Healing In Public: Sarma Melngailis on Life After Netflix

<p dir="ltr">Today’s episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. </p> <p dir="ltr"> </p> <p dir="ltr">Just before Netflix premiered its sensational docuseries “Bad Vegan,” Sarma Melngailis spoke exclusively with ALBC about all the shit she endured with culty conman Mr. So-called Fox. Go back and check out that <a href= "https://alittlebitculty.com/episode/sarma-speaks-a-bad-vegan-exclusive"> episode</a> for the grisly details and now foreboding hope that Netflix would shed light – not shade – on the confounding circumstances that led to the demise of Sarma’s brand One Lucky Duck and her beloved restaurant Pure Food and Wine. If you didn’t already know it, Pure Food and Wine was hip, sexy, nutritious, and delicious. It was raw vegan food with style in Gramercy Park. Manhattan where, on any given night, you could run into Janet Jackson, Bill Clinton, Stevie Wonder, or Alec Baldwin. It was the shit. Until it wasn’t. </p> <p><strong> </strong></p> <p dir="ltr">Netflix was ready.</p> <p><strong> </strong></p> <p dir="ltr">Through all the pomp and circumstance, we at ALBC can’t help but look into the dark side of cult survivor narratives turned entertainment. Now that the trauma-coaster of “Bad Vegan” has slowed, we thought it important to let Sarma set the record straight. </p> <p><strong> </strong></p> <p dir="ltr">Check it out.</p> <p><strong><br /> <br /></strong></p> <h1 dir="ltr"><span style= "font-size: 12pt;">NOTES:<br /></span><span style= "font-size: 12pt;">Sarma Melngailis is brilliant. She grew up in Newton, MA, graduated with two economics degrees including one from the Wharton School. She rocked the financial world at Bear Stearns and Bain Capital. And she dabbled in high-yield investment funds before realizing finance in late-stage capitalism fuckin sucks so she left to get a degree in feeding people from the French Culinary Institute. Thus began her life in the world of food. Upon discovering raw vegan food, she decided – with a partner – to open Pure Food and Wine; chronicled her transition from eating whateve