Sacramento to Host Month-Long Vegan Burger Battle

For the month of June, more than 30 local chefs and restaurants will compete in the Great Sacramento Vegan Burger Battle in California’s capital city. Event organizers started the vegan challenge when they noticed local restaurants serving the Impossible Burger with non-vegan condiments, toppings, and sides. Participating chefs must create a burger that is 100-percent vegan including all toppings, condiments, cheeses, buns, and sides. “Our goal is for chefs and restaurants to be inspired to continue offering vegan burger options on their menu and to serve them in a truly vegan way, through-and-through,” event organizer Bethany Davis told VegNews. Burgers can compete in categories divided by patty options: Impossible Burger, Beyond Burger, homemade, portabello mushroom, or oil-free burgers. Diners, in addition to the Sacramento Vegan Chef Challenge taste-testing team, will decide on the winners for each patty category as well as Most Photogenic, Best Fries and Sides, Highest-Selling, Highest Profiled by Diners on Social Media, and Most Viewed Vegan Burger. A grand-prize winner will be awarded with a professionally made video of the restaurant’s vegan burger which will be promoted on social media. “We hope that [omnivore diners] are inspired by their taste buds to realize that vegan options have come a long way,” Davis said. Vegan burgers have gained traction with mainstream audiences in the past year with popular fast-food restaurants such as Shake Shack, White Castle, and Bareburger adding the plant-based Impossible Burger patty option to their menus.