Durham's Fourth Bull City Vegan Challenge to Take Place in April!
The Bull City Vegan Challenge will return for the fourth time in Durham this April! What is the Bull City Vegan Challenge? It is when chefs from local participating restaurants add a creative vegan dish to their existing menu for a full month, with diners then choosing their favorite and voting for it. According to the website:
“It’s a great way to increase exposure and demand for plant-based foods, promote your local restaurants for their efforts, and get media engaged.”
The event began in 2010 and received a great reaction, and this time 15 local restaurants will be participating. They include Parker + Otis, Geer Street Garden, Beyu Caffe, Dos Perros, The Saltbox, Durham Coop Market, Parts & Labor, Gocciolina, Happy & Hale, Guglhupf, Luna, The Federal, The Cupcake Bar, The Parlour, and Rise.
Co-founder Eleni Vlachos believes the Bull City Vegan Challenge also has the potential to encourage restaurants to keep vegan options on their menus, as many non-vegans participate as well and clearly have an interest in plant-based food. She states:
“The whole idea is to make more room at the table for everybody. When we first started, I realized that, for most chefs, it can be irritating and an interruption to get these requests for vegan options when you don’t already have it on your menu. This was a fun way to show them how easy it is and how popular it is—and maybe they’ll keep it on their menu.”
This year, Vlachos hopes the participating restaurants offer more “filling, hearty options” as part of the “planet protein” theme of April’s challenge. With the large amount of plant-based proteins available, Vlachos-as well as diners, can hopefully see chefs bring in some creativity to make some outstanding vegan dishes!
If you’re interested in bringing the Bull City Vegan Challenge to your city, check out this link!
Photo Credit: http://trianglemm.com/
