Welcome to the seventh annual Life Is Beautiful festival taking over Downtown Las Vegas Sept. 20 – 22. If you’ve never been to a LIB before, now’s the time to come and check it out. For the first time ever, the festival has an entirely vegan area in addition to a handful of vendors serving up some vegan options.
Without further adieu, here’s your vegan food guide to Life Is Beautiful 2019.
The Farm Stand
We’ve partnered with LIB to curate The Farm Stand, a nightly pop-up featuring Las Vegas chefs and restaurant creating vegan eats and even using some locally-sourced produce from Desert Bloom Eco Farm. Come hang with us from 5 ’til the food runs out at The Farm Stand, located near the Huntridge Stage (where you can catch acts including King Princess on Friday; local performer Zack Gray, and Banks Saturday night; or Phantogram on Sunday) and only a quick skip to the Downtown Stage where Festival headliners including The Black Keys and Vampire Weekend are setting up shop.
FRIDAY
CATCH Las Vegas — fresh tropical lychee, jicama, yuzu-citrus emulsion, pickled onions, and a wasabi-avocado puree
POTs — fava dip topped with preserved Meyer lemon, served with assorted vegetables and pita chips
TIABI — kale waffle with fresh avocados, tomatoes, spring greens, vegan cheese and TIABI sauce (tofu aioli and fresh herbs)
VegeNation — beet poke in a nori cone
SATURDAY
POTS — Exceptional Hummus topped with smoked lentils and chili oil, served with assorted vegetables and pita chips
TIABI — Churro Baby – Churro waffle with horchata ice cream and vegan honey; Cactus Juice – Refreshing lemon juice, agave nectar and citrus mint tea shaken and iced
Vegan Yack Attack — kimchi mac and cheese
VegeNation — beet poke in a nori cone
SUNDAY
Greene St. Kitchen — Vegan Sliders – Beyond patty, vegan cheddar, tomato, vegan thousand island, arugula, sesame seed bun. compressed watermelon, tajin and lime; Grilled Mushroom Handroll – soy-glazed grilled trumpet mushroom, green onion, yuzu, togarashi, marinated cucumber salad, radish
JOLT — Grown Up Grilled Cheese – blend of local vegan cheeses, avocado aioli, coconut bacon, avocado and grilled onions on multigrain; Blue Moon Milk – silky blue pea flowers, almond milk and coconut poured over ice and topped with cardamom
OG Lola’s — Lumpia with pancit, empanadas, fresh exotic fruit
Simply Pure — nachos with mac and cheese
Concessions
Bacardi Culinary Village
The Middle Feast Food Truck — build-your-own bowl
Pancho’s Kitchen — vegan tacos, loaded nachos, loaded fries, fries, esquite, taquitos
Downtown Culinary Village
595 Craft and Kitchen — lemongrass curry tofu bahn mi*
Cornish Pasty — vegan pasty, British-style chips
Saint Honoré — iced matcha latte; beignets
Shake Shack — crinkle-cut fries*
Fremont Culinary Village
Bling Bling Dumpling — shiitake mushroom dumplings, fried tofu with Thai basil
Hot Noods! — Yakisoba noodles with tofu
Naked City Pizza — vegan Italian slice
Ruse — ALL VEGAN — gyro, steak pesto pita, peanut satay taco, chimichurri tacos, mix and match two tacos
Huntridge Culinary Village
50 Shades of Green — vegan power salad with red and yellow quinoa, red onion, kale, bell peppers, zucchini and tossed in balsamic vinaigrette
Can’t Dutch This — hand-cut, twice fried Belgian fries with sweet and spicy Amsterdam sauce or Delft-savory curry ketchup; can also veganize Nacho Fries (vegan southwest sauce, soyrizo, tomato, cilantro) and Burger Fries (Beyond hamburger, nutritional yeast, tomato, red onion, dill relish)
Dragon Grille — vegan chicken teriyaki bowl with white steamed rice and teriyaki sauce topped with sesame seed and cilantro
Nacho Daddy — vegan loaded nachos
Tacotarian — ALL VEGAN – Carne Asada taco, Chorizo taco, Gabacho taco, nachos, Takis elote
Truk N Yaki — teriyaki tofu Japanese burrito
Diana Edelman is the founder of Vegans, Baby and has emerged as the face of plant-based dining in Las Vegas and the leading plant-based restaurant consultant in the city. She spent a decade in the travel blogging world before switching gears to work in elephant rescue in Thailand. Diana travels the world to meet chefs and try vegan food, as well as speak at events focusing on travel, tourism, veganism and entrepreneurship. She’s a partner with the prestigious James Beard Foundation and curates their Vegas Vegan Dinners at the James Beard House. Diana is also a partner with Life is Beautiful, curating the all-vegan Farm Stand.
