South LA residents often complain about the high concentration fast-food, corporate chains, and convenience stores in the neighborhood. While soul food, burgers, and hearty breakfasts land on the popular side of the dining spectrum, these restaurants rarely offer options for those looking for a meatless meal.

In 2008, the Los Angeles City Council passed the nation’s first fast-food ban. Council members cited the high frequency of these establishments in poorer neighborhoods to combat obesity, and prohibited new fast-food restaurants from opening in areas like South LA.

While this fast-food grievance permeates in black and brown neighborhoods throughout the country, South LA’s plant-based movement deserves a closer look. While there are some longtime vegan and vegetarian options in South LA, new places are starting to sprout up regularly. The mostly vegan Swift Cafe opened in mid-October, and SÜPRMARKT hosted Süprfest, Leimert Park’s first-ever vegan food festival just two weeks prior.

Süprfest creator Olympia Auset hopes to boost the vegan signal throughout South LA. At the festival, she showcased 18 local restaurants and vendors without an animal product in sight, including Oaxacan specialist Poncho’s Tlayuda’s, Mexican pop-up Xochitl Vegan, and Voodoo Vegan’s New Orleans-style menu.

South LA’s new guard of vegan businesses includes a former SpaceX inventory clerk and teacher who started Compton Vegan in 2017. Owner Lemel Durrah operates out of his home kitchen, but will soon move to a kitchen incubator in West LA to make his signature jackfruit “ribs” and black bean enchiladas. For now, Durrah’s food can be picked up or delivered within 15 miles of his Compton home. Durrah launched the business after a particularly challenging day at SpaceX. “I went over to my buddy’s apartment and listened to a Dame Dash interview, and that sparked something inside of me. I could do something for myself, my people, and my community. After that, Compton Vegan was born,” he says.

The Vegan Pan Dulce pop-up is another newcomer who started as a donation-based service in May, where customers can buy traditional — but dairy-free — conchas. Owner Noe Flores Galeno is a 25-year-old USC graduate who started cooking vegan food in order to eat healthier. He started baking from his South LA home and launched the pop-up in May, using spelt flour and coconut sugar.

Galeno also makes coffee cake, inspired by the mass-produced dessert from Los Angeles Unified School District’s cafeterias. “I’ve gotten a bigger response from the coffee cake,” says Galeno. He continued, “It’s such a staple. The youth in LAUSD ate coffee cake for as long as I can remember. Last year, I wanted to replicate it and just relive my youth a little and share with people I grew up with.”

Some of South LA’s vegan/vegan-friendly pioneers have been serving the neighborhood for decades. Restaurants like Simply Wholesome have been serving healthy and plant-based meals in View Park/Windsor Hills since 1984. Babette Davis’ Stuff I Eat began serving vegan soul food restaurant in 2007. Equelecua Cuban Cafe is just two miles away from Stuff I Eat, with owner Caro Lafaurie serving vegan Cuban fare since 2015.