Culinary Climate Action, Food Justice and the Revolution in Our Gardens
Excerpts from an Exclusive Interview with
DJ Cavem by Sway on Sway’s Universe
Edited by DJ Cavem* with the editorial assistance of Daniel Banks**
Abstract
Dr. Ietef “DJ CAVEM” Vita is an eco-Hip Hop artist and vegan chef based in Sausalito, California. In 2007, he coined the term “eco-Hip Hop” and set in motion a global movement to rap about what he calls Culinary Climate Action. On April 29, 2024, DJ Cavem appeared on the SiriusXM interview program “Sway’s Universe” to share his ideas about how the Hip Hop community can spearhead climate awareness. Jonathan Ahmad Calloway, known as Sway, is a well-known American radio and television personality, journalist and former rapper known for hosting music, news and culture programming. “Sway’s Universe” is broadcast out of the SiriusXM studios in New York City. The link to the full interview on YouTube is here. The edited excerpts below come from the transcripts of that interview.
Keywords: eco-Hip Hop, Culinary Climate Action, sustainable culture, environmentalism
Sway: [Round of applause.] Me and this man have been rocking for years now. I’ve been in his home and, let me tell you, he can cook! True story. I sat down with this man, built with him and broke bread in his home. He’s been on this show before, always keeping in touch, always patient. And that kind of patience, to me, shows emotional intelligence on many levels.
But more than that, he’s a necessary presence in our culture. Through Hip Hop, he’s been making people aware of climate change, plant-based foods and food justice. His activism has been intentional and relentless. He’s worked with so many of our friends Public Enemy, Questlove, 2 Chainz, even Nick Jonas. He’s opened up for them on tour.
I see him all over the world. He recently moved to the Bay Area–Sausalito, to be exact–and we bumped into each other at a Roots concert. Still on message, still full of purpose, and radiating that same great energy. With Earth Day coming up, I knew we had to bring him back on the show to have this conversation.
The one and only Dr. Ietef, aka DJ Cavem, is back![1]
DJ Cavem: What’s up, man? How you doing? Yeah, I’m in it. It’s been a big year, Hip Hop turning 50, you know what I mean? But right now, I feel like we’re in a really good space. I’m celebrating environmental Hip Hop and culinary climate action. And big shout-out to the ancestors and elders for paving the way.
Environmental Hip Hop and culinary climate action . . . break that down for the people.
DJ Cavem: Man, when I started thinking about how to address climate change, I realized straight up we need to be in the garden. We need to start growing our food.
Instead of just planting grass, why not grow food? That’s one of the best ways to sequester carbon from the atmosphere while feeding our communities and creating green jobs. It’s real revolution work.
The revolution is in the food.
DJ Cavem: True.
One of the conversations we had when I was at your home really stuck with me. You talked about food justice and the discrimination within the food industry. Break that down again for the people.
DJ Cavem: Man, growing up, the freshest thing I could find in my neighborhood was a lemon from the liquor store. That’s real. That’s redlining in our communities.
We had elders who knew how to grow food, but they were trying to escape the trauma of what felt like a return to slavery. That internalized oppression made a lot of people turn away from farming. But we have to shift that mindset. We have to recognize that indigeneity is power.
Our elders hold ancient wisdom that can solve modern problems. We need to reconnect with that. But look at how things have changed back in the day, families had access to land in urban communities. Now everybody’s living in apartments, and nobody knows how to grow anything. So, I’m all about getting in that soil.
So, the real revolution? It’s in our health. If we take care of ourselves, we take care of the Earth. It’s all connected. That’s real love.
That’s real love, man. Alright, give it up for my man, DJ Cavem!
Now, one of the things Cavem does, he just walked in here and handed us packets of seeds. Heather, what did you get?
Heather B (co-host): I got kale, arugula, beets and tomatoes.
See? Some artists sell merch t-shirts, hoodies. But you hand out seeds. Why is that? How has it been received?
DJ Cavem: The revolution shouldn’t be hungry.
I believe we have to put our money where our mouth is. So, I started organizing with community leaders, CSA [Community-Supported Agriculture] and urban farmers to distribute these seeds alongside my music. Every pack has a QR code on the back that links to growing instructions. I want people to know that they can grow food for themselves.
If you love your hood, grow for your hood.
It’s not just about giving people food, it’s about showing them how to grow it, so they can harvest and re-grow it.
This all started with Plant-Based Records making beats out of beets, you feel me? I even did a TED Talk about it. Then, I took it a step further growing food, growing instruments, growing change.
Culinary climate action is about feeding yourself, feeding your family and realizing that food is medicine. Even if you’ve only got a windowsill or a closet, you can still grow something. And that remediation is really important. If you see things growing in your neighborhood and the land ain’t being used, it’s probably something that you can work with. If you see something growing, that means you can grow too. So that’s the concept. Take over the plots, you know what I mean? By all greens necessary.
One of my mentors, elder Brian Terry, and I were working on this workshop called our Recipes for Resistance (see here). It was one of the culinary climate action workshops where I actually would make beats with all the ingredients and then he would make a recipe with the ingredients right after we’re done with it.
I’m doing these workshops around the nation with artists as first responders, teaching people how to prepare food that’s locally grown, sustainably sourced, has that traceable source—how to forage, how to go into the mountains, how to do these herb walks and actually identify plants that are in our neighborhood because that’s really important. We got to have that ancient wisdom, that knowledge that our elders were really keeping on the tips of their tongues—and that we need to pass on to the next generation. We can do that through Hip Hop. We can write rhymes about it. If we can teach somebody wear their hat back, we can definitely show ’em how to harvest some kale.
