Restaurants Go Green

Five years ago, Santa Barbara hosted its first-ever Vegan Chef Challenge, a nationwide initiative founded by the nonprofit organization Vegan Outreach that aims to cultivate enthusiasm for vegan food in regions that lack plant-based options.

The concept of the Vegan Chef Challenge is simple. For one month, local restaurants are recruited to add vegan specials to their menus. Diners are encouraged to visit participating restaurants and vote for their favorite vegan dishes. The goal is to entice chefs to experiment more with vegan food — and, hopefully, to keep those options on menus after the challenge — and to inspire non-vegan patrons to try new dishes.

The Vegan Chef Challenge hasn’t returned to Santa Barbara since 2019. Local Vegan Outreach volunteer Jen Smith wants to change this. A vegan for more than 20 years, Smith is dedicated to championing the environmental, ethical, and health benefits of veganism. Recently, she has noticed a number of vegan restaurants closing throughout Santa Barbara, such as Oliver’s in Montecito and Mesa Verde on the Mesa. In response, Smith has become committed to sparking positive buzz about veganism in Santa Barbara, aspiring to boost Santa Barbarans’ interest in vegan food.

“We still have some amazing restaurants here,” Smith acknowledged. “But I really want Santa Barbara to be more vegan-friendly and to bring in more vegan tourists from L.A. and other places. I thought that [the Vegan Chef Challenge] would be a great way to promote the vegan options that are already available in town and to help other restaurants expand their view of what vegan food can be.”

Smith detailed the process of bringing the challenge to Santa Barbara. She explained that the bulk of the work thus far has been to compile a comprehensive list of restaurants in the area and contact each one to ask if they want to join.

“It’s been difficult,” she conceded. “At the beginning, most people didn’t know what the Vegan Chef Challenge was. They thought that this was my idea, rather than there being an entire organization behind it.”

Smith has gradually enlisted 14 restaurants. Her ambition is to make the Vegan Chef Challenge an annual affair in Santa Barbara, anticipating that, as the event becomes more established and familiar, this task of preparing and organizing will become easier in the future. She pointed to the success of the Vegan Chef Challenge in other cities as an example.

“Restaurants will see how successful it was for the restaurants that did participate, and they’ll want to get in on the action too. [In 2011,] Sacramento started the Vegan Chef Challenge with 13 restaurants. Last year, they had over 35 restaurants. The Sacramento Vegan Chef Challenge is in October. I just looked at their webpage, and there are already eight restaurants signed up. They probably didn’t even have to formally invite them … these restaurants are just regulars at this point,” Smith said.

The Santa Barbara Vegan Chef Challenge will span from September 1 to September 30. Each restaurant will come up with three vegan specials, which will be available on the Santa Barbara Vegan Chef Challenge webpage.

“All diners have to do is go to restaurants and try the food,” Smith said. “Every restaurant will have a QR code on their tables. Just scan the QR code, and that will take you to a form where you can vote. We want people to vote for their favorite dishes, as well as post pictures on Instagram. We will have social media contests to get people to post on Instagram tagging the Santa Barbara Vegan Chef Challenge, just to get the word out there more.”

In October, once the Vegan Chef Challenge has wrapped up, there will be an awards ceremony to announce the winners for certain categories, such as best breakfast and most creative dish, as well as to celebrate the overall winners, who will be receiving monetary prizes funded by the sponsors of the Santa Barbara Vegan Chef Challenge: Santa Barbara Botanic Garden, Hungry Planet Foods, Plow to Porch, and Rooted Santa Barbara County.

Participating restaurants include: Shang Hai Restaurant, Padaro Beach Grill, Sachi Saigon Restaurant, Soul Bites, Goodland Waffles & Melts, Elubia’s Kitchen, Zen Yai Thai Cuisine, Scarlett Begonia, Isla Vista Food Co-Op Downtown Market Santa Barbara, Finch & Fork Restaurant, Bluewater Grill, Fala Bar, Convivo Restaurant & Bar, and Santa Barbara Pizza House.

Check out the Santa Barbara Vegan Chef Challenge webpage for more information: veganchefchallenge.org/santabarbara.