“People can see veganism as a new thing, but for many Caribbeans, it’s been a way of life for a while,” says Jordan Johnson, founder of vegan Caribbean takeaway Jam Delish.

Johnson founded the business in 2020 and has found an increased demand for Caribbean vegan dishes, and a desire to see more people of colour represented within mainstream vegan culture.

“People tend to think of veganism as yoga mums or something along those lines, but that’s not the case at all,” he said.

Ital cooking and the plant-based diets originated by people of colour over the years have arguably been the foundation of the vegan movement we see today – and while the representations of POC within the mainstream remain limited, we are seeing this slowly begin to change.

The Ital diet has been celebrating vegan culture since way before it became ‘cool’