Austin Simmons believes that we should use our passions to advance veganism. When he transitioned to a vegan diet at 14, he didn’t have many activist role models to guide him. However, that didn’t prevent him from discovering his passion. Frustrated with the lack of vegan community in his hometown of Springfield, IL, Simmons organized a meet-up that brought together 11 vegans. That number later expanded to 70. 

  The first Springfield, IL Vegetarians and Vegans meeting at La Fiesta Chatham

Currently a Vegan Chef Challenge Organizer for Vegan Outreach, Simmons jokes that “I’m not a very good chef, so I try to get people to other—better—chefs making vegan food, and that’s kind of where I’ve made my focus.”

Having united Springfield’s vegans, Simmons focused on another issue: the lack of good vegan options at local restaurants. When he heard about an activist’s success with organizing a Vegan Chef Challenge in Sacramento, CA, he couldn’t help but envision the same happening in Springfield. “When we think of California,” he explains, “we probably think of it as a vegan heaven; there’s everything there. But Sacramento, specifically, didn’t really stand out very much for its vegan options. But with the event happening every year, and the restaurants innovating on it, it just got bigger and bigger.” While the Springfield meet-ups brought attention to local vegan options, there were still few vegan dishes. As a volunteer with Vegan Outreach, Simmons organized Springfield’s first Vegan Chef Challenge in 2023, with 20 restaurants participating.

Seeing menus change is one of the most rewarding aspects of Simmons’ work. It proves that restaurants are taking veganism seriously. He can see the impact of his original work as a Vegan Outreach volunteer when he visits La Fiesta Chatham—the same place where he held his first vegan meet-up. While this restaurant previously had good vegan options, “they’ve really expanded it since the event and their first Best Entree dish.” Simmons thinks it’s neat that the dish is “still on the menu, and they actually list it on the menu as winning the 2023 Springfield Vegan Chef Challenge.” In fact, restaurants that Simmons has encountered, at both the volunteer level and in his official capacity as a Vegan Chef Challenge Organizer, have still had their awards up months later. The Chef Challenges create a buzz for vegan food, but restaurants often engage with the vegan community long after the event has ended.

El Paraiso’s award, from the 2023 Champaign Vegan Chef Challenge, displayed over a year later

Simmons observes that the Chef Challenges have a particularly strong impact among chefs. It requires them to be creative. He thinks of that creativity in terms of an analogy: “if you want to make a steak, you’re gonna order beef. Then you throw it on the grill; you might have your seasonings and stuff. But when you step out of that box, it’s like taking yellow off the color wheel.” (The Challenge really prompts chefs to create meat alternatives, such as seitan.) Chef Adam Maas’ curiosity was so piqued that he went vegan for the entire month of the Chef Challenge to take a “deep dive into veganism.” He wanted to test his creativity and also see if veganism would improve his health. Simmons found it impactful seeing Maas “really take it [veganism] on and not just want to throw a vegan option out there for us to vote on and then forget about it.”

A major emphasis of Simmons’work as a Vegan Chef Challenge Organizer is to introduce nonvegans to the diet on their own terms. He explains that “a big part of how the event actually affects animals is when we’re showing meat eaters that “No, you can have a vegan dinner and not be hungry and not feel like you missed out on anything. In fact, maybe you get to try something new and exciting.”” This often occurs because nonvegans want to try their favorite chef’s new recipes. Simmons recalls that he saw this firsthand at a raffle during a Springfield Vegan Chef Challenge. As a local, he didn’t remember the raffle winner being a vegan. “When I handed them the raffle prize,” he states, “they said they were a nonvegan, and I asked, “What got you interested in the event?” They said they just loved the restaurant, and they wanted to try their new dishes.”

As for how your own passion might serve the vegan community, as Simmons’ passion for organizing has, he offers the following advice and an illustration: “We need every vegan to do whatever they want to do to help animals. So if you’re already good at music, make vegan music. I think really the trick with anything that you do is you gotta actually be good at what that thing is, and veganism is something to do with it.”

“We all know Joaquin Phoenix. He narrated Earthlings. But also, he’s a great actor, and he plays the Joker. So, it [veganism] is not his whole identity; he’s a whole human, and he is very talented at being an actor. But he also will advocate for the animals when he’s able to do so, and he’s able to make a big impact because of that.”

This post’s featured image is Austin Simmons holding a Bloomington Vegan Chef Challenge poster.

Springfield, IL, native Austin Simmons is a leader in his city’s vegan community. He plans meet-ups at local restaurants for members of the Facebook Group, Springfield, IL Vegetarians and Vegans. He organized the city’s first Vegan Chef Challenge in 2023 and began working as a Vegan Chef Challenge Organizer that same year. This position at Vegan Outreach allows him to organize Chef Challenges in cities across the country. Through it, Simmons hopes to increase vegan options and provide a positive, approachable outlet for nonvegans to experience vegan food.