{"id":18013,"date":"2021-09-17T10:00:43","date_gmt":"2021-09-17T14:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/?p=18013"},"modified":"2021-09-01T10:46:53","modified_gmt":"2021-09-01T14:46:53","slug":"plantega-and-the-community-vegan-food-in-bodegas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/2021\/09\/17\/plantega-and-the-community-vegan-food-in-bodegas\/","title":{"rendered":"Plantega and the Community \u2013 Vegan Food in Bodegas"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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By Lucia Rivera, VRG Intern<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Plantega — the New York City program\nspreading plant-based options throughout local bodegas — cites community\ninteraction and connection as central to its mission and work. Playing a\nsignificant role in these interactions are the Plantega Community Advisors (CA):\nlocal community members \u201cresponsible\nfor community engagement, field marketing, in-store inventory management and\nquality control,\u201d according to the Plantega website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Community Ambassador Jailene Encarnacion is\none of three CA\u2019s currently working for Plantega, which has ten current\nlocations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs a Community Ambassador, it is my job to\ndirectly speak and interact with the community, bodega workers and their\ncustomers. And as I am now coming up on my 9th month working at Plantega, I can\nhonestly say that no other work I could be doing right now, is as community\ninvolved as this one,\u201d Encarnacion said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additionally, Encarnacion explained how, after\ninitially being introduced to Plantega, she \u201cultimately decided to apply for\nthe job, because I like what Plantega stands for. I wanted to make it easier to\nbring affordable vegan\/plant-based food into NYC as a whole, and I knew that\nthis was going to be the best way to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On a similar note, Community Ambassador Ava\nNadel is a four-year vegan familiar with bodegas and her home area, whose\npassions also align with Plantega. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs a Brooklyn native and vegan, I am able to\nrepresent two unique communities. I\u2019m so happy to represent a NYC staple of my\nchildhood\/adolescence. However, I\u2019ve only been vegan for four years — I was\nalways jealous of my non-vegan friends being able to pop into their local\nbodega and freely order [from] any menu. Plantega has completely changed that,\u201d\nNadel stated. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Part of Plantega\u2019s goal is to be both\ncommunity powering and to empower the community, according to Plantega head Nil\nZacharias. For Encarnacion, this goal is reached in part through the way that\nthe Plantega team reflects the NYC communities. Community Ambassadors can also\nhelp bridge language divides between the Plantega team and local bodegas, as\ndifferent NYC neighborhoods very in culture and demographics. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAlthough none of what we do is about racial\njustice, it is important to highlight that the whole team is made up of people\nof color, just like how NYC is. We represent what NYC looks like. We work with\nthe people that feed NYC, from the most broke resident, to the richest citizen\nin these five boroughs,\u201d Encarnacion stated. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Furthermore, Nadel explained how \u201cPlantega is 100% a community initiative.\u201d As their website ensures, \u201cPlantega was created by New Yorkers for New Yorkers.\u201d Nadel uses her own experiences to connect with both bodega employees and the bodega customers — who then become Plantega customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNot only has the consumption and demand for\nplant-based foods increased exponentially, so has the demand for accessibility.\nThus, Plantega empowers bodegas to offer exactly that!\u201d Nadel shared. \u201cIn order\nto connect with store owners\/workers, you have to remember you weren\u2019t always\nvegan yourself and that a large portion of the customers base won\u2019t always be\npeople who are 100% vegan; some people like to dabble, some are curious, and\nsome may not have had the same access to resources and education on plant-based\nfoods and veganism you or I may have.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regardless of personal experience, Encarnacion\nenthusiastically recommends for \u201canyone and everyone\u201d from NYC to apply to be\nPlantega community ambassadors. Nadel further suggested that \u201canyone who is\nsociable and goal minded, who enjoys hopping around the 5 boroughs, […] apply\nto be a CA. I have increased my knowledge around the plant-based revolution and\nhave built so many connections both within the vegan community and within\nbodegas!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the end, since its conception during the\nCOVID-19 pandemic, the Plantega team has built its program with help of\nCommunity Ambassadors and the NYC communities themselves. You can read more\nabout Plantega here: vrg.org\/blog\/2021\/08\/19\/plantegas-collaboration-with-bodegas-and-activists-promoting-vegan-items-in-latino-grocery-stores\/<\/a>,\nor learn more about them at their website: https:\/\/eatplantega.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For resources in Spanish, see vrg.org\/nutshell\/information_in_Spanish.htm<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The contents of this posting, our website and\nour other publications, including Vegetarian Journal, are not intended to\nprovide personal medical advice. Medical advice should be obtained from a\nqualified health professional. We often depend on product and ingredient\ninformation from company statements. It is impossible to be 100% sure about a statement,\ninfo can change, people have different views, and mistakes can be made. Please\nuse your best judgment about whether a product is suitable for you. To be sure,\ndo further research or confirmation on your own.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Lucia Rivera, VRG Intern Plantega — the New York City program spreading plant-based options throughout local bodegas — cites community interaction and connection as central to its mission and work. Playing a significant role in these interactions are the Plantega Community Advisors (CA): local community members \u201cresponsible for community engagement, field marketing, in-store inventory […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18013","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18013","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18013"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18013\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18015,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18013\/revisions\/18015"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18013"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18013"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18013"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}