Jackson Free Press

The Center for Art & Public Exchange at the Mississippi Museum of Art recently announced the release of two new publications made through support from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. The publications are titled "CAPE Toolkit" and "Compassion, Art, People and Equity: The Story of the Center for Art and Public Exchange at the Mississippi Museum of Art."

CAPE Managing Director Monique Davis created CAPE Toolkit, which is a digital publication that offers a model intended to guide institutional transformation by investigating equity, transparency and truth in a community, a release from CAPE says. CAPE Toolkit is available on the Museum’s website.

Art critic and writer Seph Rodney wrote "Compassion, Art, People, and Equity: The Story of the Center for Art and Public Exchange at the Mississippi Museum of Art," which describes CAPE’s establishment, its partners and participants and its signature programs. The 21-page softcover book is available on the Museum’s website (https://www.msmuseumart.org/cape-resources/).

Meals That Heal, Plant-based Menu

Meals That Heal (612 N. Farish St.), a restaurant with an entirely plant-based menu, opened for business in Jackson on Aug. 29. Husband and wife Yasmin Gabriel and Eric Collins opened the restaurant together with their friend Detrice Roberts and chose Aug. 29 as the opening day because it coincides with the Haitian Revolution, a successful insurrection by self-liberated slaves against French colonial rule in what is now Haiti.

"My husband and I are of Haitian descent and were even married there," Gabriel says. "The Hatian Revolution represents the first successful Black revolution and place of freedom in the Western Hemisphere, and we wanted to open our restaurant on a day that signified Black freedom."

Gabriel and her husband also own Herbal Blessings (614 N. Farish St.), an herb shop located right next door to their new restaurant. The spark to open a restaurant came when Roberts, who suffers from asthma, decided to switch to a plant-based diet.

"A plant-based diet is good for your health, but there aren't many options for that in Jackson," Gabriel says. "Some restaurants have a few vegan or vegetarian options, but they're often processed foods. Our goal is to bring fresh and healthy food to Jackson that tastes just as good as what people are used to."

The menu at Meals That Heal includes vegan tacos and burritos, beet burgers, black bean burgers, pecan meat spaghetti, plant-based gumbo, kale wraps, baked cauliflower wings, Creole greens, butternut squash macaroni and cheese, Berber cabbage, spring rolls and more. Meals that Heal does not use any white sugars, butter or heavily processed items in any of its dishes.

Meals That Heal is open Tuesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. for lunch and 4:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. for dinner. For more information call 662-314-7739 or visit mealsthatheal601.com.

The Village at Livingston Under Construction in Jackson

Developers and City of Jackson officials held a groundbreaking ceremony for a new project called “The Village at Livingston” on Thursday, Oct. 21. Retail Specialists is overseeing the development, which is slated to bring 195 to 200 new homes to Jackson along with commercial and retail space for hotel and grocery users.

The Village at Livingston will feature traditional-styled homes and a common area greenspace within the neighborhood for resident’s use. The development, located off Livingston Road and Woodrow Wilson Avenue, is a redevelopment of the former Hood Furniture Manufacturing facility.

Retail Specialists is developing The Village at Livingston together with Prominence Homes, which is constructing the new homes. Benchmark Engineering is serving as the project engineer for the development, and Construction Services, LLC, will perform the site work for the project.