Feed Your True Crime Obsession with Captivating New Netflix Documentary ‘Bad Vegan’

I’m unsure where our attraction to true crime documentaries comes from. There’s something about having an inside look into lives so foreign to how the average person lives. The world is filled with many bizarre, oftentimes unnerving, stories that involve humans doing inhumane things. Netflix smartly picked up on our appetite for destruction early on and has since become the foremost hub for compelling true crime docu-series.

Their latest trip down oddity lane brings us Bad Vegan: Fame. Fraud. Fugitives., a four-part docu-series telling the bizarre tale of restaurateur Sarma Melngailis of famed, turned notorious, New York hot spot Pure Food And Wine. Gaining popularity during a time when raw vegan was anything but popular, Pure Food And Wine was the go-to for hip New Yorkers looking for healthy fine dining. Yet, in a shocking twist of fate, the restaurant went from hosting celebrity guests like Alec Baldwin and Chelsea Clinton to its owner facing 15 years in prison.  

Everything started to spiral after Melngailis met a man named Shane Fox on Twitter in 2011. The series of events that would follow could make even the most stoic individual let out an audible ‘wtf’ at the outlandish real life plot.

Fox’s real name was found to be Anthony Strangis, a gambler and criminal. Strangis’ charm inspired Melngailis to drain around 2 million dollars from the restaurant, leaving employees and investors in the dust. The curious tale would eventually reach a new height of weirdness with Strangis convincing Melngailis that he would make her pet dog immortal.

If true crime mysteries tickle your taste for trouble, you can follow the tale of the “Vegan Fugitive” on Netflix, premiering March 16.