Netflix Bad Vegan: What is Sarma Melngailis doing now, where is Sarma Pure Food and Wine owner

Netflix’s new true crime show is jam packed with fame, fraud, fugitives and...immortal dogs?

So you really thought Tiger King’s battle between Joe Exotic vs Caroline Baskin was as crazy as it could go – hold my pint, because here comes Bad Vegan, Netflix latest bizarre true crime hit.

Netflix’s wealth of true crime docuseries has made it the most popular platform for researching some of the globe’s wildest crime stories.

And the popularity of the true crime documentary shows no sign of ceasing in 2022 with Netflix’s latest release ‘Bad Vegan: Fame, fraud and fugitives’ set to kick off March in bizarre fashion.

Bad Vegan is out now, and it may be Netflix's most bizarre series yet. Photo credit: Netflix

Brought to you by the creators of Netflix’s biggest hits ‘Tiger King: Murder, Mystery and Mayhem’ and ‘Don’t F**k With Cats’, the new four-part Netflix is said to be one of the craziest true crime stories yet and will focus on former vegan raw food restaurant owner and co-founder of Pure Food and Wine and One Lucky Duck, Sarma Melngailis.

What is Bad Vegan about?

The series covers the true, and shocking, story of celebrity restaurateur Sarma Melngailis – also known as the queen of vegan cuisine.

Netflix’s trailer details the initial success of Melngailis's American raw vegan restaurant Pure Food and Wine, which was the top raw vegan food restaurant at the time, offering “high end, fine dining vegan experience.”

The restaurant was well known hosting major Hollywood celebrities such as Owen Wilson and Woody Harrelson, with the trailer showing a former staff member saying it was a “great environment to work in.”

However, the series will focuses more on how her vegan empire crumbled when she met a man online by the name of Shane Fox.

At the height of her fame, the mystery man – real name Anthony Strangis – manages to con Malngailis out of her self-made fortune by convincing her that he holds the key to making dreams come true.

The trailer even shows him promising Malngailis he would make her and her beloved pitbull immortal if she passed a series of tests. Yes – this series really does get bizarre.

The four-part docuseries documents the following months and years in which the restaurateur was forced to obey her partner’s requests.

In the trailer, you even hear Strangis tell Melngailis “if I told you to take all the money out of your bank and set it on fire – you do it.”

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When is Bad Vegan released on Netflix UK?

Bad Vegan: Fame, fraud and fugitives will premiered on Netflix UK on March 16, and is available to watch now.

To watch it, you will need a Netflix subscription, which you can purchase here on a monthly rolling basis. Prices range from £5.99 to £13.99 a month.

What is Sarma Melngailis doing now?

She reportedly now lives Harlem with Leon, her rescue who was adopted from an animal rescue centre in New York. However, the 49-year-old is said to have plans to leave the Big Apple in order to work on her memoirs. “It’s easier to live quietly outside of the city,” she recently told the New York Post.

She also told the paper that she plans to revive her restaurant business at some point saying if there was a “magical opportunity” to open a restaurant of similar nature, that she would “do it in a heartbeat.”

The New York Post also report she filed for divorce from her husband Anthony Strangis in 2018, citing he was abusive during their relationship.