Copyright Mechanicsburg Patriot News
It’s disappointing news for the vegan and vegetarian community in Washington, D.C. Shouk restaurant, a chain that was both vegan and Kosher, has closed its doors, but the reason for its crumble is complicated. “The owner of a vegan kosher food chain in Washington, D.C., said boycotts that targeted his business for its ties to Israel led to the permanent closure this month of his last two restaurants,” Forward reported. The plant-based, kosher Israel street food chain, which opened its first location in 2016, was listed on the D.C. for Palestine group’s “Apartheid? I Don’t Buy It” boycott initiative in March, which is categorized under “restaurants that [are] culturally appropriate or sell Israel settlement products.” “Local activist group DC for Palestine led a boycott campaign that claimed the restaurant’s falafel and other menu items ‘appropriated’ Palestinian cuisine and that the owners were ‘complicit in Israeli apartheid,’” Fox Business reported. The boycott came on top of financial challenges and an inability to sustain operations, per The Street. The chain joins a growing list of closed restaurants that includes Hart House, Sage Regenerative Kitchen & Brewery, Planta, The Sudra, and La Bartola. “The ability to continue to operate wasn’t there ... Shouk wasn’t a political place; it was a place for people to come together,” co-owner Dennis Friedman said in a statement to Ynet News. As of this month, all Shouk locations have permanently shuttered its doors. The chain was voted “Best Fast Casual in D.C.” for three years by The Washington Post and DC Eater.
