This NBA Arena Now Serves Vegan Food from Wicked Kitchen

The NBA regular season kicks off tonight and basketball fans nationwide are returning to watch their home courts. For most vegan fans, that means eating before the game, but plant-based Minnesota Timberwolves fans are in luck: The Target Center in Minneapolis is getting a new menu. This week, the Timberwolves and Wicked Kitchen announced a partnership dedicated to delivering tasty vegan concessions to basketball fans all season long.

“Wicked Kitchen is a wonderful addition to our concession lineup at Target Center, providing delicious and approachable plant-based options for our fans,” Ryan Tanke, Chief Operating Officer of Minnesota Timberwolves and Lynx said. “A gourmet and chef-driven offering, there is something for everyone from Wicked’s sandwiches to ice cream. We are so excited to introduce Wicked Kitchen to Timberwolves fans this season.”

Wicked Kitchen's concession stand marks the company's first foray into the sports industry. The concession stand offers a selection of elevated gameday classics that remove all meat and dairy products typically included in gameday fare. The products will also be served in the Club Level and VIP Lounge of the stadium.

Speranza noted that the brand expects to team up with more sports teams globally following its inaugural concession stand with the Timberwolves. The company aims to help provide healthier food choices while also lowering the environmental footprint of these sports stadiums.

The company will also introduce a plant-based ice cream cart at the Target Center. The cart will offer the first-to-the-market ice cream novelties, featuring ingredients such as the lupini bean. The ice creams can be purchased at the cart and at three other locations around the stadium.

Chef Chad Sarno, the Chief Culinary Officer and co-founder of Wicked Kitchen designed the new plant-based menu and will oversee the concessions during the season. Timberwolves fans will have the chance to try several plant-based specialties, including Brats and ice cream novelties.

“With this menu, we pushed the boundaries of traditional game day favorites for bold-flavored offerings that are good for the planet and free from animals,” Sarno said. “We are offering the best sporting arena concession items in the country and upping the game with additions such as our harissa mayo on bratwurst, our secret sauce and gouda on the burger, and our Nana’s red sauce to our meatball sub, all vegan.”

While this is Wicked Kitchen's first partnership with a sports stadium, several brands have teamed up with sports teams to provide plant-based fans with craveable vegan eats, especially in Major League Baseball. This July, Wrigley Field (Home of the Chicago Cubs) announced that it would introduce more vegan meat options with the help of Planterra Foods. Baseball fans could order vegan brats, burgers, and more made from the Ozo brand.

Several other MLB stadiums introduced plant-based options in recent years with the help of Oatly and Beyond Meat. Dodger Stadium (home of the Los Angeles Dodgers) is gaining a reputation as one of the most vegan-friendly stadium in the United States, providing fans with Beyond burgers, tempeh tacos, and nachos covered in Follow Your Heart Cheese.

Seven-time Grammy Award winner Carrie Underwood has been hailed for her “enormous” vocal range. When it comes to her diet, Underwood’s a fan of breakfast burritos and lots of tofu. She doesn’t shy away from the carbs, either. According to Cheat Sheet, one of her favorite snacks is a toasted English muffin with peanut butter.

Singer, songwriter, and “The Voice” coach, Blake Shelton, 43, has been working to stay fit recently with help from his long-time love, Gwen Stefani, who is a vegetarian and told him to get off the meat if he wants to feel fitter and lose some weight. Shelton has been trying to keep up with Stefani's impressive fitness level, according to an interview Stefani gave this fall. The former No Doubt singer and Hollaback girl is a longtime vegetarian, eats a mostly vegan diet, and is super fit-- and at 50, looks younger than her years. A source told Gossipcop, “Gwen’s told him the way to lose it is to stay the hell away from meat and bad carbs.” We're rooting for him!

The best-selling female country music singer in history isn’t buying any expensive steak dinners after a performance. The “Queen of Country Pop” has sold more than 100 million records but says she keeps her meat-free diet simple. She is both vegetarian and eats very little dairy -- though at times has said she does eat eggs.

Americana singer and songwriter Annette Conlon is also a passionate vegan. She started “The Compassionette Tour,” in an effort to bring compassion, social consciousness, human interaction, and animal issues to a mainstream audience.

The Man in Black is synonymous with country music, even nearly two decades after his death (1932-2003), probably in part because of the biopic about his life starring vegan actor Joaquin Phoenix. Ask any die-hard country music fan (or your dad, for that matter) and they will tell you that Johnny Cash was one of the best-selling musicians of all-time. His scores of hits include “I Walk the Line” and "Hurt" "A Boy Named Sue" and dozens of others. Cash himself was believed to have lived meat-free later in life to help combat some health issues. At Johnny Cash’s Kitchen and Saloon in Nashville, you can also load up on the meat-free dishes as the restaurant boasts a fully stacked veggie menu that includes greens, sweet potato mash, and fried okra.