Bad Vegan release date: When does Sarma Melngailis doc arrive on Netflix?
Netflix's upcoming true-crime documentary looks at the story of Sarma Melngailis – a restauranteur-turned-fugitive.
Stories about fraudsters, con-artists and criminals seem to be Netflix's speciality these days, with fans flocking to shows like Inventing Anna and Tinder Swindler for their true-crime fix – and now there's a new docuseries that's set to become everybody's next obsession.
Netflix's upcoming factual series Bad Vegan: Fame. Fraud. Fugitives. looks at the story of Sarma Melngailis – the founder of New York's Pure Food and Wine who took money from her restaurants, which she claims was under her husband Anthony Strangis' orders, and was convicted of fraud back in 2017.
The series, which features interviews with Melngailis herself, follows the restaurateur's fall from grace as she goes from being a celebrity figure in the vegan world, to being caught by police when her husband ordered a pizza from Domino's.
Read on for everything you need to know about Bad Vegan.
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Bad Vegan release date
Bad Vegan arrives on Netflix on Wednesday 16th March.
All four episodes of the series, created by Tiger King producer and Fyre: The Greatest Party that Never Happened director Chris Smith, will be available to stream on the platform from then.
What is Bad Vegan about?
Bad Vegan is a four-part docuseries looking at the story of Sarma Melngailis – a celebrity restaurateur who went from running one of the most popular hotspots in New York to being known as the 'Vegan Fugitive'.
The series tracks Melngailis's downwards spiral, which she says began with her meeting a man named Shane Fox on Twitter in 2011. After meeting Fox, Melngailis started draining the funds of restaurant Pure Food and Wine and funnelling money to Fox who she claims "[conned] her into believing he could make her dreams – from expanding her food empire to making her beloved pitbull immortal – a reality", according to Netflix.
The streaming service's official synopsis adds: "A few years later the couple, now married and on the lam after stealing nearly £2 million from the restaurant and its staff, are found holed up in a Tennessee motel by law enforcement. Their undoing? A charge made under Fox's real name, Anthony Strangis, for a Domino's pizza."
Directed by Tiger King and Fyre: The Greatest Party that Never Happened's Chris Smith, these four hour-long films explore this unbelievable story and feature interviews with Melngailis herself.
Who is interviewed in Bad Vegan?
Bad Vegan features interviews with many people involved in the story around Sarma Melngailis' downfall – including Melngailis herself.
On interviewing Melngailis for the docuseries, Smith said: "We filmed eight hours and I remember for the first two and a half hours, I wasn’t really convinced that there was anything there.
"And then something shifted about a third of the way through, where it just started to reveal itself in terms of the nuance of the journey she had gone on. Once 'Shane' came into the picture, thats when the story came to life."
The team behind the documentary also speak to journalist Allen Salkin, restaurateur Jeffrey Chodorow, Melngailis' family and Nazim, a friend and business associate of Stangis.
Bad Vegan trailer
Netflix released a trailer for Bad Vegan back in February, teasing the scandalous story of Sarma Melngailis – the former owner and co-founder of New York's Pure Food and Wine.
Bad Vegan arrives on Netflix on Wednesday 16th March. If you're looking for more to watch, check out our TV Guide. Check out our Documentaries hub for all the latest news.
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