Tag Soul

The community and church members behind the support of R.A.M.S. Kitchen carry their own stories about what motivated them to create healthy food options in the Highland community. 

R.A.M.S. Kitchen, an acronym for Really Amazing Meals With Soul, operates out of the Third Street Presbyterian Church at 605 N. Highland St. to provide healthy, soul food options.

The kitchen helps bring an oasis to a food desert by providing affordable and healthy food options to Highland residents, says Donyel Barber, the founder of R.A.M.S. Kitchen.

“Starting the kitchen was very personal for me considering my father was a renown cook

Over the weekend as Chicagoans dined at Black-owned restaurants to celebrate Juneteenth, one of its most iconic vegan restaurants celebrated a renaissance. Since 1981, Soul Vegetarian, the 75th Street restaurant that has been ahead of the curve, offering meat- and dairy-free items like protein tidbits, the barbecue twist, and veggie gyros, reopened on Saturday, June 19 with Mayor Lori Lightfoot presiding over a ribbon-cutting ceremony in Chatham.

For years the restaurant displayed a sign in the window reading “proudly Black owned.” It was closed since the pandemic and is now known as Soul Veg City. Co-owners and siblings Arel Brown