As plant-based restaurants continue to crop up all over the country, it seems as though the philosophy of veganism is advertised everywhere. Abstaining from the use of animal products reduces the pressure on the environment and has many health benefits. Baltimore has never been shy about partaking in the movement, and the second-annual Maryland Vegan Restaurant Week, returning February 7-23 this year, aims to further that mission locally.

Samantha Claassen, co-founder of the event, started her own Vegan Restaurant Week at Golden West Cafe in Hampden back in 2012. A few years later, she met Naijha Wright-Brown, owner of The Land of Kush, who wanted to partner to make it bigger.

“It was kismet,” Claassen says. “We thought we could make it city-wide and make it much bigger and broader.”

Claassen and Wright-Brown co-founded Maryland Vegan Restaurant Week shortly after, and the partnership has helped many other local restaurants catch on. With the motto, “something for everyone,” they want all diners to feel equal. Vegan Week encourages Maryland restaurants to create menus that are more inclusive, expanding their horizons to cater to all food restrictions.

“What goes on your plate is one of the most powerful decisions that you can make,” Claasen says. “The modern foodie realizes the power that they have when they make those choices. This echo-effect of positivity has the vegan marketplace continually growing in Baltimore.”

The bi-annual Maryland Vegan Restaurant Week, which was the first to go state-wide, returns this weekend with specials at more than 20 eateries. Participating restaurants have been challenged to showcase their most creative plant-based menu items, and this time around, exciting pop-ups will also be happening throughout the week. (Mark your calendar for a brunch at R. House on February 9 and a Valentine’s Day bingo night at L’Eau de Vie Organic Brasserie on February 14.) A portion of all profits will be donated to BARCS’ mission of helping animals in need.

With plenty of restaurants participating, here are a few recommendations to get you started:

Where to Take Your Vegan Friends

Golden West Cafe: Claasen’s Hampden cafe serves cuisine rooted in traditional New Mexican specialties and sourced from local producers. While its traditional menu serves a wide array of vegan, vegetarian, and gluten-free options, the team will be whipping up a vegan-specific menu for Restaurant Week. Diners can indulge in Oreo French toast, a pimento cauliflower sandwich, or the Beyond/Impossible sausage and frites. With so many menu items to choose from, your vegan friends will thank you. 1105 W 36th St.

The Land of Kush: Wright-Brown and her husband, chef Gregory Brown, have brought vegan soul food to Baltimore. Menu staples including meatless BBQ ribs, curry “chickun,” and vegan crab cakes are top sellers, and we can’t wait to see the new items they put out for the celebration. 840 N. Eutaw St.

Lunch Spots

Miss Shirley’s Café: This Charm City hotspot is known for its award-winning breakfast, brunch, and lunch, and it will be serving a vegan-specific menu for the occasion. If you’ve never eaten vegan before and aren’t sure if it’s right for you, the lengthy menu makes it easy to transition. Special dishes include avocado toast, gluten-free griddle cakes, a “Be More Beyond Burger,” and lemon-poppyseed pancakes. Various locations including 750 E Pratt St.

Sobo Cafe: If you only have time to grab lunch, this Federal Hill mainstay will be featuring options such as rosemary hummus, a grilled vegetable flatbread, and a mushroom Bahn Mi sandwich on special during Vegan Restaurant Week. 6 W Cross St.

Wicked Sisters: To help narrow down the choices, Wicked Sisters in Hampden will be offering a two-course lunch menu for $20, and a three-course dinner menu for $35 throughout Vegan Week. Choose from featured items like quinoa pancakes, the Beyond Vietnamese bowl, and a citrus almond salad. 3845 Falls Rd.

Dairy-Free Dessert

Harmony Bakery: This gluten-free, soy-free, and vegan family business serves customers savory and sweet treats daily. While they have a wide array of breakfast and lunch items, we’re a sucker for the sweets. Be sure to try the homemade strawberry pop tarts, the chocolate cake with lavender frosting, or a slice of chocolate turtle cake if you’re stopping in for a snack. Harmony also has special orders available for events. 3446 Chestnut Ave.

Vegan Twists

Alma Cocina Latina: With a menu that blends Venezuelan traditions with contemporary interpretations, Alma Cocina Latina has become a dining destination in Canton. While not traditionally vegan or vegetarian, Alma will be participating in the promotion with a special three-course fixed menu offering items such as a squash tartare and avo-chocolate mousse. 2400 Boston St.

Little Havana: While Cuban-inspired cuisine on South Baltimore’s waterfront might seem like it shouldn’t belong on this list, Little Havana is excited to switch up its menu and showcase how diverse vegan cuisine can be. The restaurant will be featuring vegan appetizers, entrees, and desserts. Be on the lookout for items like arepas and jackfruit carnitas tacos. 1325 Key Highway.

