Reggae to Ital Foods: the Earrth Science Foods Journey

At Reggae Cultural Movement, we understand that holistic (wholeness) health is part of reggae culture, and it is important to connect both worlds; that’s why we say wholeness. Knowing this, we support holistic (wholeness) health practitioners in our communities and will work to provide them with a platform to engage with us and share their wisdom. With that in mind, it is our honor to present our discussion with Chef Amenhetep Isra El, Founder of the Earrth Science Foods Foundation. An Ab Original Indigenous Peoples -Plant Powered Foods ministry and movement, developed in Oakland and the wider Bay Area, the Chicago Midwest, Georgia, and the Carolinas, that treats food as both science and sacrament.

According to Chef Amen, it is a combination of Rastafarian Ital principles, Indigenous Hebrew wisdom, and cutting-edge biochemical nutrition. Earrth Science Foods creates what it calls “Immortal Foods,” which are raw and plant-based, gluten and soy-free dishes, tonics, and mineral formulas designed to raise vibration, nourish mineral-deficient bodies, and support cellular healing.

Beyond prepared meals, it is a full “fooducation” project: a mobile kitchen, coaching practice, and seed-library initiative that teaches communities to grow non-GMO heirloom foods, reclaim food sovereignty, and align their diets with a New Earth/New Yahrushalahm vision of health, consciousness, and liberation.

Earrth Science Foods & the Reggae Roots Revolution

When I sat down with Chef Amen and asked him where his journey into food and liberation really began, he didn’t start with a cookbook or a restaurant. He starts with reggae.

“If it wasn’t for reggae culture music, I wouldn’t have known anything about this dietary system, this liberatory system,” he tells me. “I had to get into the reggae to even get to this.”

For Reggae Cultural Movement, that’s exactly the bridge we’re trying to highlight: how roots reggae, Ital food, and African/Indigenous knowledge come together as a living culture of healing and resistance. In this feature, we’re honored to spotlight Earrth Science Foods: an Indigenous Peoples Tribal Vegan Foods movement led by Chef Amen, a plant-based innovator whose work sits at the crossroads of science, spirituality, Ital Foods, and reggae culture.

This is not just a story about “eating healthy.” It’s about New Earth, New Yahrushalahm, Immortal Foods, and a literal Return to the Garden, for our bodies, our communities, and our future.

From Mississippi Soil to Beverly Hills Kitchens

Before Earrth Science Foods had a name, it was already alive in a Black Southern kitchen.

Chef Amen’s roots trace back to Mount Bayou, Mississippi, one of the first Black-founded towns in the U.S. His family were farmers and cooks, the Taylors and Joneses, people of the soil and the stove.

“We had gardens. They had me shucking corn, shelling purple-hull peas, dealing with poke greens,” he recalls. “I didn’t know at that time that was going to lead me up to always working with food.”

His father was a master meat cutter and cook. His mother, Willie Mae Taylor, was the queen of soul food. As the only son, he absorbed the kitchen as a second language. That early immersion led him into professional culinary training on Treasure Island, when it was still a Navy base. From there he entered the world most chefs dream about:

• High-end restaurants on Fisherman’s Wharf
• Spots like Scott’s Seafood
• Fast-paced fine dining in Beverly Hills, cooking for movie stars and elites

On paper, it looked like success. In his spirit, something was cracking.

The Lobster That Jumped Out of the Pot

Every revolutionary story has a moment of rupture. For Amen, it came in the form of a lobster.

Working in an upscale seafood restaurant, he was doing what line cooks are trained to do: drop live lobsters into boiling water. One day, he threw a lobster into the pot and it jumped right back out.

“From then on I felt that animal’s emotions,” he says. “The chef had to send me home for the whole day. I was like, ‘I can’t do this.’”

That moment was more than squeamishness. It was a spiritual intervention: a direct confrontation with the idea that food is just product, not life.

“Even for all the money I was making, I had a spiritual experience. I felt, ‘What if you throw a human in there?’ It connected me to the reality that all things are living beings.”

The lobster incident cracked open a door, and reggae pushed him through it.

Reggae: The Gateway to Ital, Rasta & Higher Food Science

While working in Los Angeles, Amen began frequenting reggae concerts and Jamaican restaurants. He noticed something about the Rastafarians he met:

“Their eyes were clear, their teeth were white. I wanted to know their dietary system.”

Reggae sound systems, Ital kitchens, and Rasta reasonings became his classroom. He absorbed the music and the message: Peter Tosh, Jacob Miller, Yellowman, Twinkle Brothers, The Gladiators, The Abyssinians, Mutabaruka and more.

By the time he reached San Francisco in the early ’80s and ’90s, reggae wasn’t just a sound, it was a spiritual curriculum.

