Featured Image Credit: Nine/Instagram/@vganbooty
Topics: Food and Drink, Celebrity, Australia, Vegan, Animals
Jess Battison
Topics: Food and Drink, Celebrity, Australia, Vegan, Animals
A chef who banned vegans from his restaurant breaks down as he claims that his partner has left him.
It’s certainly not a situation that most of us would find ourselves in but it’s a bit of a nightmare for celebrity chef John Mountain.
Last month, the chef banned non-meat eaters from his restaurant, Fyre, in Perth, Australia. Mountain’s spot in Connolly serves a range of dishes with the likes of fish, risotto and steak.
But despite an impressive rating of 4.1 out of 5 stars on Facebook, he got into a dispute with one of his diners who was not happy with their vegan meal.
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After a complaint about the meal developed, Mountain decided to simply resolve it by just banning vegans from Fyre.
The chef posted on the restaurant’s Facebook: “Sadly All Vegans are now banned from FYRE (for mental health reasons). We thank you for your understanding. Xx.”
But then protests began to make their way to Fyre.
And vegan activist, Tash Peterson led them, forcing her way into the restaurant with a load of other protesters and played the sounds of pigs distressingly squealing from a speaker.
They chanted and played videos and Mountain can be seen in footage trying to grab the loud-speaker from Peterson.
Admitting to ‘losing his cool’ because it was 'disrupting his business', he said: "I could see the look on my customers' faces, my staff — they were all a little scared and a bit nervous and I just stormed out."
But the hit back to the ban has been so bad that even his partner has left him.
Mountain told A Current Affair: “I lost my partner because of this, I lost a relationship, I thought I was going to marry this woman and she just couldn't handle the amount of attention.
“She’s a very private person and, yeah, thanks vegans.”
He also said that the landowner has put in a trespassing notice preventing Peterson from going near Fyre.
Police are currently investigating allegations of assault during the protest after Peterson filed a report.
Mountain also maintains that the clip of him appearing to 'manhandle' Peterson was him actually trying to grab the megaphone to 'protect his business'.
Over on Instagram, where she goes by ‘vganbooty’, she’s shared various posts of the protest.
She wrote in one post: “One must take extreme actions to bring attention to extreme injustices.
“Disrupting the restaurant that banned vegans to bring attention to the animal holocaust.”
The chef also claimed that charges from police 'will be pushed forward to today or tomorrow — at the very latest Tuesday'.
However, it seems the protests have just solidified Mountain’s decision, as the chef told A Current Affair: “You’re [vegans] barred for life. Definitely.
“Whenever I open any other business. Now I’m going to start opening steak restaurants, just to p**s you off.”