I was born to eat healthy.  Chef Gregory Brown is almost strange to me.  I had no intentions to become a chef.  I fell into it by necessity.  I’ve always had the vision to own a restaurant that catered to the health conscious crowd, but early on never really know how it would manifest.  I became a vegetarian in the late 90’s…cold turkey…pardon the pun.  I found a cook book on vegetarianism and decided to clean out my refrigerator and cabinets of all animal products and be a vegan.  The only issue was I had never cooked like this before and some of the foods in the book were completely new to me.  I was always taught that you can learn anything and with that mentality, I began to teach myself how to cook.  After several years, a friend called me and asked if I knew any vegetarian chefs.  She was part of a marketing group that was putting on an event in Baltimore called Jazzy Summer Nights; which consisted of a free jazz concert every first Thursday throughout the summer.  She stated that there was a request for vegetarian options for some of the patrons and musicians.  I agreed to ask around however after speaking to a couple of chefs, they felt as though there was not enough of a vegetarian market.  As I called her back to relay the news, I thought to myself, let me give it a try.  At the time, I had never cooked for more than two people.  I called it The Vegetarian Kitchen.  We were a success and sold out of food every night.  No matter how much food we brought out, we sold out every time.  I then saw this as a great opportunity to market my own restaurant idea.  I took a couple of years to research and put together a business plan and we returned with The Land of Kush.  I study the history of the African Diaspora from time to time and Kush itself is an ancient African civilization.  I wanted to bring ancient and natural concepts to our modern society.  I felt as though the name Kush fit and added the “The Land” to invoke a sense of community.  Baltimore is the ultimate community city; a city of neighborhoods.  I wanted the restaurant to have its roots in a city of community.  Our next task was to expand the idea to larger festivals, so starting in 2008 we began cooking at the African American Heritage Festival and ArtScape.  After receiving even more positive feedback and creating some name brand recognition, we found a location in the Mount Vernon Community.  We look to officially open the doors to The Land of Kush in August of 2010.

 
Naijha Wright

A native New Yorker (South Bronx) and New Jerseyan (Newark). I am a people-person and have a strong focus on customer satisfaction.  Back in 1991, while living in New York, I promoted Nu Skin International skincare and nutritional products for a couple of years.  In 2000, while living in New Jersey, I started an entertainment company, “Now, Dat’s Comedy!” where I promoted and produced comedy and talent shows up until mid-2002.  The tragic events of 9/11 impacted my cushy word-processing position at a prestigious investment bank.  So I had to seek another corporate sponsor which is how I landed in Maryland by way of company relocation.  That’s when I met Greg.  We worked for the same company.  I was already conscious about healthy eating.  I was exposed to the way of life in my younger years (8 years old) while spending summers in The Berkshires (Massachusetts).  I was never really interested in cooking, though.  When Greg introduced me to the world of vegan and vegetarian lifestyles along with the idea of THE LAND of KUSH, that’s when I “got in, where I fit in”…..marketing and some baking!  Did someone say THE LAND of KUSH Bakery?!  Stay tuned!!!  We’ve been taking off ever since.