Chef who said she ‘spiked’ vegan meal is sent death threats
A CHEF has received death threats after claiming to have “spiked” the meal of a “pious and judgmental” vegan in her restaurant.
Laura Goodman made the comments on Facebook, after losing patience with a group of vegan and vegetarian diners at the Italian restaurant she co-owns in Shifnal, Shropshire on Saturday night.
The Italian-born chef claimed to have been angered after spending all day cooking vegan recipes for the group, which they then failed to order.
After finishing the hectic service in the kitchen of Carlini’s restaurant, Ms Goodman posted a message in a closed Facebook group, which read: “Spiked a vegan a few hours ago.”
She later added: “Pious, judgmental vegan (who I spent all day cooking for) has gone to bed still believing she’s a vegan.”
But within hours the remarks had sparked a backlash so extreme that the very future of the business was left hanging in the balance and Ms Goodman was left fearing for her safety.
Vegans took to social media sites in their hundreds to attack her actions. One wrote: “This lady should be charged with assault. We are vegan for a reason. To… boast about contaminating our food is at least a sackable offence.”
Hope Lye, founder of Telford Vegan Action, who was planning a protest outside the restaurant, said: “When you are trying to live an ethical lifestyle this is a place where you expect the chef to get it right, so this is absolutely appalling”. Last night Michael Gale, Ms Goodman’s partner, insisted it had been a huge “misunderstanding”.
He said: “Laura is absolutely mortified by the comments she made which were posted in the early hours of the morning after a very long shift and too much to drink. There is no question of her having ‘spiked’ anyone. We had a group of vegetarian and vegan customers who booked a table.
“Laura had spoken to them before they came in and had suggested some dishes they might like to try which they said they would be happy to order.
“But instead when they did come in they only ordered two dishes off the standard menu, a roasted cauliflower dish and a margherita pizza which obviously has buffalo mozzarella cheese.
“One of the waitresses … commented that she thought one of the vegans had been eating the pizza. The comment came from that.
“There is no way Laura would ever do anything to jeopardise the business that we have put so much work into. She is absolutely mortified by what has happened and we can only offer our sincere apologies for these ill-advised comments. Unfortunately Laura has death threats which we have reported to the police.”
A spokesman for the restaurant confirmed that “no meat was used in any of the dishes”.