Vegan soul food: Down-home cooking goes meatless

"The Earth is very intelligent and knows exactly what we need," he said. Summertime fruits and vegetables, for example, have a higher water content, which makes them lighter and easier to digest. One of his favorite summertime recipes, for instance, is cucumber-watermelon soup with pickled watermelon-rind salsa.

Terry's book also comes with a suggested soundtrack for every meal. It begins with "Thankful," written by Terry's uncle, Don Bryant. A fan recently put a playlist of all the suggested songs on iTunes.

"Growing up we would have delicious food at family gatherings, singing and dancing," Bryant Terry said. "Those things are intimately tied together for me. I wanted to share that with readers. That spirit around the intersection of food and music."

Putting a healthy twist on soul food couldn't come at a better time. The federal Centers for Disease and Control reports that 66 percent of adults over 20 in the United States are obese or overweight.

In the African-American community, the statistics are even more alarming. The federal Office of Minority Health says that 78 percent of African-American women and 60 percent of African-American men are obese or overweight.

Terry said that the most important message eaters of all types and ethnicities should take away from his book is that healthy eating works for a variety of cuisines.

"I just hope," he said, "to get people eating real food, increase consumption of plant-based food and complicate the understanding of what African-American cuisine is." *