the way, my unparalleled love for self served as my inspiration and constant reminder to maintain optimal health. In 2008 I was fortunate enough to be aligned with research from master teachers such as: Dr. Jewel Pookrum, Dr. Sebi, Queen Afua, Dr. Lliala Afrika, Bobby Hemmitt and numerous others. The research provided the grounding I needed to hop out of the illusory world of desire and greed. I learned that you must love yourself first, if you can ever hope to truly love another. So I guess you could say love inspired my journey…

Has veganism enhanced your health? Why or why not?

You have negative life force choices on one end of the spectrum and you have positive life force choices on the other. Let’s first explore the negative life force choices: Poor eating habits cause symptoms, poor exercise habits cause signs, distress causes dis-ease, drug abuse causes disability, all negative life force choices point to premature death. NOW, on the other end of the spectrum we have the positive life force choices such as: optimal nutrition leads to increase in energy, optimal exercise leads to increased vitality, optimal inner/outer balance leads to a positive attitude, optimal socio-economic development leads to increased self-worth…as we can see with my comparison reaching a new high level of wellness increases optimally healthy feelings. Negative life force choices are affiliated with the “sick care system” while positive life force choices are affiliated with the “health care system”. I’ve simply chosen the system that seems most reasonable for my African bio-chemical make up.

In retrospect, how do you feel about meat? Or do you have any thoughts on America’s meat industry?

Well…its simple, almost child like to understand. The food we consume MUST have a bio-chemical affinity with our cellular structure.Basically we have to eat the food that’s meant for us! Take for example the Gorilla placed in Africa and the Polar Bear placed in Alaska. If you were to put these animals in the opposite environment that was set forth for them, what would happen? The Gorilla in Alaska would die with pneumonia in less than a fort-night. Place the Polar bear in Africa, you’ll find he’d succumb to the heat as unbearable because his cells were not designed to live in an environment such as Africa because it is hot. But what about the FOOD of the Gorrilla and the FOOD of the Polar Bear??? Well we find that the food of the Gorilla are berries, plants, and leaves; fruits. The diet of the Polar Bear on the other hand is flesh and blood. Lastly we look at the BEHAVIOR of these two animals. You’ll find the Gorilla to be a pleasant animal, not so for the Polar Bear. This animal eats blood, he has to kill to live, because blood compels that animal to be viscous and savage. I would go on, but I think the picture’s been painted.

Was there a community of black men that helped you along your meatless journey? And if not, what are you doing to change this for others?

The Blue Nile community wellness center on Washington DC’s historic Georgia Avenue was the much needed support I needed in this journey. I also formed a Dffrnt Wrld Wellness Division where like minded individuals in DC would link and exchange wellness information. All are welcome.

Are you a vegan, vegetarian, or pescatarian? Email arielle@frugivoremag.com if you’d like to be featured in the Black Male Vegetarian Series. Check back every Wednesday for a new profile! Click to read past profiles here.

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16 Comments

  1. Motivation!

  2. I love these Black vegan articles. But what I realize is that there is a large black vegetarian/vegan community in DC. This makes me more excited to go back to school. Knowing that DC has this large vegan community, makes the transition to veganism even easier. 🙂

  3. Excellent bredren. Very well articulated.

  4. Wow. this inspired me to change my life. I used to love fried chicken but after researching some of the master teachers you listed I see how horrible that really is for my body. Thank you
    ps. where can I find some of the Dffrnt Wrld deli items?

  5. Congrats of course!!

  6. Truly inspiring Captain, a real trailblazer in a world of followers. I guess thats why we live in a Dffrnt World.

  7. love for self means you can love others, I love this

  8. Powerful article. If it wasn’t for you dropping knowledge, I may have still been consuming animals. Good looking out man.

  9. Amazing read… You broke it down to a cellular level. Give thanks for the inspiration and vegan uplift! Keep rising

  10. Congrats and well spoken brah. You def have been influential in my change to becoming a vegetarian.

  11. Give thanx for the positive message! It’s a beautiful life when you eat to live, people don’t understand what harms they do to their body when they simply live to eat. Brennan has definitely been an inspiration to me on my journey to better living. Thanks for the wonderful interview!!

  12. Tough article, my naga be on his steez hard body!

  13. You still at Highlands? I need to come by for one of those vegan dinners soon!

  14. Captain keeps it all the way live with his delicious raw/vegan foods one queen says “intoxicates the people”. I have had the pleasure of trying a variety of his delightful dishes. Each meal is prepared with love and you can taste it. Knowing that the ingredients in each dish are completely healthy makes each bite that much better! Give thanks for his light!

  15. You’ve come a long way from Bennie’s and the Mansion…it’s always inspiring to see progress.

  16. You definitely took the words out of my mouth. I feel the same way. Loving yourselve for every is the beginning of a life long relationship. Thanks for all your help in my transition.

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