#288 – Sarma Melngailis: Bad Vegan

Sarma Melngailis is a chef and restauranteur who was the subject of the Netflix documentary Bad Vegan: Fame, Fraud, Fugitives. Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors: – Mailgun: https://lexfridman.com/mailgun – BiOptimizers: http://www.magbreakthrough.com/lex to get 10% off – Notion: https://notion.com/startups to get up to $1000 off team plan – BetterHelp: https://betterhelp.com/lex to get 10% off – Eight Sleep: https://www.eightsleep.com/lex and use code LEX to get special savings EPISODE LINKS: Sarma’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/sarma Sarma’s Instagram: https://instagram.com/sarmamelngailis Sarma’s Website: https://sarmaraw.com Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (book): https://amzn.to/3G9pMvs Party of One (book): https://amzn.to/3NtcH2n Beautiful Ruins (book): https://amzn.to/38Cfgkc Darkness Visible (book): https://amzn.to/3tdxoYL Projections (book): https://amzn.to/38DrRDJ Confessions of a Sociopath (book): https://amzn.to/3sM39Ys On Love (book): https://amzn.to/3sS3Orj Dear Reader (book): https://amzn.to/39JPE4M PODCAST INFO: Podcast website: https://lexfridman.com/podcast Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2lwqZIr Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2nEwCF8 RSS: https://lexfridman.com/feed/podcast/ YouTube Full Episodes: https://youtube.com/lexfridman YouTube Clips: https://youtube.com/lexclips SUPPORT & CONNECT: – Check out the sponsors above, it’s the best way to support this podcast – Support on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/lexfridman – Twitter: https://twitter.com/lexfridman – Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lexfridman – LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lexfridman – Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lexfridman – Medium: https://medium.com/@lexfridman OUTLINE: Here’s the timestamps for the episode. On some podcast players you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time. (00:00) – Introduction (07:44) – Childhood (12:46) – Films (23:17) – Gifts (32:20) – Favorite food creations (38:31) – Leon: The Pitbull (50:39) – Bad Vegan (1:02:41) – Abusive relationship (1:07:24) – Remorse for employees (1:13:19) – Sociopathy (1:23:44) – How Sarma met Anthony Strangis (1:45:43) – Retrospection (1:58:24) – Johnny Depp and Amber Heard (2:06:17) – Is Anthony Strangis a sociopath? (2:10:24) – What Bad Vegan got wrong (2:27:40) – Darkest personal discovery (2:38:22) – Road trip from hell (2:45:36) – Wild stories (2:54:33) – Prison (3:04:13) – Ghislaine Maxwell (3:19:44) – Running restaurants (3:33:26) – Last meal (3:37:50) – Relationships (3:47:02) – Advice for young people (3:52:16) – Regrets (3:56:01) – Mortality (4:12:04) – Love