Eat Local

They're the gems and staples of our communities. We go here to hang out with friends and catch up over drinks, spend time with family laughing over a good meal, impressing our out-of-town date, or staying in with our favorite take-out. We're talking about eating local!

Without our neighborhood favorites and go-to spots, our dining experiences wouldn't be the same. A local treasure means more than just a good meal; these restaurants make us feel at home, the staff makes us smile, and they always hit the spot.

For this Challenge, we want you to spotlight a local restaurant that fills your heart and your belly. Show them some love and support, and tell us why they're one of a kind—do they make the best pizza, or martini, or lava cake in the world? Have you been going back to the same family-owned spot for years? Is there a restaurant where you celebrate every special occasion, or the chef regularly comes out to check on his diners? Give us the scoop on the special local eateries and dishes you're craving, and be sure not to write on an empty stomach!

For your story to be eligible, it must be between 600 and 5,000 words and adhere to our Community Guidelines. Stories published on Vocal and entered into the contest up until April 20, 2021, at 11:59 PM EST will be entered for consideration. Official Rules for the Challenge can be found here.

The Eat Local Challenge is exclusive to Vocal+ members. To learn more and upgrade to Vocal+ visit https://vocal.media/vocal-plus.

To be eligible to win the grand prize, second place, or third place prizes, you must be over the age of 13 and residing in a country where Stripe is available at the time of entry. A complete list of countries where Stripe is available can be found here—winners will need to have a Stripe account created and connected in order to receive the prizes. For this reason, entrants located outside of any of these 39 countries will not be eligible to win.