Vegan Wing-Eating Competition Kicks Off Next Week in Texas

On April 17, vegan chain Earth Burger will host “Wing Wednesday,” a vegan wing-eating competition at its San Antonio location. The inaugural event will feature three flavors of vegan wings (Buffalo, BBQ, and Gochujang), which competitors must eat as quickly as possible in five minutes. “They taste just like traditional wings, if not better,” Earth Burger founder Mike Behrend told San Antonio Current. “You have to taste them to believe it.” The competitor who eats the most vegan wings will be awarded a $1,000 Earth Burger gift card (which, according to the chain, amounts to a year’s worth of vegan burgers), and a $1,000 donation to a local charity will be made in the winner’s honor. In addition to the grand prize winner, other categories (such as “messiest eater”) will also receive prizes. “We want to introduce the public to how delicious vegan wings can be while doing something good for the community,” Behrend said. With the help of his mother Laun Singleton, Behrend pioneered the vegetarian movement in Texas by opening San Antonio’s first vegetarian restaurant Green Vegetarian Cuisine. In 2014, Behrend and his brother Chris founded the first location of Earth Burger inside the city’s North Star Mall. Now, Earth Burger boasts three locations in Texas and one in Minnesota inside of the Mall of America—the second largest shopping mall in the United States.