Let It Grow: Las Vegas’ once-small vegan culinary scene continues to bloom

Las Vegas food culture is perhaps best known to outsiders for celebrity chefs and extravagant meals. But vegans in Las Vegas have created their own community, and vegan companies are fast springing up to serve them.

Vegans don’t eat animal products – including meat, dairy products, eggs, and honey – and some ethical consumers also don’t buy items that have been tested on or made from animals, such as leather or wool.

New for vegan foodies is Heather Heath’s Vegas Vegan Culinary School & Eatery, a place in the Downtown Arts District that offers meals for sale and cooking classes for all ages. The kitchen, filled with gleaming silver tables and ovens lining the back wall, opened at 1310 S. 3rd Street on November 6th.

Guests enjoy vegan food during the Vegas Vegan Soft Opening.

Everyone will say, ‘I could never be vegan; I could never live without cheese, ”says Heath. “Yes you can. Let’s show you how.”

With the emergence of new vegan and vegetarian restaurants in Las Vegas, the number of people incorporating plant-based foods into their meals has also increased. One newly opened restaurant is Plant Powered, a California-based vegan fast food chain that opened its first Las Vegas location at 7090 W. Craig Road in October (see sidebar).

Heath, who has lived in Las Vegas repeatedly since 1989, says it’s encouraging to see the growth around vegan foods in the Valley. “It’s crazy to see how the city has developed the way it did. I am glad that I have it, because I will never experience that again in my life. “

Veganism is not a new phenomenon and has not proven to be a fad, says Diane Edelman, founder of Vegas-based website Vegans, Baby (vegansbaby.com). Edelman has been running the website since 2016 and is consulting with restaurants and other companies to add plant-based options to their menus. Vegans, Baby, also publishes an annual e-book with the Las Vegas Vegan Dining Guide; the 2021 edition contained more than 100 restaurant recommendations with purely vegan or rich vegan options.

“[In 2016] I think there were five vegan restaurants and that was it, ”says Edelman. “I’ve been working to [help] To put Las Vegas on the map as a vegan-friendly city, because it wasn’t the case in 2016 when I founded it. “

In the United States, the plant-based diet has grown in popularity because of its lower environmental footprint, health benefits, and ethical reasons for animal rights. A study from 2004 to 2019 shows a sharp increase in the vegan diet, 9.6 million plant-based Americans in 2019 versus just 290,000 15 years earlier. Among the states with the greatest change, Nevada saw Google searches for veganism increase by 38 points.

Today, many grocery stores offer Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods brands, which make plant-based meats similar to ground beef and burgers. These products defined the alternative meat market, and both companies recently launched vegan chicken tenders – made from fava beans for Beyond Meat and soy for Impossible.

Veg-In-Out (2301 E. Sunset Road) is a grocery store selling all-vegan products like Violife cheese, vegan mozzarella sticks, and cheese-free nacho chips, but cashier Alexander Seaver says the customer base is not exclusively vegan.

“I moved from Colorado Springs and there are only two vegan restaurants and no vegan grocery stores,” he says. “It’s very different [in Las Vegas]. “

Las Vegan Camille Savage says she was motivated to be vegan for animal welfare reasons. As the founder and lead organizer of Las Vegas Animal Save, she coordinates slaughterhouse tours and vigils for residents interested in witnessing the impact of the meat industry.

Savage says that by the age of 21 she was content with remaining a vegetarian before starting researching the dairy industry. “I came to the conclusion that I wasn’t consistent in my beliefs and … that day I decided not to eat anymore.”

Cheese or dairy, “says Savage, now 30.” My association with veganism quickly turned into activism. “

Heather Heath, founder of the Vegas Vegan Culinary School & Eatery

Emily Lewis is a local therapist who specializes in treating vegan customers. She says that relationships with non-vegan family members and friends can be difficult, and that her patients can also suffer from compassion fatigue, which results from feeling like you can’t do enough.

“To see animals endure excruciating cruelty – for someone looking at it from a vegan perspective, it is likely to be different than anyone else would,” explains Lewis.

