Veggie Happy

Thursday, March 26, was supposed to be Opening Day for Major League Baseball. Sports may not be back in play for a while, but the professional sports community is in full swing, helping those in need during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Every day, there are more news items related to the ways that professional sporting leagues, teams, players, venues, and foodservice management companies are coming through to help others during the current global health crisis. Here are two of the latest news items: Drew Brees and his wife Brittany will be committing $5 million to the State of Louisiana for relief efforts to fight against the pandemic, and MLB’s apparel manufacturer, Fanatics, will be diverting from its production of jerseys to the production of protective masks and gowns for healthcare workers.

In their recently dispatched March newsletter, the Green Sports Alliance provided a list of many other specific news items that we wanted to share with all of you here. Perhaps your favorite league, team, player, or sports-related company has pitched in to help already. Or perhaps they’re next. Here’s the list that GSA provided (through March 25):

Click the links to learn more about some of the amazing things the sports community is doing to help during the COVID-19 pandemic:

• Giannis Antetokounmpo, Zion Williamson among stars aiding arena workers
• Warriors organization pledges $1 million to aid arena employees during coronavirus shutdown
• Staples Center Donates Food To Homeless Services Amid Event Suspensions
• Pistons, Ilitch Companies to ensure employees get paid during hiatus
• Pittsburgh Penguins To Pay Arena Employees For Games Missed Due To Coronavirus Outbreak
• Famous for setting the NBA on fire, Mavs owner Mark Cuban has become its face of support during the coronavirus crisis
• Apollo’s Harris Will Pay Devils Arena Staff During Shutdown
• MLB, MLBPA give $1M to help feed the hungry
• Giants to establish $1 million fund to support event staff affected by postponement of Major League Baseball games
• Timbers, Thorns FC announce community initiatives in the wake of COVID-10 pandemic
• NFL Huddles Up With Charitable Partners To Provide Free Educational Resources During COVID-19 School Closures
• SC Johnson Contributes $1 Million to CDC Foundation’s Emergency Response Fund to Fight COVID-19
• Horschel donates half his earnings from THE PLAYERS to Feeding Northeast Florida
• Jazz forward Rudy Gobert donates $500K for coronavirus aid
• Amid coronavirus crisis, J.J. Watt and Kealia Ohai donate money for 1 million meals to Houston Food Bank
• Ravens, Owner Steve Bisciotti Donate $1 Million to Combat COVID-19 Crisis
• Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation announces nearly $5.4 million in funding for COVID-19 relief efforts
• Trail Blazers Organization, Foundation and Players Establish Covid-19 Emergency Relief Fund and Online Resource Center 

We’re all in this together. Please be safe out there, and look out for those in need.

Photo Credit: Flickr – wikemaz 2014.

Levy Restaurants is an industry leading and award-winning hospitality company crafting exceptional food and beverage programs at over 200 sports and entertainment venues. This guest post is by Patty Coleman, RDN, CSSD, LDN, Director of Nutrition and Wellness at Levy.

Innovative and fun plant-based menu items are becoming more prominent at your favorite stadiums and arenas, bland veggie burgers are a thing of the past. As the Director of Nutrition and Wellness at Levy, veggie forward dishes have been on my radar for quite a while, and I’ve had the opportunity to help shape delicious plant-based recipes in my role. Fans across the country can enjoy our delicious dishes at over 200 venues, including STAPLES Center, Wrigley Field, and Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

I began working with Levy about five years ago, often wearing a lot of hats in my role, which I absolutely love. My key areas of focus are wellness and sustainability, recipe development, nutrient analysis, performance nutrition, and food and nutrition regulations. I not only have a passion for food and cooking but I am a seasoned Registered and Licensed Dietitian Nutritionist and a Board-Certified Specialist in Sports Dietetics (CSSD).  

I am thrilled to see the recent uptick in veggie-focused meals in our culture, not just in our venues but across the country as a whole. As a Dietitian, it truly brings me joy to see vegetables embraced, enjoyed, and placed in the center of the plate. I am convinced that everyone likes vegetables, they just might not know it yet. That’s where our talented chefs and myself come in, making veggies the star of the show.

I am thrilled to share a few highlights of what we have been up to at Levy. Today, we offer a variety of plant-based options at our venues across the country. 

A few of my favorites include . . .

