[3] While at NYU, after hearing a hip-hop song about factory farming, he switched to a plant-based diet and started reading about early efforts to address food injustice.

[5] He then enrolled in the chef's training program at the Natural Gourmet Institute for Health and Culinary Arts in New York City.

[8] In 2002 he received a Community Fellowship from the Open Society Institute (Soros Foundation) to support b-healthy's work, in which he led chef-educators Ludie Minaya, Elizabeth Johnson, and Latham Thomas in reaching out to thousands of youth in the United States.

[12] Among his national radio and television appearances, Terry has offered his commentary on the Sundance Channel's original series Big Ideas for a Small Planet.

He appeared on the "Nourish: Food + Community" PBS special that aired in 2008, and he has also served on the advisory board for the project's educational component.

[16][17] The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in 2020 said of Terry that he had "dedicated much of his life to educating others about sustainable agriculture and healthy eating through the lens of the African Diaspora.

His column on The Root, "Eco-Soul Kitchen", offers thoughts, recipes, tools, and tips for sustainable eating and living.

His essay, "Reclaiming True Grits", was widely circulated on the web and sparked heated debate about "soul food".

[26] Terry's 2020 book Vegetable Kingdom: The Abundant World of Vegan Recipes received a starred review from Publishers Weekly[27] and won an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work – Instructional.