Koshary by Misteka: A traditionally vegan restaurant, Koshary by Misteka serves Egyptian street food which will be expanded to include surprise menu items. Located in Clarksville, Koshary aims to provide economic stability to refugee women and fight hunger. Its #DontEatAlone initiative donates one meal for every three sold, with over 2,600 meals donated by the restaurant thus far. 12250 Clarksville Pike.

Be sure to visit Red Emma’s, The GruB Factory, Namaste Donuts, L’Eau de Vie Organic Brasserie, Stem Farm and Kitchen, Sprout Natural Choice, and Gangster Vegan Organics both during the week and after, as each of these restaurants are all vegan all of the time.

Additional restaurants that will be participating in Maryland Vegan Restaurant Week include Hampden spots Paulie Gee’s, Treehouse Cafe, and The Charmery. Roland Park Bagels, Charm School Chocolate, and Flight American Fusion are also included.

With the Christmas season (beginning the day after Halloween, the day after Thanksgiving, or December 1, depending on who you’re asking) comes the yearly deluge of Christmas movies.

Big-city girls rediscover their holiday spirit with struggling small-town single dads/Christmas tree farmers/exceptionally handsome handymen; kids confirm that yes, [insert name], there is a Santa Claus; and scary movies insert themselves into the season by murdering people near snow.

The Christmas genre is, in a word, varied. But whether your tastes lean toward Capra or Krampus, there’s likely a place for you among the city’s many holiday-themed screenings. And, yes, we have included a section for celebrated Christmas classic Die Hard. Yippee-ki-yay to all, and to all a good movie night.

Fun for the Whole Family:

The sparkling Senator Theatre plays host to a couple of holiday hits leading up to Christmas. The Griswold family will hit the big screen for one night only on Dec. 18 in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, and film lovers looking to give back can stop by early on Dec. 21 and 24 for the theater’s annual charity screening of It’s a Wonderful Life. Admission to the 9:45 a.m. shows is free, but a donation of at least $5-worth of non-perishable food items is encouraged. Doors open at 8:45 a.m., and brunch cocktails will be available.

Those who aren’t such early risers can visit SweetSide Cafe in Hampden over the next few weeks to catch an array of Christmas favorites at its regular Lights, Camera, Action! Movie Nights, including How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Elf, and all four (yes, four) Home Alone installments.

Nightmares Before Christmas:

Golden West Cafe’s regular Shocktail Hour with Aurora Gorealis will take on a holiday twist on Dec. 12 with a screening of Baltimore-made holiday horror flick Two Front Teeth. Bring a gift for an exchange presided over by both Santa and Krampus, and take in this wild tale of a vampiric St. Nick, zombie elves, and a Christmas conspiracy.

For even more haunted holiday offerings, revelers can head to Dr. Gloom’s Crypt of Curiosities at Protean Books & Records for the first-ever Cryptmas. This packed night will include a screening of I’m Dreaming of a White Doomsday, in addition to a lecture, reading, and other seasonal spooky programming. While admission is free, attendees who bring donations for local homeless shelters will receive a Christmas gift from the venerable Dr. Gloom.

Season’s Greetings from Nakatomi:

We can fight about whether Die Hard is a Christmas movie, or we can all just enjoy some explosions, iconic catchphrases, and German Alan Rickman. Lucky fans of John McClane’s terrorist-fighting antics have multiple options for screenings ranging from low-key to full immersion.

If you’re looking for another chance to catch the explosion at the top of Nakatomi Plaza in a theater, head to The Charles. The first installment of McClane’s adventures will be back on the big screen at the cozy Charles Street theater on Dec. 19. The Backbar Movies series at Paulie Gee’s Hampden offers a more casual Die Hard experience on Dec. 17, featuring drink specials and $6 cheese pizzas to snack on while you watch the action unfold.

For something a little more intense, visit Creative Alliance on Dec. 12 for their Interactive Movie Night version of the film, complete with Bruce Willis drink specials, a Die Hard game, and prizes for the audience members rocking the best ’80s corporate party attire.

Bonus Round: Test your Christmas movie knowledge.

If you’ve already worked your way through all the holiday flicks that streaming services and the Hallmark Channel have to offer, prove your superior knowledge against other bar patrons at these Christmas movie-themed trivia nights.

Charm City Trivia’s Christmas Movie Quiz, Dec. 17: Gather your team and grab a table at Frank and Nic’s West End Grille for this themed version of Charm City Trivia’s usual six-round quiz. Winners receive a $20, $15, or $10 gift card, but everyone playing can enjoy all-night happy hour pricing on food and drinks.