Anthony Lagrosa runs the vegan Filipino spot Roll the Veg with his wife Jamie McNeal. The couple went vegan in 2007 to include more healthy foods in their diet, but soon quit. Back then, they say, they couldn’t have found enough vegan options in grocery stores and restaurants. They resumed veganism to help McNeal fight their psoriatic arthritis, a condition that affects the skin and joints.

On a Wednesday afternoon at Slice Kitchen – a shared, rentable space on 6235 S. Pecos Road that Roll the Veg cooks from every Wednesday – McNeal navigates orders and the kitchen with ease. Since returning to a plant-based diet, she has noticed a drastic change in the complexion of her skin and a reduction in pain.

“That would be enough to hold me on to if it weren’t for the wonderful environmental effects that a vegan diet can make,” says McNeal.

Roll the Veg’s menu includes homemade vegan meat with sticky sauces and sweet or savory Indonesian and Filipino spring rolls known as lumpia. Lagrosa says he usually buys his condiments and other complementary ingredients from Veg-In-Out.

“Our lifestyle is [about] To help people transition from meat – to go vegan without having to forego missing the meat texture in their mouths, ”says Lagrosa.

Las Vegan Nicole Ellis made her diet a passion and founded the YouTube channel Nicky’s Savory Vegan Eats, which is devoted to vegan recipes and reviews. In a popular video, Ellis cooks fried vegan catfish from banana flowers that she bought from the Asian grocer Seafood City.

“I let myself be influenced by recipes on Pinterest, but then I turn around and make it my own, give it my own note,” says Ellis. “I’ll see other YouTubers, or I’ll just get an idea, or maybe it’s a dish I’ve eaten in the past that I want to veganize.”

Edelman says another important aspect of Las Vegas plant culture has been the introduction of vegan options from non-vegan brands. Lele’s Sweet Spot, a local bakery run by Chef Lele, offers residents milk- and sugar-free pastries upon request.

Chef Lele says she didn’t expect a vegan customer base when she founded her business three years ago, but when the specialty orders came in, she drew on her culinary experience to create a vegan version with vinegar and non-dairy milk, for example . This avoids using eggs as binders, she explains.

Their most popular product, the strawberry crunch cake, uses vegan buttermilk, non-dairy butter for the cake and frosting, freeze-dried strawberries and oreos, which are naturally vegan.

“Fortunately, they taught us how to replace a lot of food in cooking school, because that wasn’t just for vegans,” she says. “It was for people with nutritional problems that we can accommodate.”

Las Vegans Brooklyn and Ryn Smith went vegan for the first time in December 2020. Once residents of Texas, they ate at the state’s famous barbecue. Vegan options were available in Texas, they say, but nothing like the Las Vegas vegan scene.

The Smiths decided to go vegetarian and then vegan, they explain, after falling sick from a shrimp quesadilla from a favorite restaurant the morning after. They have since been spending less on groceries and have found a supportive vegan community and great restaurants.

“Pretty much every vegan restaurant I’ve been to here got a 10 out of 10,” says Brooklyn Smith. “It just totally changed the way I perceive food.”

Plant Power brings its vegan fast food to the city

Big Zac burger and strawberry shake from Plant Power

If veganism and fast food don’t go together, think again. Plant Power, a chain with nine California locations, arrived in Las Vegas on October 15 and already has a following.

“The reception was pretty incredible,” says Barry Tu, owner of the local franchise. “The vegan community here is super supportive, super friendly, super understanding.”

Tu says customers were drawn to the restaurant’s chicken tenders, Big Zac Burger – Plant Power’s version of McDonald’s Big Mac – and its oat milk-based milkshakes. He estimates that most of the customers are “flexitarians” – vegans and vegetarians who occasionally eat animal products.

Heather Heath, co-owner of the Vegas Vegan Culinary School, has visited Plant Power several times since it opened here.

“I think your concept is great,” she says.

The former East Coaster, who grew up on seafood before going vegan, says Plant Power’s “fish” fillet sandwich satisfies both her nostalgia and cravings. “It’s pretty cool that you can do that with plants,” says Heath.

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