Did You Get Your World Vegan Month Passport Yet?
Norah's pad thai nachos
Image: Courtesy Norah
Portland is a vegan paradise, and that is especially true this month, when over 20 vegan restaurants and food carts are banding together to celebrate Portland World Vegan Month, organized by plant-based-food event producer Veganizer. Each eatery is offering a November-exclusive special dish (spoiler alert: they're all vegan), and donating portions of proceeds to organizations of their choice.
The restaurant and food cart lineup boasts many of Portland’s popular vegan eateries, including Boxcar Pizza, which is making a vegan turkey-and-cranberry-inspired Detroit pizza, and Secret Pizza Society, who's deviating from pies to make a bacon-broccoli mac ‘n’ cheese. Mexico City–style restaurant Chilango is serving enchiladas verdes, and pan-Asian restaurant Norah is selling pad thai nachos. Fermenter has a cauliflower steak on offer, while Epif is making tacu tacu rice and beans with tofu. Several recently opened spots are joining too, including El Salto, serving a Venezuelan arepa stuffed with plantains, black beans, and shredded beef.
Veganizer's barbacoa seitan plate
Image: Courtesy Mis Tacones
Diners who fill out a World Vegan Month passport by visiting at least eight restaurants or carts are entered into a raffle. The grand prize? A $25 gift card to every single restaurant on the list. Three runners-up will get $50 gift cards to the restaurants of their choosing.
This is the first World Vegan Month celebration of its kind in Portland. “Seeing how successful Burger Week and Pizza Week are, we really need something that’s vegan,” says event organizer Waz Wu. “It’s about time.” The nonprofit beneficiaries run the gamut from animal-related organizations, like Oregon Humane and a Florida-based basset hound rescue, to food justice for humans, including Urban Gleaners and Meals on Us, as well as culturally specific nonprofits like NAYA (Native American Youth and Family Center) and the Lan Su Chinese Garden. Veganizer is donating to the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund.
Tacu tacu from Epif
Image: courtesy Epif
“I think it's a good way of conveying that veganism is intersectional. People often get so fixated on veganism being for the animals, and they forget that veganism really is about anti-oppression. Not eating animals is about not exploiting animals, not oppressing them,” says Wu.
World Vegan Month runs November 1–30. For a complete list of participating restaurants, their specials, and their chosen nonprofits, check out Veganizer’s website.
