Snoop Dogg has continued to top the popular music charts throughout the decades (cue “Drop It Like It’s Hot,” “California Girls,” and basically every other collaboration on his résumé), but intermixed with his music is another kind of partnership: vegan food ambassador. The ‘90s rap icon (whose real name is Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr.) has served as the face of several Beyond Meat campaigns, grasping the attention of folks who wouldn’t otherwise give a Beyond Burger a chance.
Table of Contents
Snoop Dogg & Beyond Meat
Beyond Meat has the backing of many celebrities (including Kim Kardashian), but arguably, one of the most committed of its A-list fans is Snoop Dogg. The rapper is a long-standing fan and has actively worked with Beyond Meat for more than four years.
Shutterstock
In 2018, for example, he performed at the Environmental Media Association Gala against the backdrop of the Beyond Meat logo. Then in 2019, he served up plant-based Carl’s Jr Beyond Star burgers, made with Beyond Burgers, at a pre-Grammys party. And in the same year, he helped the popular vegan brand celebrate its IPO by promoting the Beyond Meat truck, which was handing out free Beyond Burgers.
Snoop Dogg’s relationship with the brand is still going strong (more on that below). But it’s not the only plant-based brand he has worked with. He’s also teamed up with plant-based brands, like Outstanding Foods, to promote more plant-based choices.
So, is Snoop Dogg vegan?
Snoop Dogg isn’t vegan (yet). But that said, his promotion of vegan-friendly options is pushing fans and consumers in the plant-based direction.
Here are seven Snoop stunts to encourage even the most stubborn of meat eaters that plant-based fare is the way to go.
1
Getting the family on board
Many vegans have learned the hard way that try as they may, they just can’t get their immediate family or closest friends to give vegan a try. Sometimes, a person has to hear it from an outside source … or you have to get a little sneaky. Snoop confessed that he fooled his family by sneaking Beyond Meat products into their food. He knew that once they tried them without bias, they’d realize how meaty plant-based products can really be. It’s no surprise—Snoop was right.
Beyond Meat
2 Creating the Tailgate Dogg
To kick off the 2021 NFL season, Snoop teamed up with Los Angeles Chargers’ Derwin James to hand out over 600 free Beyond Meat burgers and sausages at a pop-up in LA. The two were allowed to design their own food trucks and handhelds. Snoop’s Tailgate Dogg was a completely vegan sandwich featuring Beyond Sausage, Beyond Meat chili, non-dairy cheese, and crispy onions on an artisan split-top bun. James went with a double-patty Smashburger fused together with vegan cheese and spicy barbecue sauce held between two burger buns. While Snoop won’t be serving his signature sausage any longer, the food trucks continued to pop up at Los Angeles-area high school football games to surprise players and fans with some complimentary and tasty vegan eats.
3 Serving (vegan) food to frontline workers
During the height of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, Snoop chipped in to Beyond Meat’s Feed a Million+ campaign. The goal was to feed over a million frontline workers in 30 days with Beyond Meat burgers. In April that same year, the rapper donated a colossal number of vegan meaty handholds to Martin Luther King Jr. Hospital in Los Angeles.
Outstanding Foods
4 Inspiring college kids
Beyond Meat isn’t the only vegan company Snoop has a stake in. The entertainer has also teamed up with Outstanding Foods—a plant-based pork rind and chip company with significant celebrity backing. In June 2020, Snoop dropped into a Zoom class full of Loyola Marymount University marketing students who were tasked with the project of coming up with campaigns to sell these vegan snacks. Snoop appeared to judge the presentations and pick a winner. The winning group was granted the opportunity to work with Snoop and Outstanding Foods CEO Bill Glasser to turn their pitches into public marketing campaigns, with profits benefiting the essential workers of the pandemic.
5 Surprising Dunkin’ customers
Imagine strolling into your local Dunkin’ to order your Medium Regular when you look up to see Snoop Dogg at the register. The celebrity worked at a single Dunkin’ location in November 2019 to bring buzz to the chain’s new Beyond Sausage Sandwich. While not vegan (it contains animal-based egg and cheese), any excitement around a plant-based option is a step forward in our minds.
Beyond Meat
6 Supporting vegan businesses
It’s obvious Snoop loves to take control at the register, but he has also been spotted supporting independent and Black-owned burger spots across the country. In 2021, he raved about Vurger Guyz—a vegan food truck in Los Angeles serving up classic Smashburgers. He also was an early supporter of Slutty Vegan. The scandalously named restaurant has built a vegan empire spanning across Alabama, Georgia, New York City, and Texas—but when Snoop visited in 2019, it was just an incredibly popular food truck in Atlanta.
7 Promoting adoption
Sure, take this with a grain of salt as one could argue that Snoop’s Puppy Bowl XVII appearance was financially motivated, but we choose to allot him the benefit of the doubt. The entertainer joined the legendary Martha Stewart to host the annual Puppy Bowl in 2020. The televised event runs concurrently with the Super Bowl to feature adoptable pups from animal shelters. Given the popularity of certain purebreds such as Frenchies and Labradoodles, America could all stand to hear “adopt, don’t shop” more often.
For more vegan celebrity news, read:
Tanya Flink is a Digital Editor at VegNews as well as a writer and runner living in Orange County, CA.
