artist. publisher. author.
bryant terry is a multidisciplinary artist, James Beard Award-winning chef, publisher, and author. Rooted in ancestral inspiration, his work encourages us to pursue a more healthful, just, and sustainable world. San Francisco Magazine included Bryant among 11 Smartest People in the Bay Area Food Scene, and Fast Company named him one of 9 People Who Are Changing the Future of Food. In regard to his work, terry’s mentor Alice Waters says, “bryant terry knows that good food should be an everyday right and not a privilege.”
From 2015 to 2022, he served as the inaugural Chef-in-Residence at the Museum of the African Diaspora in San Francisco, where he curated innovative public programming blending food, farming, health, activism, art, and culture.
terry is currently pursuing a degree in the MFA Program in Art at UC Berkeley. His studio practice investigates cycles of resilience, transformation, and liberation through an interdisciplinary approach that bridges cooking, sculpture, sound, mixed media, video, and social practice. At its core is an exploration of how art can catalyze individual and collective change while reckoning with historical legacies and systemic challenges. By blending conceptual rigor with material experimentation, he creates work that interrogates power structures, fosters dialogue, and imagines futures of shared empowerment and renewal.
terry has spoken at, exhibited his work at, and collaborated with institutions including the National Museum of African American History and Culture, Harvard University Graduate School of Design, The Hammer Museum, The Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, Stanford d.school, Birmingham Museum of Art, The Museum of the African Diaspora, The Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts, the Ross Art Museum, The Underground Museum, Worth Ryder Gallery.
As the founder and editor-in-chief of 4 Color Books, an imprint of Ten Speed Press and Penguin Random House, terry collaborates with visionary chefs, writers, artists, activists, and innovators of color to create visually stunning nonfiction books.
terry’s achievements in the publishing world include authoring five highly acclaimed cookbooks, editing and curating an anthology, Black Food, and serving as the editor of The Best American Food and Travel Writing 2025 (forthcoming). His work has earned him prestigious honors, including a James Beard Award, an NAACP Image Award, and an Art of Eating Prize. Black Food, received widespread praise and was hailed as the most critically acclaimed American cookbook of 2021. It secured spots on numerous esteemed lists, such as those by The New Yorker, San Francisco Chronicle, Boston Globe, The Washington Post, NPR, Los Angeles Times, Food52, and Glamour. Black Food was honored with the Art of Eating Prize, awarded to the best book about food each year.
Another notable work by bryant is Vegetable Kingdom, published in February 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. The book garnered both commercial success and critical acclaim, earning an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work, receiving James Beard and IACP award nominations, and being named one of the best cookbooks of all time by Food & Wine Magazine in 2024. terry’s Afro-Vegan was celebrated as one of the best vegetarian cookbooks of all time by Bon Appétit.
In 2023, terry teamed up with artist Joshua Gabriel to form the creative duo Saint State Street. Through their music, they weave a tapestry of influences, seamlessly blending soul-stirring spirituals, opera, traditional blues, post-bop jazz, 90s hip hop, trap, acoustic, and electronic elements. Their compositions are captivating and delve deep into the human experience, exploring themes of history, memory, family, resilience, and personal growth.
terry is a sought-after speaker and is exclusively represented by the Lavin Agency. He frequently presents keynote speeches at community events, conferences, and renowned universities such as Brown, Columbia, Stanford, Wesleyan, and Yale. He obtained his culinary education from the Chef's Training Program at the Natural Gourmet Institute for Health and Culinary Arts in New York City. Additionally, terry holds an MA in History with a focus on the African Diaspora from NYU, where he studied under Robin D.G. Kelly during his time as a Ph.D. student. He resides and works in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife and their two daughters.