Culture & Media
American Ninja Warrior Athlete Kaie Alexander on Competing Vegan and Chasing Mount Midoriyama | Ep 005 | SoFlo Vegans Podcast
Sean talks with American Ninja Warrior competitor and YouTuber Kaie Alexander about training and competing on a plant-based diet, his best-ever season on the show (including a mid-course broccoli bite to promote veganism), and how South Florida's vegan food scene compares to what he's seen in California and Louisiana.
Topics Covered
- How the American Ninja Warrior application and casting process works, from a 3-minute video submission to the "infamous 818 call"
- Kaie's best season yet: fastest qualifying time in Miami and a 16th-place finish, one spot short of the Las Vegas finals
- Going vegan three years earlier after his then-girlfriend's curiosity about factory farming, and cutting cheese as the hardest habit to break
- The most common misconceptions he faces as a vegan athlete: protein sources, supplement dependency, and food cost
- His South Florida favorites: Vegan Fine Foods, Green Bar Kitchen, and Della's Test Kitchen in Wynwood
- His go-to smoothie bowl recipe (mango, pineapple, spinach, agave, coconut water) and preference for whole-food, oil-free cooking at home
- His advice to the vegan community: staying visibly healthy does more to promote veganism than any argument
In the News This Episode
- The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) began teaching plant-based nutrition at 11 medical schools in India as part of its Kickstart India initiative
- PCRM opened the all-vegan Barnard Medical Center in Washington, D.C. in 2016 to treat and prevent disease through plant-based diets
- A Faunalytics survey found two in three US adults were open to trying "clean meat," with 46% saying they would regularly consume it
- Market research firm Mintel named Germany the world's top vegan food producer, narrowly ahead of the UK and US
- Plant-based food sales grew 20% year over year (versus 2% for other retail categories), with plant-based cheese sales up 43% and yogurt up 55%
- Domino's added vegan cheese pizza across its New Zealand locations; KFC debuted vegan chicken in Vietnam; Subway Australia launched its first vegan sandwich
- Startup Terramino Foods raised $4.25 million to develop vegan salmon burgers
- PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel invested $450,000 in Wild Earth, a company developing slaughter-free cat and dog food
About the Guest
Kaie Alexander is a South Florida-based American Ninja Warrior competitor and creator of the YouTube channel Street Beast TV, where he documents vegan fitness and travel.
On this episode
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