It’s time to start being more mindful and intentional about what we’re putting in our bodies.
As more Black people seek holistic approaches to health, alkaline eating is gaining momentum as a path to better energy, digestion, and overall wellness. Rooted in the belief that balancing the body’s pH levels can reduce inflammation, prevent disease, and promote longevity, this lifestyle emphasizes whole, plant-based foods, natural hydration, and a return to ancestral nutrition.
At the 2025 ESSENCE Festival of Culture, we had an insightful panel uncovering the rise of alkaline eating in the Black community, led by Queen Afua, an author, alternative medicine practitioner, wellness coach, and influential figure in Black veganism, along with her son, Legacy Torain. Today’s conversation centered on the benefits of an alkaline, plant-based lifestyle and the challenges of maintaining it. Speaker 2, a 43-year-old second-generation vegan entrepreneur, shared personal experiences of growing up vegan in the 1980s and the social pressures faced. The conversation emphasized the importance of maintaining a balanced alkalinity, the impact of diet on overall health, and the need for wellness advocates to support their families.
They stressed the importance of community support, the growing popularity of vegan products, and the need for strategic engagement with family during holidays. The session concluded with affirmations and declarations for wellness and healing.
The mother-and-son duo explained how clean eating has enhanced their lives, but kept it real about it being a spiritual journey. Queen Afua’s son, Legacy, kicked off the conversation. “I am a second-generation killer entrepreneur and a vegan plant-based chef. I’m 43 years your experiment, which includes chlorophyll, alkaline living, raw food, juicing, and plant-based living. And I came up at a time when the vegan lifestyle was not popular culture like it is now, and you have Whole Foods everywhere. You have more alternatives in the supermarkets these days, but back in the day, in the 80s, that was not the case,” he stated to the audience.
Queen Afua began to discuss their lifestyle commitment to alkaline eating over the years and underscored the benefits of being patient. “The main thing is to stay right in the hub, right in the middle, and I call that middle ground box, which is balance and harmony. And that’s what you have to work with every day, because you can become healthy one day and get unhealthy after a family reunion,” she said candidly and asked her son the following, “So being that you were raised on an alkaline lifestyle, was it easy for you to live this way?”
He responded, “No, it was not easy at all.” His challenges were being made fun of at school for not having a “traditional” lunch. His mother gestured to the audience, “I would say to you, and all the mothers that are in the room that are raising their children plant-based, I would say you have to be a wellness warrior. And fathers as well, right? So all the fathers and mothers in the room, if you want to raise your children plant based, you gotta be a wellness warrior, and what it means to be a wellness warrior as a parent is when a parent is very clear of their mission and purpose, what they are building, they’re intentional. You’re going against the grain of family and friends. People think you’re crazy,” she said.
Afua encouraged the women in the audience to stand and join her in a special affirmation. “Things have shifted, but we are now going to change to the higher ground, and I’m going to ask the women to stand. Yes, I’m going to give you an affirmation that our ancestors from the Nile Valley gave to us to empower us. This affirmation is to help remind you of who you are. You’re all healers. You have a mission. Your family has. Diabetes, high blood pressure, arthritis, aches and pains, obesity, and the immune system are challenged. STDs are running rampant. Herpes is becoming the norm. We’re becoming more infertile. We have issues. Who’s here right now? You’re at the front line,” she stated.
Afua concluded, “The wellness salute means that you’re going to take this wellness by your hands, because it’s going to be your juicing, your blending, your cutting, your dicing, your hydrating, and you want to put nothing but life in your body. So if you put clean and alkaline foods, you will have insurmountable power, energy, and majesty. And doors that will close will open, and doors that need to shut will be shut. You don’t have to go back and say, I’m not repeating the same cycle. So for the women, because the women are the primary healers of the family in the home.”