The Buffalo Cauliflower Wrap

This recipe originated at Dignity Health Sports Park, home of the LA Galaxy. This decadent and tasty dish is packed with crunch, texture, and flavor. The wrap has tempura fried buffalo cauliflower, quinoa, kale, tomatoes, carrots and celery tossed in an herb vinaigrette, all wrapped up in a spinach tortilla along with vegan ranch for dipping.

Mushroom Tinga Street Tacos

Street tacos are a fan favorite across the country and they are also one of my favorite game day foods. Stemming from the AT&T Center, home of the San Antonio Spurs, the Mushroom Tinga Street Taco (ordered without queso fresco or cilantro lime crema) is a great plant-based option. This dish includes two tasty corn tortillas tacos with tinga-style mushrooms and salsa roja. A delicious veggie focused meal for fans!

The Camelback Burger

This burger (pictured here) premiered last season at Chase Field, home of the Arizona Diamondbacks, and I can’t wait to see what Chef Stephen Tilder cooks up next season! It is made with an Impossible Burger patty topped with avocado, cucumber, lettuce, brown sugar truffle ketchup, herb mustard, jalapeño-onion relish, toasted onion flake on a vegan bun. The culinary team at Chase Field put a lot of work into perfecting this decadent burger!

Vegetarian and vegan options have become so much more than what they used to be. We continue to push ourselves to think bigger and better, and to provide a great experience for fans with high quality and tasty food. From plant-based tacos to plant-based wraps, there’s something for everyone who visits our venues.

Check out VeggieHappy listings throughout your favorite sport season for plant-based menu information. These dishes and so many others are waiting for you!

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Guest post by Mark Jeffers, the culinary director of San Francisco’s Chase Center (the new home of NBA’s Golden State Warriors) for Bon Appétit Management Company. He is focused on creating localized experiences that reflect the Bay Area’s unique culture.

At Chase Center, our overarching goal is to create a wide-ranging menu of flavorful and creative offerings that represent an only-in-the-Bay-Area experience. We want to celebrate the diversity of cuisines and cultures in the region, and give fans something they might otherwise not be able to try without visiting specific neighborhood businesses throughout the Bay.

Because the Bay Area boasts a young and food-conscious demographic, we’ve done our best to create an arena experience that incorporates the classics while pushing the norms of what is considered “arena” food — highlighting diverse cuisines, spotlighting unique flavor profiles, and focusing on plant-based menu offerings that appeal to a wide range of palates. Through our Taste Makers at Chase Center program, we’ve partnered with dozens of local food entrepreneurs to give fans something new and different to try each time they visit.

We don’t want our guests to feel limited in their ability to find something delicious, simply because they are plant-based, so we are constantly working on evolving our offerings. We source ingredients from over 200 local farms, allowing us to offer seasonal cuisine while minimizing our carbon footprint. Fun fact: to feed the guests for a sold-out event, our culinary team purchases 3,200 pounds of fresh vegetables and 1,450 pounds of fruit. The arena itself is home to eight full kitchens, so we are able to make dishes a la minute to give fans the freshest experience possible.

We are really pleased with the feedback we’ve received since opening. Recently, guests have been raving about our Vietnamese-style garlic Brussels sprouts — they have a terrific balance of sweet, salty, spicy, and umami. The Impossible curry lumpia from The Sarap Shop has also been a huge hit with plant-based guests. When you can visit Chase Center and taste everything from steamed dumplings to an Impossible cheesesteak to vegan tacos, the food experience is as exciting as the event itself.

Photo credit: Old Skool Cafe – West African Peanut Butter Stew

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In Part One of our interview with Chris Zielinski we discuss Scotiabank Arena’s impressive lineup of plant-based menu offerings. Here, we explore the impact of being an NBA Champions’ arena and feature Chris’s recipe for a popular vegan menu item!

VH: How have things changed since the Raptors became NBA Champions? Is your attendance up?

Chris Zielinski: (Laughs.) So okay, our attendance was never an issue here. For the Maple Leafs, it’s been 20 years of straight sell-outs. For the Raptors it’s been probably nine years or so of straight sell-outs. So we can’t get any more people in! Tickets are even a little hard to come by.

So it hasn’t changed our status in terms of ticket sales, but what it has changed is that the city hasn’t had a champion since the Blue Jays did it back in 1993. That’s a long time ago. So really, it was the entire COUNTRY, it wasn’t just the city.