He met serious Nazarene Rastafarians, including a master teacher from Panama, and a Samoan Rasta crew known as the One Love Posse. They painted his house white, hung a large picture of Haile Selassie, and laid out the foundations:

• The body as a temple
• Letting go of alcohol
• Ital food as a spiritual discipline
• Haile Selassie’s lineage and divinity

“I had to stay inside for a month and just get taught,” he remembers. “Rastafari is more than ganja smoking and people in the club shaking their butts. It’s a spiritual connection to us.”

Ironically, he doesn’t smoke weed himself, yet he defends the plant and deeply honors its role in Rasta and reggae culture.

From that foundation, he went deeper, not only spiritually, but scientifically.

Becoming a “Food Physician”

Once Amen stepped away from conventional kitchens, he didn’t just swap recipes; he rewired his entire understanding of food.

He dedicated himself to studying:

• Cellular biology
• Biochemical nutrition
• Human anatomy
• Food and blood types

“I became a food physician,” he says, matter-of-factly.

He cooked for people on Dr. Sebi-style detox protocols. He provided Ital food for Ramadan meals. He catered a Hebrew wedding featured in the Jewish Times, entirely plant-based. His kitchen became a crossroads where Rastafarians, Hebrew Israelites, Muslims, and other spiritual traditions could sit at the same table, unified by food that heals.

“My food ties into everybody,” he explains. “We can sit at the same table with healthy eating, Eat to Live, no matter what our group or doctrine says.”

Birth of Earrth Science Foods

In 2014, after nine years working at a culinary training center on the Navy base, where he was ultimately fired for trying to start a union, Amen drew a line:

“I literally said I did not want to work for other folks no more. I had culinary training. I could build my own.”

That’s when Earrth Science Foods was born in Oakland as a Black-owned, Indigenous Peoples Tribal Vegan Foods Business Association.

But he’s clear: this isn’t just “vegan food.”

Earrth Science Foods is built on several core principles:

• Plant-based, primarily raw or minimally cooked
• Gluten-free, soy-free, no processed oils
• Focused on alkaline, mineral-rich, “electrical” foods
• Designed specifically with melanin-rich bodies and our unique biochemical needs in mind

“It’s not just about eating healthy,” he says. “What’s the science behind eating healthy? How does it connect to your temple, to melanin, to carbon, to your divinity?”

For years, he was told he was “too radical.” He refused to serve soy, hybridized grains, and supermarket “Frankenfoods.” He insisted on wild rice instead of white rice, ancient millet instead of wheat, purple and black vegetables instead of processed comfort foods.

“People didn’t want to interview me. They wanted all the garbage,” he says. “But now people are waking up. They realize: we have to eat to live.”

Nu Earrth, Nu Yahrushalahm & Immortal Foods

Three concepts sit at the heart of Earrth Science Foods:

They’re not just poetic phrases; they’re dietary blueprints for a new way of living.

Nu Earrth & Nu Yahrushalahm

For Amen, New Earth and New Yahrushalahm are about a new planetary timeline, a shift where sickness, decay, and chronic disease are no longer normal.

“New Jerusalem is a new planetary timeline,” he explains. “In that energy, things like sickness, disease, and decay don’t belong.”

But to live in that frequency, we can’t keep eating as if nothing is changing.

Some pillars of Immortal Foods include:

“The body has to be at a certain frequency,” he says. “You can’t be eating McDonald’s, Chipotle, Kentucky Fried, and think you’re transitioning into New Earth energy. You need frequency food.”

What Are Immortal Foods?

Immortal Foods are high-vibration, life-giving foods that reduce the strain on the digestive system and increase the body’s electrical charge.

• Raw, living plant foods that minimize digestive burden
• Colloidal silver — “Mother Nature’s antibiotic,” an immune system ally and antimicrobial tool
• Colloidal gold — supports brain health, memory, and electrical conductivity
• Monatomic minerals — full-spectrum mineral nourishment for cells
• Avoiding gluten, processed oils, and highly acidic, low-frequency foods

Return to the Garden: Seeds, Soil & Food Sovereignty

“We’re the only species still overusing our digestive system,” he says. “If it doesn’t get a break, we won’t evolve. Immortal Foods help the body heal, build electricity, and step into that New Earth frequency.” He talks about people of African descent lacking key minerals like magnesium and iron, and how Immortal Foods are designed to re-mineralize and recharge melanin-rich bodies.

Immortal Foods aren’t just about survival, they’re about transformation.

When Amen says “Return to the Garden,” he isn’t only being metaphorical. He’s talking about literal gardens, urban, rural, guerrilla, and community-based.

He sees the modern food system, GMO seeds, lab-grown 3D-printed meat, and chemically fertilized crops as a global assault on our bodies and our future.

“They’ve messed up the entire food chain,” he says. “People don’t realize: food, water, and air are assets we’re supposed to pass to our children.”

