Netflix documentary
“Bad Vegan”: She was the vegan poster girl in New York. Then she met a man for whom she became a criminal
Sarma Melngailis had a knack for business, but not for men.
©Netflix
She was beautiful, smart, successful. High society frequented her restaurant. Until she met a man who promised her a lot and took everything. In the end she was in jail herself. A Netflix documentary about a scandal that rocked New York.
The headline was good. It has often been copied. “NYC’s ‘Hottest Vegan’ Taken Down By Ordering Pizza”. The line, it was actually too good to be true. But it was true and it wasn’t. It’s complicated. Just like the whole story of Sarma Melngailis. The woman, who made a name for herself with raw food cooking, was the face of the veganism movement in New York City for years. Until a man promised her love, from her the millions – and she herself talked out of her mind until both were behind bars. Netflix has unpacked the story in the four-part mini-series Bad Vegan: Famous and Deceived. It is a documentary to despair.
It started like an American dream. Sarma Melngailis was a woman made for the rise – beautiful, smart, ambitious and with a heart that knew how to dream. At the beginning of the 2000s, she opened the raw food restaurant “Pure Food And Wine”, serving raw food at a fine dining level. The concept was almost avant-garde. Celebrities like Gisele Bundchen and Owen Wilson ran into her and turned the place into a hotspot. Melngailis herself became the poster girl for health-conscious foodies – she was rarely alone and still lonely. At least that’s the story. Then she met a man online. Shane Fox was funny, charming and a con man. She married him, gave him all her money—bit by bit, dollar by dollar. Until the restaurant bled dry and employees could no longer be paid. Shane Fox’s real name was Anthony S.
The pizza as a symbol of fraud
And when he took everything from her, she found new ways to get money. And he found ways to take that from her, too. It was almost two million dollars in total, and she herself had long been a criminal offence. It ended with an escape together, a month-long game of hide-and-seek. She finally revealed a pizza order. Pizza became a symbol: Melngailis, the model vegan eating cheese pizza. Melngailis, who says one thing and does another. Melngailis, the Deceiver. The pizza did well in the headline. But she had been ordered by Anthony S.
The high-flyer had crashed. Filmmaker Chris Smith (Tiger King; Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened) tried to unravel how this happened. In addition to ex-employees and other companions, Melngailis speaks himself. In addition, video and audio recordings of phone calls from that time were included, which allow Anthony S. to speak, at least indirectly. It is a story about manipulation, even psychological terror, but also about loneliness, naivety and above all dependency. It’s a tale that infuriates – and remains a mystery even after the credits roll.