‘The Nice Meals Truck Race’ Crowns Its Second Vegan Winner

Final summer season, Meals Community’s The Nice Meals Truck Race topped its first plant-based winner, formally cementing Señoreata, a Los Angeles-based Cuban pop-up, into the community’s historical past. And only one yr later, the competitors present has named its second vegan winner. 

The Simple Vegan—a plant-based pop-up from Denver, CO—just lately claimed victory on season 16 of The Nice Meals Truck Race.

Helmed by founders Taylor Herbert and Alexi Mandolini, The Simple Vegan was born from the pandemic. After Mandolini was laid off, she launched The Simple Vegan with Herbert, her companion in each enterprise and life. 

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For The Nice Meals Truck Race, the couple recruited pal and Denver-based chef Matt Heikkila to spherical out their staff. Collectively, the trio competed towards eight different groups for an opportunity to win the $50,000 grand prize, and finally got here out on high. 

“[Winning] feels superb. We couldn’t be extra pleased to be part of the rising momentum behind vegan meals,” Herbert and Mandolini inform VegNews in a joint assertion. “Having back-to-back plant primarily based winners was a fantastic alternative to point out people who find themselves unfamiliar with vegan meals how various the delicacies may be.”

The Simple Vegan wins ‘The Nice Meals Truck Race’

In a brand new twist, season 16 pitted seasoned business professionals with established meals vans towards gifted, up-and-coming rookies new to the meals truck enterprise. The Simple Vegan confronted off towards fellow rookies 2 Ladies Jamaican Tacos; 4 Hens Creole Kitchen; Khana, which churns out Pakistani fusion dishes; and The Block, an eatery serving up burgers, sandwiches, and seafood dishes. 

Lisa’s Creperie; Da Bald Man, a Hawaiian mainstay serving up the island’s delicacies; Puerto Rican meals truck D’Pura Cepa; and Italian truck Paisani represented business professionals and rounded out the season’s rivals.

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Throughout a collection of challenges designed to check culinary expertise and enterprise acumen, The Simple Vegan persistently ranked inside the high three all through the season, dealing with elimination simply as soon as within the season’s penultimate episode. 

For the finale, The Simple Vegan confronted off towards fellow rookie staff Khana, which earned a cult following throughout its time competing in Los Angeles. 

Each groups raced to out-cook and outsell one another throughout their final spherical of challenges. Throughout the last leg of the race, every staff was tasked with recreating a dish from their competitor’s menu and promoting probably the most models of their latest creation. 

The Simple Vegan remodeled Khana’s best-selling Butter Rooster Sandoori right into a plant-based Firecracker Maitake Mushroom Sandwich. 

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For the style problem, host Tyler Florence introduced The Simple Vegan and Khana with an inventory of culinary strategies. Every staff then needed to create a brand new dish using two of the introduced strategies. The Simple Vegan impressed visitor judges with Peas and Carrots Dumplings in Coconut Broth, however finally, Khana received each challenges, incomes a further $400 of their until.

On the final day of the competitors, Florence threw the groups a serious curveball. For the ultimate problem, every staff was allowed to promote just one entrée alongside their traditional sides, desserts, and drinks. The stakes? $400—$200 for the style winner, and a further $200 for whoever bought probably the most models of their entrée.

The Simple Vegan selected pink tacos for the ultimate problem. The tacos, which owe their signature pink hue to beetroot powder, have been stuffed with carrot and walnut meat, maitake mushrooms, lime crema, pickled crimson onions, and cilantro. And whereas Khana opted for a lamb burger, Florence finally declared The Simple Vegan’s pink tacos the winner of each challenges, awarding the plant-based staff a further $400 of their until. 

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With this win, The Simple Vegan’s whole earnings for the ultimate leg of the race got here to $6,684—formally making them the winners of season 16.

“You’re the second vegan staff to win The Nice Meals Truck Race,” Florence says within the season finale. “You’ve got put vegan meals on the map in such an unbelievable manner—it’s a brand new period of meals right here in America.” 

The Simple Vegan and the facility of neighborhood

Regardless of the struggles of competing in Los Angeles—the place foot visitors is sparse, a actuality the staff wasn’t anticipating—The Simple Vegan trio relied on one another and their neighborhood.

“We felt like our [Denver community] was there with us all the time we have been attending to know the vegan scene in Los Angeles,” Herbert beforehand advised VegNews. “Folks in Denver who have been following our journey would ship their [people].” 

“I’d get so emotional as a result of someone would stroll as much as the truck, introduce themselves, and say, ‘Hey, I’ve six levels of separation from this particular person in Denver,’” Herbert stated. “We simply had so many individuals rallying for us.”

And on-line, the assist continues to pour in after the season’s conclusion. “We’ve gotten over 100 messages at this level from people who find themselves not vegan asking for recipes,” Herbert and Mandolini say. “We wish to rush to place that useful resource collectively; it’s so thrilling to us to see that persons are type and interested in our meals.” 

In the end, their win iis emblematic of the general public’s altering sentiment towards vegan meals.

“Individuals are extra open minded about [plant-based cuisine]. Plenty of our regulars in Denver aren’t even vegetarian, and it means lots to us at any time when they make the choice to eat our meals,” Herbert and Mandolini say

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“We’ve observed extra eating places have extra intentional vegan choices, when for therefore lengthy the choices felt like an afterthought,” they are saying. “That is proof of an elevated demand, and it’s excellent news for us, excellent news for the planet, and excellent news for animals.”

What’s subsequent for The Simple Vegan? Mandolini and Herbert are at present working to open a plant-based restaurant in Denver beneath a brand new identify later this yr, and their $50,000 winnings will assist deliver their brick-and-mortar idea to life.