His response? Build sovereignty from the ground up:

• He’s building a seed library with a target of 60 trillion non-GMO, heirloom seeds.
• He wants to donate seeds to Black and Indigenous communities, youth groups, and urban gardeners.
• He advocates for guerrilla gardening and non-GMO urban gardens as survival infrastructure.

“Right now, what we need to do is grow our own food,” he says. “Because you’re not going to be able to trust what’s on the shelves. Seeds and soil are freedom.”

This is where his work intersects powerfully with environmental justice and liberation struggles: food not just as sustenance, but as strategy.

Fitness Foods, Healing Stories & Real-Life Impact

Earrth Science Foods isn’t an abstract theory. It’s food people eat-and feel.

Amen calls many of his offerings Fitness Foods: nutrient-dense plates and drinks that build strength and stamina without animal products.

He’s seen:

• Athletes and boxers at Lightning Boxing Club in Oakland report higher endurance, faster recovery, and more stable energy from his smoothies and fitness powders.
• A veteran with PTSD experience major shifts in energy and health after embracing his plant-based protocols.
• Families who’ve swapped out white rice and processed foods for wild rice, millet, and ancient grains feel less sluggish, more mentally clear.

He also points out that plant-based eating does not have to be elitist or prohibitively expensive. He teaches:

• How to shop smart, local markets, bulk buying, direct relationships with farmers.
• How to build plates that honor cultural traditions (stews, rice dishes, hearty meals) while upgrading ingredients.
• How to start with one practical change at a time instead of trying to overhaul everything overnight.

“People say plant-based is ‘not for us’ or too expensive,” he says. “But with the right education, you see it’s actually the path to sovereignty and survival.”

Reggae, Ital & the Soundtrack of Liberation

This interview is part of Reggae Cultural Movement’s Holistic Health focus because Amen’s work is reggae to the core, just expressed through pots and plates.

He reminds me that Bob Marley and Peter Tosh traveled with Ital chefs. He references songs that echo his message:

• Junior Reid — works that speak to unity and higher consciousness
• Black Uhuru — “Botanical Roots”
• Queen Makeda — “Don’t Eat Babylon Food”

He’s even written his own poetic work, like “Vegan Fly,” inspired by Curtis Mayfield’s “Super Fly,” reframing the idea of what it means to be “fly” in a culture of healing.

“Reggae was the first messenger,” he says. “It opened the door to Ital, to Rastafari, to seeing food as liberation. My work is just continuing that message on the plate.”

For Reggae Cultural Movement, that alignment is exactly why we see Earrth Science Foods and Ital Foods as reggae culture in action.

Reggae Cultural Movement x Earrth Science Foods

Our conversation is not just about storytelling, it’s about relationships and next steps.

Reggae Cultural Movement and Earrth Science Foods are exploring ways to:

• Feature Chef Amen’s work on our Holistic Health web section.
• Bring him in as a vendor and featured healer at Global Reggae Nights and other events.
• Co-create food + reggae pop-ups that combine live music, Immortal Foods, and food education.
• Support his seed library campaign and promote urban garden projects.
• Publish his writings, poetry, and recipes as part of a reggae-rooted food revolution series.

For me, as DJ Hatari, this is about more than just having “healthy food at the event.” It’s about aligning our sound systems, our kitchens, and our communities with the same liberatory frequency.

Practical Guidance for the RCM Community

I asked Chef Amen what he would say to someone reading this who feels called to change their diet but doesn’t know where to start.

He suggests starting small but intentional:

1. Swap one staple. Replace white rice with wild rice or millet a few times a week. Feel the difference in energy and digestion.

2. Add one “living” component. Include a daily fresh salad, juice, or raw snack-unprocessed, colorful, loaded with minerals.

3. Cut one thing that drags you down. Pick one thing: soda, fast food, processed meat, or heavy fried snack foods-and experiment with letting it go for 30 days. Notice how your body responds.

From there, you can build toward deeper practices: exploring colloidal silver, learning to grow a few herbs or vegetables, and gradually shifting your plate toward foods that bring you life instead of stealing it.

A Final Word from Chef Amen

When I ask him what he wants to say directly to the Reggae Cultural Movement family, he pauses, then speaks with clarity:

“I’m ready to rejoin and energize the reggae community through food, through seeds, through healing. New Earth and New Yahrushalahm aren’t far-off ideas; they start with what’s on your plate, what’s in your garden, what’s in your spirit.

Return to the Garden. Return to your manna. Eat to live, and live to liberate.”

For those who want to connect with him, he invites people to reach out via Instagram at Earrth Science Foods (spelled with two R’s in “Earrth”), where you can learn about his supper clubs, coaching, seed work, and community events.

As the Reggae Cultural Movement, we’re honored to help amplify that signal. 💚💛❤️ One Movement. One Culture. One Love.

Originally published at https://reggaeculturalmovement.com.