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Bad Vegan: Fame. Fraud. Fugitives

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Netflix’s new docu-series Bad Vegan: Fame. Fraud. Fugitives. is the story of a vegan chef and restaurant owner, Sarma Melngailis, whose New York restaurant Pure Food and Wine was a dining destination, until the restaurant abruptly closed and Sarma and her mysterious new husband, Shane Fox, disappeared. In the show’s trailer which sets up the story, the off-screen interviewer asks Pure Food & Wine manager Bonnie Crocker during an interview, “Do you know about the meat suit?” to which Crocker responds, “What is the meat suit. Oh no, what is the meat suit? I’m gonna need a minute.” That’s the question, friends. That. Is. The. Question. In this story about a woman whose new husband not only destroys her thriving, high-profile business but also promises her immortality, what the hell does a meat suit have to do with anything?

What is the meat suit in Netflix’s Bad Vegan?

Successful restauranteur Sarma Melngailis met Shane Fox, whose real name is Anthony Strangis, on Twitter. As the two began a relationship, Anthony would make wild promises to Sarma, that he could make her rich and famous, and more peculiarly, that he could make her and her dog Leon immortal. All she had to do was complete a series of “cosmic endurance tests.” Many of these tests involved Melngailis transferring her money to Strangis, including money from her investors, as well as money earmarked for her employees’ pay. All told, the pair stole almost $2 million from her restaurant.

Sarma would later explain that she was brainwashed and psychologically abused by Strangis during their relationship, and during their time together, he claimed that he was a “non-human” and his physical body was actually just a “meat suit,” a vessel for his non-corporeal self. Melngailis stated at one point that she “lost her mind” when she was with Strangis, and he controlled her behavior in order to get her to do what he wanted. In fact, Strangis was not a spiritual being but a devious human who had a massive gambling debt to pay off. The pair were eventually caught hiding out in Tennessee and arrested for grand larceny, criminal tax fraud, and violating labor laws.

So there’s not an actual suit made of flesh?

Nope, no clothes made of meat here. The term “meatsuit” is actually a relatively common term for the physical body worn by a spirit or a demon or anything else without a form. It’s just all the more ironic that it shows up here in a story about a vegan chef. Melngailis, who has cooperated with Netflix for the documentary, served jail time for her crimes, and has divorced Strangis, but, as she explains on Instagram, she will never escape the meat suit.