Another story about Sarma Melngailis, the headline-making chef and co-owner of raw food restaurant Pure Food and Wine, is in the works on the heels of “Bad Vegan’s” release on Netflix. A series depicting her relationship with Anthony Strangis is in development at Peacock. Deadline broke the news.
Titled “Pure,” the project will be written by Heather Regnier and explore how Melngailis, a famous darling of the New York City food scene, fell for Stangis, a conman who convinced her that he’d make her beloved dog immortal if she passed his “tests,” which typically required her to send huge sums of money to him. She stole $2 million from her investors and employees, and the pair fled the state. They were eventually arrested in a Tennessee hotel after being located thanks to a pizza order.
“Pure” is based on Allen Salkin’s Vanity Fair article “The Runaway Vegan.”
Regnier’s credits include “Veronica Mars,” “SMILF,” and “iZombie.”
“Bad Vegan” debuted on Netflix’s Top 10 list of English-language TV series “with 27 million hours of the show viewed in the first five days after its March 16 launch,” per Variety.