Chef quits af ter death threats over vegan jibe
A CHEF who received death threats after joking about spiking a vegan’s meal has quit her job as a result of the backlash.
Laura Goodman, 47, was said to be too scared to leave her house after receiving abuse over the row.
Ms Goodman – who has worked as a chef for 26 years – wrote online that she ‘spiked a vegan a few hours ago’, adding that a ‘pious, judgmental’ diner had gone to bed ‘still believing she’s a vegan’.
But her partner said she made the ‘flippant’ Facebook comments after spending hours preparing dishes free from meat, fish, dairy and eggs for a vegan party visiting her restaurant, only for one of the diners to order a pizza topped with mozzarella – which is not vegan – from the normal menu.
The post prompted a furious reaction online, with some even calling for her to be prosecuted for assault, believing she had deliberately put meat in a vegan’s meal.
Others bombarded the restaurant’s TripAdvisor and Google pages with poor reviews, dragging it down from a five-star rating to one star, and she had to call police after receiving death threats.
Among the comments were calls for her to quit, while Les Taylor wrote on Facebook: ‘Hope she goes bankrupt and living on the streets vile worthless human.’ The incident happened on Saturday at Ms Goodman’s Italian restaurant in Shifnal, Shropshire – one of two that she runs in the county under the name Carlini.
Yesterday, she said: ‘I am really deeply sorry, there were no meat products added to the dishes.’
Her business partner and fiancé Michael Gale, 62, said she had been left feeling ‘almost suicidal’ by the reaction. He had said the comments were made in anger after Ms Goodman ‘overindulged a bit’ on wine.
Yesterday, a spokesman for the restaurant confirmed that Ms Goodman had resigned as chef in the wake of the scandal.
He said: ‘Laura Goodman has today tendered her resignation from Carlini and the board of directors are currently considering their options.
‘Whilst this process is being completed, Laura will not be working at either of the restaurants, which will reopen later this week.’ A friend said: ‘Laura is in a bad way. She is too scared to leave the house. The police are taking the threats against her very seriously.
‘She can’t believe how she has found herself in this position. She made a flippant remark which wasn’t even true. She didn’t actually “spike” anyone’s food.’