Christmas Movie Trivia at Smaltimore, Dec. 18: Compete in three rounds of trivia covering Elf, A Christmas Story, and, Die Hard while enjoying food specials and themed cocktails. Prizes will be available for first, second, and third place.

Holiday Movie Trivia at Tin Roof, Dec. 19: This quiz is open to all ages and covers everything from Miracle on 34th Street to The Nightmare Before Christmas and offers big-time prizes. First place receives a whopping $200 to spend at the Power Plant Live! hangout.

Although the term veganism was first coined in 1944, its place in the recent cultural zeitgeist has largely been relegated to that one-month phase your worst friend went through three years ago and hasn’t stopped talking—bragging?—about since. Of course, veganism is an honorable commitment with a raft of documented health and environmental benefits, but it’s hard to imagine life without cheeseburgers. In the court of public opinion, the vegan lifestyle has always seemed undeniably noble, but carried the weight of certain stigmas.

This is changing.

For the first time ever, Maryland Vegan Restaurant Week will demonstrate that vegan food can be delicious and satisfying. From February 8 to the 18, more than 30 restaurants in Baltimore and the surrounding areas will offer special vegan menus (while Charm City has been celebrating a veganism week for the past three years, this is the first time the rest of the state is getting in on the fun). Venerable omnivorous—that’s vegan-speak for “non-vegan”—institutions such as Miss Shirley’s, R. House, and Gertrude’s will try their hand at plant-based cuisine, demonstrating how this event has permeated the mainstream and is working to reshape it.

“When I go out with my husband or my daughter, we’d like to see more on the menu than just a salad,” said Naijha Wright-Brown, the event’s co-founder and owner of The Land of Kush, a vegan soul-food restaurant in Mt. Vernon. “Part of this event is showing how creative you can be with vegan dishes.”

So, where should a curious meat-lover start on their journey to vegan-dom?

“Start with sweets, something you know you like,” advised Wright-Brown, “and the only difference you’ll notice is that you feel better afterwards.”

Luckily, there are plenty of places to sample your first vegan brownie, since Baltimore’s vegan scene is by no means a small niche. While veganism has gained traction all over the country, it has especially resonated in Baltimore.

“When I moved here over the summer, one of the first things I noticed was the number and, also, the quality of vegan restaurants” said Erin Johnson, a social media influencer who practices a vegan lifestyle. “As a transplant from the Bay Area, I just feel like, ‘Why doesn’t California have this?’”

Surprisingly, Baltimore is showing up the Bay Area in this department (as they did in Super Bowl XLVII). Beyond showcasing the endless possibilities of plant-based food, Vegan Restaurant Week is a celebration of the city itself and the people who live in it. The event is about more than new menu items—it is about fostering belonging.

“Food is about community,” said Samantha Claassen, the event’s co-founder and the owner of Golden West Cafe, a vegan-friendly southwestern restaurant in Hampden, “but it can be very challenging to find a vegan meal when you’re around other [non-vegan] people. We wanted to create a space where people could come together.”

During the themed week, this camaraderie will manifest itself through partnerships with organizations such as Vegan Drinks (a national vegan happy hour community) and No Meat Athlete (a vegan running club) to host a happy hour, run, and karaoke night, which, presumably, is no different than standard karaoke, save for a hard ban on Webstar and Young B’s 2006 classic “Chicken Noodle Soup.”

“Being a vegan can be very socially isolating,” said Rissa Miller, the founder of the Baltimore chapter of Vegan Drinks, “so, with Vegan Drinks, I wanted people to not only support plant-based restaurants and restaurateurs, but also each other.”

Baltimore’s vegan scene is also united by a singularity of purpose: to make the world a better place. According to a report by the United Nations, farmed livestock is responsible for over 14 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions; the polar ice caps are melting one porterhouse at a time. This fact is not lost on Baltimore vegans.

“I think part of the reason that veganism has caught on in Baltimore is that we’re on the coast,” said Elena Johnson (no relation to Erin), the owner and chef of the French-inspired vegan spot L’Eau de Vie Organic Brasserie in Fells Point. “We know what’s happening and what’s going to happen.”

Similarly, Wright-Brown noted that veganism is the natural result of Baltimore’s fierce civic pride. “Baltimore has a large population of activists and advocates who have introduced people to the idea that being vegan can save your body, save the planet, and save the animals,” she said. “Climate change is happening and people are getting educated and people love their city so they’re passionate about what they do.”

All sizzle, no steak never tasted so good.