Everyone is buzzing about another new Netflix smash real crime documentary series. On Rotten Tomatoes, “Bad Vegan” presently has a 100% rating, following in the footsteps of Tindler Swindler and Worst Roommate Ever.
In addition to being produced by the team behind Tiger King and directed by Chris Smith (Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened), Bad Vegan has a solid foundation in real crime.
Sarma Melngailis, who co-founded the vegan restaurant Pure Food and Wine in New York City in 2004, is the subject of a six-part documentary series. She immediately rose to fame as a celebrity chef and the face of the rapidly growing vegan dining movement.
On Twitter, she met and began a relationship with Shane Fox, a guy she had never met in person. Melngailis started sending him money from the eatery. A number of years later, she was indicted on charges of grand theft and false representation.
She apparently ate cheese, which is much worse!
Who is Sarma Melngailis, the “Bad Vegan”?
Melngailis is a graduate of the Institut Culinaire Français. In 2004, she founded New York City’s first raw food fine dining restaurant, Pure Food and Wine. As a result, Bill Clinton, Tom Brady, Alec Baldwin, and Owen Wilson all visited.
An online acquaintance who went by the identities Shane Fox and Anthony Strangis met her in person in 2011. A year later, they were married. He promised to assist her financially and to provide immortality to her dog (for real!). It was in exchange for this that Melngailis started stealing money from the eatery.
This money was spent at Connecticut casinos, according to Vanity Fair, who says she “transferred over $1.6 million from [her] company accounts to her personal bank account.”
Employees of Pure Food and Wine took to the streets in protest over unpaid salaries in 2015. Soon later, the restaurant was forced to close its doors permanently. Melngailis and Strangis, on the other hand, were on the run from the law. After Strangis bought a pizza using his true identity, they were caught and detained in a Tennessee motel.
Grand theft and criminal tax fraud were among the charges against them. Melngailis agreed to a plea deal and was sentenced to six months in prison and five years of probation. He was sentenced to one year in jail and forced to reimburse the investors he defrauded one million dollars from.
Former chef files for divorce in 2018 after completing her sentence. She admits to eating chicken in jail in an interview with The New York Post. To share her tale, Melngailis now has a personal website called Sarma Raw and is active on social media.
Unfavorable assessments of vegan products
Despite just 13 reviews, Rotten Tomatoes has given Bad Vegan a perfect score of 100 percent. Despite the lack of an agreement among the reviewers, all of the reviews have been overwhelmingly complimentary.
When you think you know where the storey is heading, “Bad Vegan makes a jarring left turn,” says Vox’s Alissa Wilkinson.
From the riddle of our motivations to the rise-and-fall storyline and, yes, the delights of schadenfreude, the components for an intriguing storey are present, according to Variety’s assessment.
“I wish Bad Vegan was less one-sided, but at least the side we see makes for a fascinating narrative,” says Joel Keller of Decider.
Chris Evangelista of Slashfilm says the following: “Even if you’re fascinated by the twists and turns, Bad Vegan isn’t a spectacular success. It’s all really formulaic, in fact. However, the plot is so outrageously bizarre that it’s difficult to refrain from reading it.”
“I have confess, it is fascinating to watch and be upset by all of Sarma and Anthony’s dumb pranks and having a devout stealing vegan have to face with the repercussions of her actions,” writes Jeanine T. Abraham of Black Girl Nerds.