As we got deeper into the playoffs, every city in Canada was having a watch party of some sort. In Montreal and Vancouver, they were getting like 10,000 people to watch the game together in squares and in parks. It’s become a Canadian thing, not just a Toronto thing. And you know what? No matter where you go in the country now, there are people draped in all things Raptors.

They became the national team.

And there were people who were saying, ‘oh this will never happen’ and if you read any of the American media like ESPN or other websites, they’ve pretty much always counted us out when it comes to basketball. They’re always kind of like, “yeah, well, they’re pretty good.” You know? So it’s really kind of changed the dynamic with the way people view our program here. And the way we treat our athletes.

Speaking of athletes and nutrition, in an effort to try to mimic what goes on in Europe with the big soccer teams over there where they all have their own academies and they’re training talent from a very young age . . . we created our own academy about seven years ago. Within two years we were in the playoffs, and within four years, we won the championship.

Part of that program is that we manage every part of what our athletes eat. We manage their intake with their trainers, making sure they get the right food. I work with the trainers and we also hired a chef who is really skilled, someone who really understands food well, and we started managing all the meals they eat while they’re at home in the city.

Ah. That then begs the question: have you seen James Cameron’s documentary The Game Changers?

I’ve heard of it.

That’s a must-see for you. Professional, high-level, very accomplished athletes, all across the board, talk about why they are on a plant-based diet, what they eat, and how it affects their performance. It became the best-selling documentary of all time on iTunes less than one week after it launched, just a few weeks ago.

Cool! I look forward to watching that.

We do have a few athletes who are on a plant-based diet, but we’re not really allowed to talk about the specifics of each player. Not because they’re not proud to eat that way; it’s just personal information.

With all of our teams, we are controlling what the athletes are eating, and I mean that in the most positive way. We’re giving them the food they like, but we’re doing it in the healthiest way possible.

I can tell you that on all sides, there are different players with different ideas, and different trainers with different ideas, and we honor them all. We do our best to make sure that nobody feels like they have to leave this building to get anything else. When athletes come here for the first time, they’re blown away by what we offer them.

Which leads me back to your plant-based menu options…

You know, there is no part of the building now where you can’t get a vegan meal. Literally, in any part of the building, you can get one version or another of plant-based food within like two sections of where you are.

That’s great, because that continues to be an issue in most venues.

And that shouldn’t be the case. People should not have to look, or have to ask a bunch of questions. This is why we have a guide that lists Vegetarian, Kosher, and Vegan items which is at every stand. In the event that they wander up to a stand that doesn’t have anything, they can just pull the card up and see all the options that are out there. It’s a pride thing for us.

Yeah, and good, because the more awareness, the more sales you’ll generate.

And why would we want to exclude anyone?

Also, it’s taking off. The demographics are changing, fans are changing, the demand is changing.

Yeah, people are changing.

That’s right. And there’s a recent study that shows that the more plant-based options offered on a menu, the more ALL of the items in that category sell.

Our sports bar has probably 10 vegan items on there. That’s a big shift.

Sometimes, it’s hard to get chefs to go outside of what they know. If you aren’t a vegetarian, it’s sometimes hard to rationalize what constitutes a good meal. So here’s one example: at our restaurant E11even. It’s at street level and open every day for business, so we do a lot of business for lunch. We’ve noticed the more of these items we offer, the more our demographic tends to shift away from steaks and burgers, to people who are eating a lot healthier.

So I told the chefs, “I need to challenge you guys, and I need you to come up with the next good vegan dish. And we’re not going to say on the menu that it’s vegan!” I didn’t want anyone to know. I want people to order it because it’s scrumptious. I mean, obviously you need to use certain catch-phrases and words that people are already attracted to.

We came up with these Sweet Potato Taquitos with an avocado puree and a corn and pepper relish on top. It’s a completely vegan dish. And it sells like CRAZY.

Thanks for sharing the recipe with us! It looks delicious.

😋 LINK to the Sweet Potato Taquitos recipe on VeggieHappy’s new Recipes page! 😋 Keep an eye on that page for more recipes from partner venues, blog contributors, and chefs.

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Scotiabank Arena is the home arena of the 2019 NBA Champions, the Toronto Raptors. In our interview with Culinary Director Chris Zielinski, we discuss the popularity of their plant-based menu items, their NBA championship, and much more, including a recipe.

