HipCityVeg founder discusses issues of veganism

HipCityVeg founder Nicole Marquis and Penn Environmental Sustainability Director Dan Garofalo were featured in IMPACT magazine’s sustainability speaker series cohosted by the Penn Vegan Society and the Puerto Rican Undergraduate Student Association on Sept. 27.

A Temple University graduate born and raised by a Puerto Rican family in Philadelphia, Marquis founded the first HipCityVeg location in 2012. Since then, she has added three more stores in Philadelphia and Washington D.C., including one on 40th and Locust streets.

Marquis first became interested in nutrition in 2001 when she began reading about healthy diets. She became a vegan in 2008 and realized the significance of a green diet after witnessing her parent’s improved health when they refrained from eating meat. Marquis later discovered that a green diet was also tremendously important in preserving the environment, due to the sheer amount of food humans collectively consume.

However, she said she noticed it was very challenging to integrate “the organic concept” into her restaurant business. Marquis expounded on “the triple bottom line” she experienced running HipCityVeg to balance the tension between profit, planet and people. She said she built HipCityVeg as a sustainable brand by providing organic, eco-friendly ingredients for a clientele with the same mission: preserving the environment and their health.

“Let today be a day of opening minds and strengthening commitments,” Marquis said.

Garofalo also showcased Penn’s sustainability efforts as specified in the Penn Climate Action Plan 2.0. He emphasized that energy conservation is present on Penn’s campus through campus construction, sustainable low-carb diets in dining halls as well as student curriculum.

“Environmentalism is a value system like religion,” Garofalo said. “It impacts everything we do.”

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