Austin nonprofit Planted Society has partnered with the City of Austin’s Office of Sustainability to promote an initiative that brings awareness to food’s role in climate change. The inaugural challenge, called Plant-Based for the Planet, encourages patrons to choose plant-based options as a strategy to decrease their carbon footprint.
28 Austin restaurants are joining the initiative, with more expected to join throughout. Many are creating new dishes, while others are offering discounts, free add-ons, or promoting their existing plant-based options. The challenge starts on November 1: World Vegan Day, and runs through November, which is celebrated as World Vegan Month.
“Austin residents care about climate change, but it’s easy to get overwhelmed thinking of all the things we have to sacrifice to decrease our carbon footprint.” says Planted Society’s Executive Director Britty Mann. “This challenge offers an easy way for every Austinite to make an impact, even just while dining out at their favorite neighborhood restaurants.”
Planted Society chose to partner with local establishments for this initiative, allowing customers to support small businesses and help the environment at the same time. They will be featuring several local vegan restaurants along with the other 28 partners.
Planted Society will be encouraging more restaurants to join throughout the month, aiming to hit at least 30 partners by December. At the end of the challenge, diners will vote on the best vegan options offered during the initiative and enter to receive eco-friendly prizes from participating sponsors.
“At Grove Wine Bar we appreciate all dietary preferences including vegan and plant based. Many in our Grove community are passionate about their diet incentivizing us to provide locally sourced plant based options.”
- Beth Lasita, Grove Wine Bar
“A lot of people forget the healing benefits of eating vegetables and fruits. Not only is it good for the environment, it is also better for your health.”
- Jesus Mendoza, Mr. Natural
“Pre-Hispanic Mexican food is all from the earth; it’s plant based. When the Spanish came, they brought over most of the animal proteins. So what we’re trying to do is recreate the pre-Hispanic piece of it, bring in the vegetables and the legumes and have enough protein to make it a meal, just like they did then.”
- Chef Blanca Zesati, Fonda San Miguel
Highlights
28 restaurants participating all over Austin, with the hope that more will be inspired to sign on before December
Coffee Shops
Bars & Breweries
Local Grocery
Japanese, American, Indian, Barbecue, Vietnamese, Chinese, Interior and Coastal Mexican, Caribbean, Southwest and Northeastern US Cuisines
Initiative will also be featuring existing local vegan shops throughout the month to highlight businesses who are fully engaged in the plant-based movement.
Sponsored by the City of Austin’s Office of Sustainability, VegFund, Cinnaholic and more.
This is also a challenge – we are encouraging the community to sign up to receive our newsletter, where we will include links to vote on
favorites at the end of the challenge, as well as win random prizes from eco-friendly sponsors.
Visit www.plantedsociety.org/plantbasedfortheplanet to find out more.
