The 34 Eating places Celebrating the 2nd DC Vegan Week

From Could 6 to 13, vegan activist and nutritionist Tracye McQuirter and superstar chef Spike Mendelsohn are co-hosting the second annual DC Veg Restaurant Week (DC VegWeek)—the area’s greatest celebration of vegan delicacies.

The celebration presents week-long restaurant specials, reductions, occasions, and giveaways to assist folks uncover all of the vegan choices Washington, DC has to supply. “DC has a flourishing veg restaurant scene however hasn’t at all times gotten the popularity it deserves,” Mendelsohn tells VegNews. “The DMV is dwelling to among the most spectacular ideas and innovators—particularly in the case of plant-based meals.” 

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“I’m proud to be a part of DC VegWeek as a result of it builds on the momentum of the quickly rising DC veg neighborhood and invitations shoppers (vegans and carnivores alike) to expertise the enjoyment of consuming the change they want to see on the planet,” Mendelsohn provides.

In whole 34 eating places can be taking part within the 2023 DC VegWeek celebrations. 

Highlights of this 12 months’s restaurant listing embrace new plant-based brunch specials and an entire vegan takeover of the dinner menu at DC Harvest; Grandma Fashion Margherita from Troy’s Italian Kitchen; a “Mushroom Expertise” menu that options dishes similar to potato balls with marinated mushrooms, mushroom soup, and portobello steak with mashed potatoes; and a BOGO deal on the brand new Spicy Crispy Chick’n Sandwich at HipCityVeg. 

Celebrating DC’s vegan meals scene 

DC VegWeek formally kicks off at present with a launch celebration at DC Vegan’s vegan bar, Botanical Bar, the place friends will get pleasure from a welcome cocktail, Italian-American appetizers, and an opportunity to fulfill and mingle with McQuirter and Mendelsohn.

“The vegan neighborhood within the DC space is established, increasing, and thrilling,” McQuirter tells VegNews. “Not solely are a number of of the sooner vegan eating places that had been forward of their time nonetheless going robust, like Senbeb, Eternal Life, and The Vegetable Backyard, however an increasing number of vegan eating places are placing down roots within the DMV on a regular basis, like Fruitive, Gangsta Vegan, and Planta, to call just some.”

DC Vegan

McQuirter is the creator of the ten Million Black Vegan Girls motion, a non-profit public well being intervention to encourage a million Black ladies to go vegan. And the DC native is aware of the world nicely. 

“As a vegan of 36 years, I discovered the right way to be vegan from DC’s giant Black vegan neighborhood again within the ‘80s,” she says.

“I do know firsthand the deep historical past DC has in the case of veganism,” McQuirter provides. “DC VegWeek is a superb celebration of all of the scrumptious vegan choices the town has to supply and I’m excited to be part of it.”

PLNT Burger

For his half, Mendelsohn is greatest recognized for his TV appearances on Prime Chef, Iron Chef America, and Bar Rescue. Nonetheless, the restaurateur additionally operates a number of iconic DC eating places, together with Good Stuff Eatery and PLNT Burger, a quickly increasing vegan fast-food chain that he first opened in Silver Spring, MD in 2019.

“As we are saying on the doorways at PLNT Burger, we’re dedicated to bringing folks pleasure and making a secure house for everybody,” Mendelsohn says. “At its core, DC VegWeek is a celebration of vegan meals and an invite to all shoppers, veg or non-veg, to indulge mindfully of their favourite meals.” 

DC goals to cut back local weather impression

Town formally celebrated its vegan restaurant choices with its first DC VegWeek final 12 months. The occasion was made attainable due to a proclamation by Mayor Muriel Bowser, who formally declared DC Veg Restaurant Week a city-wide occasion in recognition of the function a plant-forward meals system performs in supporting planetary well being.

Troy’s Italian Kitchen

“Whereas plant-centric consuming lowers the chance of coronary heart illness, stroke, weight problems, and Kind 2 diabetes, and people circumstances disproportionally undermine the health-related high quality of lifetime of Black, Indigenous and other people of coloration (BIPOC) residents of Washington, DC and whereas a worldwide shift towards plant-centric meals norms would assist decrease greenhouse fuel emissions, and governments can play a vital trailblazing function in facilitating such shifts by their citizenry …” Bowser mentioned within the proclamation.

Bowser’s implementation of Veg Restaurant Week got here lower than one 12 months after Washington, DC handed the Inexperienced Meals Buying Act, pioneering laws that can restructure buying practices within the metropolis to cut back the food-related greenhouse fuel emissions by 25 % by 2030.

Sticky Fingers Diner

Specializing in vegan dishes and eating places falls nicely inside the metropolis’s local weather targets as plant-based meals depart a a lot lighter carbon footprint than their animal-based counterparts. The initiative can be meant to assist native farmers and ingredient purveyors who make plant-based meals extra accessible to DC residents. 

“Vegan meals is scrumptious and greatest for folks, animals, and the planet—that’s motive sufficient to have fun,” McQuirter says. “And all of the inventive ways in which we may help make vegan meals in our communities extra accessible, accessible, and inexpensive, the higher it’s for everybody.”