Veganchella highlights

Coachella’s 2026 food program put vegan dishes in the center of the festival menu, with Southern California vendors serving plant-based nachos, sushi, bao and deli sandwiches. (coachella.com) The festival ran April 10-12 and returns for its second weekend April 17-19 at the Empire Polo Grounds in Indio, California. Coachella’s official food pages said vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free options were available across the site. (coachella.com, coachella.com) Among the dishes singled out in April 13 coverage were Cena Vegan’s Barbacoa Nacho Boat, Maciel’s Plant-Based Butcher & Deli’s “The Smokey” sandwich, Maneatingplant’s Fried Shroom Bao and GoKoku’s Beleaf Salmon Flower Bouquet Hand Roll. Dessert coverage also highlighted churros from El Moro Churrería. (nationaltoday.com, dailybulletin.com) The shift showed up in both the official vendor roster and the festival’s outside coverage. Coachella listed Cena Vegan, GoKoku, Maciel’s and Maneatingplant among its 2026 food vendors, while VegNews counted “over a dozen vegan-friendly vendors” across festival food areas. (secretlosangeles.com, vegnews.com) Several of the plant-based vendors were new to the festival this year. VegNews reported that GoKoku and Maciel’s were making their Coachella debuts in 2026, with Maciel’s also introducing what it called the festival’s first vegan charcuterie board. (vegnews.com) The menu details leaned hard into familiar festival food, just without animal products. National Today’s April 13 writeup described Cena Vegan’s nachos with shredded tofu barbacoa, beans, pico de gallo, guacamole, cashew crema and salsa, and Maciel’s sandwich with mesquite-style vegan turkey, vegan bacon, gouda, avocado and spicy aioli. (nationaltoday.com) The variety also stretched beyond tacos and sandwiches. Coverage highlighted vegan sushi hand rolls at GoKoku, fried mushroom bao at Maneatingplant and dairy-free desserts, while Coachella’s official site framed the broader food program as everything from street food to chef-driven meals. (nationaltoday.com, coachella.com) Not every familiar vegan name returned. National Today reported that Monty’s Good Burger was absent from the 2026 lineup, even as other plant-based stands expanded the festival’s vegan options. (nationaltoday.com) By the time Coachella heads into Weekend 2 on April 17, the food story is already clear: vegan eating at the festival is no longer a side note on the menu. It is part of the main draw, right alongside the music and the desert spectacle. (coachella.com, vegnews.com)