Mykela Jackson, founder of Keiko’s Kitchen, began uplifting affordable plant food in majority Black communities in North Minneapolis as a pop-up shop with the local non-profit “Appetite for Change,” in 2018. 4 years later, she is now soft launching her first store in Minneapolis.
“In Minnesota, it's hard to go out to eat or go get food that's affordable,” said Jackson. “I noticed the systemic oppression against our people with not having affordable and accessible health foods. Within our neighborhoods, typically, there's just fast food, gas stations, or you know, things that actually harm our bodies instead of healing our bodies.”
Mykela says adopting a plant-based, alkaline diet - and staying away from acidic foods - was influential in retaining her mental health and overall well-being.
“Once I became vegan, a lot of things opened up for me,” Mykela reflected. “It changed my life, honestly. I used to be a person that will eat anything and I didn't realize that the food that I was eating was unhealthy. But in transitioning to the alkaline diet, my acne cleared up and my eczema got better. I'm just a lot more positive with how I see things and how I try to be with the world.”
Mykela says as an advocate for the plant-based movement and as a woman of color, she feels empowered in her connection to the world..
“A lot of people don't know that the plant-based movement is led by Black women,” she said. “A lot of Black women are actually vegan and transitioned to vegan, so it gives me a whole different perspective of what it means to be like the ‘mother of Earth,’ because Black women are the embodiment of the world.”
Keiko’s Kitchen is soft-launching at its new location in Uptown Minneapolis on August 27th at 2:30 pm. It will offer alkaline food, cold press juices, medicinal herbs, and plant education. You can find out more on Instagram.