Year-end highlight, lowlight, gumbo

In 2017, it felt like more friends, acquaintances, professional entertainers and athletes transitioned to veganism, and there’s bound to be more resolving to go plant-based for 2018. So The V Word checked in with Pam Giarrizzo, a 15-year vegan and blogger of the Sacramento Vegan (sacramentovegan.blogspot.com) and The Booktrekker (thebooktrekker.blogspot.com), for her thoughts on plant-based Sac this year. A highlight for Giarrizzo included local restaurants serving the Beyond Burger and Impossible Burger. Her favorite is the Impossible at 33rd Street Bistro (3301 Folsom Boulevard). A lowlight was restaurants still not being herbivore-friendly or clearly marking menus. “They don’t recognize that vegans pick the restaurant” when they eat out with their omnivore friends, she said, and lose business. For 2018, Giarrizzo is looking forward to the reopening of Celestin’s in East Sacramento (3610 McKinley Boulevard). The Cajun eatery closed its K Street location in 2011 after almost 30 years.