Zielinski is the Culinary Director for Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (MLSE), which owns and manages multiple venues in the Toronto area, including Scotiabank Arena, the home arena for the Toronto Raptors and NHL’s Toronto Maple Leafs. Zielinski comes with 34 years of experience as a chef. After attending culinary school and training with several top chefs, he worked in casual and fine dining restaurants, as well as the national ballet, before joining MLSE in 2014.

VeggieHappy co-founder Johanna McCloy spoke with Chris Zielinski on October 31. This is Part One of their conversation. (Watch for Part Two next week!)

VH: Hi Chris! So nice to chat with you.

Chris Zielinski: Hi Johanna! I’m so glad we’re doing this.

Why don’t you start by sharing a little bit about your position as the Culinary Director for MLSE. What are your job functions?

Eating! Actually, it’s true. It is kind of my forte. I’m the person who discerns what makes the menus and what doesn’t, because it’s very easy to come up with a great idea, but it’s a lot harder to do it the same every time, over and over, for a year. I oversee all our venues, and we also have five restaurants, which range from sports bars to very fine dining. I manage all the executive chefs, sous chefs and cooks. We have 18 executive chefs and about 350 cooks. It’s an amazing team of people.

When it comes to vegetarian food or vegan food, they LOVE that kind of a challenge. They are so into what’s next and what’s interesting. We’ve pretty much done all we can with meat at this point. Turning vegetables into the center of the plate, and using all the fun new products out there to assist you with that, it’s really become a badge of pride for our chefs.

And what are you finding? How are the items on your plant-based menu selling?

Well, when it comes to plant-based dishes, the Raptors side has a broader fan base. It’s very multi-cultural, more of an even split between men and women, whereas with hockey, that tends to be a lot of dudes. So there are a lot of those sales on the basketball side, and on the soccer side too.

Our outdoor soccer stadium, BMO Field, seats about 30,000 people and I think our percentage of plant-based menu options there is probably the highest of all of the teams. When I’m over there, at least one or two people will stop me and ask me what they can have if they’re vegetarian or vegan. I’m pleased to be able to walk them around and show them all the options, and they’re always blown away, saying, “I had no idea!”

Yeah. That’s why VeggieHappy exists!

Exactly! And you know, we might want to shout from the rooftops, but whatever direction you yell into, you only hit a certain number of ears. Our audience is the entire city. VeggieHappy, you guys, are living in the world where you’re celebrating plant-based foods and stories on a daily basis. The Food and Beverage side of us says YEAH, we love telling these stories.

That’s what motivated us to build a dedicated online guide! Tell me about some of your plant-based menu items that visitors really respond to.

The Beyond Burger has done really well. We were the first ones in Canada to actually have it. A lot of people don’t know that, because A&W jumped onto it about a year later and pretty much shouted it from the roof tops, which did help with our awareness, because then people understood what it was, but I’m not going to lie, it’s one of our top sellers.

One of our partners, Pizza Pizza is a brand that is very Canadian. They’re pretty much in every part of the country, much in the way maybe Little Caesars would be in the U.S. And they’ve really jumped on the bandwagon with their Super Plant Pizza, which is selling really, really well.

I can imagine! We posted the image of the Super Plant Pizza on Instagram.

Yeah, it’s stadium food and it has plant-based meat and dairy-free cheese. And you know what, it’s delicious! It tastes great. It’s been a really hot seller for us.

We also have a long-standing item on our menu. For some background, Toronto is a real melting pot of people; it’s very multi-cultural. I mean virtually everybody in this city eats all the food that the world has to offer. So we’ve had a concept the last couple of years called Sorta-Shawarma and our Crispy Chickpea Shawharma sells like crazy. People love it. We have that here and at BMO Field, and I don’t think we could take it off the menu. It’s become a real go-to snack. There’s a vegan version and a gluten-free version.

Our taco stands here and at BMO Field have vegan options, too. We have a Crispy Cauliflower Taco with pico de gallo on it, and we have a Jackfruit Taco (featured image). They sell really well. People are really enjoying them.

I’ll be sure to submit our BMO listing to VeggieHappy at the start of next season. It’s an outdoor venue and it’s COLD here in the winter, but we have games here and there. Canadians are used to the weather of course, but it’s hard to eat when it’s 28 degrees and the wind is blowing sideways. We’ll have a brand new menu for you next year.

That’d be great! We’d love to add BMO Field to our listings.

One thing that makes Scotiabank Arena different is that we don’t have any buffets in our Premium program. Every arena I’ve been to, and I’ve been to a lot of them, typically has a lot of buffets.

