Mary Fitzgerald is organizing Newton’s Vegan Chef Challenge (May 1-31), pulling together local restaurants (currently 18), suppliers, volunteers, and community groups to highlight the benefits of plant-based eating.
Participating Newton restaurants (map) will feature plant-based menu options throughout May. Customers can vote for their favorite dishes, and winning dishes will be announced in June.
Participating restaurants: Baramor, Cabot’s, Che! Empanada, Farmstead Table, House Of Tandoor Indian and Nepali Cuisine, Inna’s Kitchen, Johnny’s Luncheonette, MIDA, O’Hara’s Food & Spirits, Olivia’s Bistro, Paddy’s Public House, Sandwich Works, Sweet Tomatoes Pizza, Tango Mango, Farm Grill and Rotisserie, Thistle & Leek, Tommy Doyle’s, and Ward 4.
Newton’s Vegan Chef Challenge is one of many such events organized nationwide under the umbrella of Vegan Outreach, an international nonprofit aiming to reduce animal suffering by promoting a vegan lifestyle. Originally known for its outreach programs on college campuses, in the last five years Vegan Outreach has signed up 1.5 million people for its 10 Weeks to Vegan program. For the Vegan Chef Challenge, Vegan Outreach provides social media templates, posters, buttons, table cards, etc. to help restaurants promote the program.
“It’s not about money. It’s simply about awareness and community-building,” says Fitzgerald.
Fitzgerald has recruited three high-school volunteers to help with outreach. She has also arranged a partnership with Newton’s Boston Vegan (purveyor of wholesale vegan items such as kabobs, burgers, and alternative meats) to offer all participating restaurants a 25% discount on wholesale items for Newton’s Vegan Chef Challenge.
How will it turn out? “Ideally, every restaurant wins,” says Fitzgerald. “At the end, we’ll have a vegan potluck celebration for all the restaurants, with a raffle. This is all about veganism and kindness, reaching out to businesses, getting students involved in the community, getting different groups and individuals together.”