And I think the conversation of what that looks like is create the access where it wasn’t, be able to put something subsidized in the hood where it wasn’t. If you don’t see food growing, grow it. If you don’t see the music that you love, create it. And I think that same mentally edible consciousness still goes in this conversation too.
Can you help the citizens connect dots in terms of how they can put forward action in their communities, in their neighborhoods, how they can transition the plots or the vacant homes? The vacant plots—how to engage with their city council, their local officials in order to convert that vacant space into green space. And talk about the idea of food justice, food deserts, food insecurities . . .
DJ Cavem: I think the conversation right now is food sovereignty. So, what does that look like to take the land back, as my little brother Xiuhtezcatl Martinez would always say. What you’re really asking about is: what can we do to stay more active? So, of course, you can compost. That’s one of the most important things to do right now because everybody is not really doing that conscious waste diversion that needs to happen. So, composting, recycling is one thing because, even if you don’t have a garden, it’s really about what’s going on in our landfills. And some of these major issues are the methane gas, what’s happening with climate change. You can easily take that back to the fact that we need to start at home.
When it comes down to just having access to the land, city council is one thing; but I’ve seen people create some seed bombs with some clay, put some sunflowers and just throw ’em. So, taking your land back by all means necessary definitely does look like–you can find some garden plots. You can definitely go into your city council meetings and actually set up ways to have nonprofits purchase the land and create a way you can get a water tap.
But if you ain’t got time for all that, find a local community garden. They might be able to actually show you where you can take your food scraps that you’re going to not use at home. You can go ahead and compost those. Sometimes, I blend mine—I throw that right back into my house plants. Sometimes, I’ll freeze dry them or put that in a NutriBiotic smoothie for your plants.
But some of the things I really feel like you should try outside of that is just: Get. In. Your. Space. Really try this deeper connection with the earth. Take your shoes off. Go hug some trees. Learn what nature sounds like.
Man, that’s powerful. The work you’re doing is changing lives.
DJ Cavem, everybody. The revolution is growing!
Endnotes
[1] Find more about DJ Cavem’s work by visiting his YouTube channel videos and his website.
*DJ Cavem (the following is adapted from his website): When DJ Cavem coined the term “eco-Hip Hop” in 2007, he didn’t know it would sprout into a global movement. His mission to rap about climate change, food justice and plant-based foods spread far beyond his Denver hometown. Having performed at the Obama White House and been featured in Oprah Magazine and on the Rachael Ray Show, Dr. Ietef “DJ Cavem” Vita became known as more than just a rapper—but an activist, educator and vegan chef.
From an early age, Cavem has been deeply connected to environmental activism and food justice. Raised in Denver’s Five Points district, often referred to as the Harlem of the West, his interest in gardening and Hip Hop helped him resist the snares of gang lifestyle. Becoming vegan at age 14, he said he felt a calling to speak about these issues in his songs, “especially since most of the neighborhoods considered food deserts were people of color.” His 2007 debut single “Wheatgrass” with rapper stic.man of dead prez hit the top ten on the charts in Spain and introduced him to the public as an OG (Organic Gardener). It led to his 2010 debut album, “The Teacher’s Lounge,” followed by 2012’s “The Produce Section,” which featured collaborations with Speech from Arrested Development, Drummi Zeb from The Wailers and Sa-Roc. Part album, part curriculum, “The Produce Section” offered lessons on organic gardening, plant-based recipes and alternate energy uses.
Cavem has traveled the world as a performing artist and an educator. He’s shared the stage with Nick Jonas, Public Enemy, 2 Chainz, Questlove and Wyclef Jean, among others. Offstage, he’s involved with numerous organizations and projects dedicated to promoting wellness, eating healthy and environmental awareness, which host health and wellness summer camps, Culinary Concerts and Recipes for Resistance workshops, which focus on culinary climate action.
Traveling the globe has given Cavem a fresh perspective on BIOMIMICZ. Released during International Compost Week, the EP is a precursor to a full-length album. It’s being issued as a seed pack—kale, arugula and beets—to be planted immediately. Come harvest, the full-length album will be packed with recipes for preparing meals with those vegetables. According to Cavem, BIOMIMICZ is about returning to basics with a sense of urgency:
Factory farms have destroyed the Amazon rainforest. Pesticides and herbicides have destroyed our soil and microorganisms and contaminated our water. Our oceans are becoming acidic, and we are losing the coral reefs. I hope my lyrics will inspire and educate. And I hope the seeds will be planted, literally.
**Daniel Banks is a director, deviser, dance dramaturg and community organizer. He is Co-Founder of DNAWORKS, which centers Global Majority and LGBTQQ2SPIAA+ voices and experiences to create more complex representations of identity, culture, class, and heritage through theatre, dance, film, writing, and art installation. Daniel has directed, led workshops and/or instigated projects in 39 states and 23 countries. He has served on the faculties of NYU, CUNY, Carnegie Mellon, Naropa, and as Chair of Performing Arts at the Institute of American Indian Arts. He is Founder of the Hip Hop Theatre Initiative and Associate Director of Theatre Without Borders. Daniel is Co-Convener and Board Co-Chair of Transform 1012 N. Main Street, a project repurposing the former Ku Klux Klan Auditorium in Fort Worth, TX, into The Fred Rouse Center for Arts and Community Healing.
Copyright © 2025 Daniel Banks
Critical Stages/Scènes critiques, #31, June 2025
e-ISSN: 2409-7411
This work is licensed under the
Creative Commons Attribution International License CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.