Because we have four premium restaurants in the building, we have a mandate that each restaurant has to have their own plant-based menu, so whatever price range you’re shopping at, we’ve got a special menu, just to make it easy. It has all of the plant-based options on it, and usually we have 4 main dishes to choose from.

That’s been a real win for us on the premium side of things. One thing about people eating healthy, it’s not a choice made by money. People at all levels are looking for the same thing.

Read Part Two of our interview, when Chris shares more about their plant-based menu items, their work with the athletes, Canada’s NBA Championship win, and a recipe for one of Scotiabank Arena’s popular vegan dishes!

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VeggieHappy and members of the media were invited to Levi’s Stadium for an introduction to their new and local concession brands and to sample menu offerings. Here are some highlights, along with a list of  updates from other NFL venues.

The Faithful Farm at Levi’s Stadium

Did you know that Levi’s Stadium has a large organic rooftop garden on the west side of the stadium? Their sustainable garden, known as Faithful Farm, was established in 2016, and many of the club and concession offerings at the stadium incorporate the vegetables, herbs, and fruits that are grown there.

Faithful Farm is managed by Lara Hermanson of Farmscape, the largest urban farming company in California. Farmscape also manages the on-site farm at the San Francisco Giants’ Oracle Park.

“We started this project up on the roof at the request of Danielle York, who owns the team with her husband Jed,” Hermanson tells VeggieHappy’s co-founder Johanna McCloy. “Danielle was a high school science teacher and was really interested in all things environmental. The stadium had a green roof with native low-water plants, but it wasn’t really being used for anything. I’m her gardener in other applications, so we came up with this idea to do a green roof that produces food that then percolates throughout the stadium and to all the different concession stands.”

The farm uses all-organic soil and compost, sustainably harvested redwood, and drip irrigation to ensure as small an environmental impact as possible. The crops are rotated seasonally. “We’re in the process of season switch now, changing over from Summer to Winter,” says Hermanson. “Winter is where the roof does the best, because green roofs are conducive to shallow-rooted beans, kales, lettuces, baby mustards, and more. Chefs really value these, and work them into salads at the Club level and to dishes at different concession stands.”

This was evident in the Whiskey Mule cocktail, offered by Gold Bar Whisky (another local brand partner) at the onset of Levi’s Stadium’s concessions sampling tour. The drink was garnished with aromatic fresh mint, which was picked minutes earlier at Faithful Farm. A delightful way to start the tour!

Plant-based options and local brands at Levi’s Stadium

Starting this season, Levi’s Stadium is featuring a Beyond Meat portable stand (section 315) which serves the Beyond Brat and the Italian sausage with grilled peppers and onions. Popular Bay Area bread bakery Le Boulanger, another Levi’s Stadium brand partner, is also making a vegan bun specifically for this stand.

These are other local brands offering plant-based menu items at Levi’s Stadium this season:

• Super Duper (section 118 )- Veggie (vegan) Burger, served on a vegan bun, with hummus, cucumber, lettuce, and tomato
• Curry Roots (section 128 ) – Vegan Samosa with Chutney
• Iguanas Burritozilla (section 116) – Veggie Burrito (available without cheese or sour cream)

Watch for their food images on Instagram and Facebook, where VeggieHappy features a wonderful variety of plant-based menu offerings from all of our venue partners.

Find all NFL menu listings, and more, on VeggieHappy

VeggieHappy consults with all the venues that are featured on our guide, and updates menu listings as they are provided or confirmed. Many sports venues don’t finalize menu items and locations until after the start of a new season, so keep your eye on our guide for their listing updates.

VeggieHappy also invites fans and venue visitors to contact us if they notice any menu item updates that have not yet been posted. Send ’em on! Take some photos of your favorite foods and share them with us too.

Here are some of the updated 2019 NFL menu listings on VeggieHappy:

• Dignity Health Sports Park (Los Angeles Chargers play here until 2020)
• U.S. Bank Stadium (Minnesota Vikings)
• Mercedes-Benz Stadium (Atlanta Falcons)
• MetLife Stadium (New York Jets and New York Giants)
• CenturyLink Field (Seattle Seahawks)
• Nissan Stadium (Tennessee Titans)
• NRG Stadium (Houston Texans).

There’s also a new listing for Cajun Field (Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns) of NCAA Division 1.

Keep checking VeggieHappy’s menu listings page to find your favorite venue, get the latest menu updates, and to post your own food reviews!

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