The head chef of a restaurant in the U.K. has been fired after bragging on Instagram about how he reveled in secretly serving meat products to his unsuspecting vegan patrons.
Alex Lambert, 30, was working as the head chef at the Littleover Lodge Hotel in Derby when he claimed it was a “personal favorite” pastime to sneak in meat products to vegan diners' dishes, reports The Telegraph.
Vegan campaigners later lobbied the hotel, accusing Lambert of abusing the human rights of those who choose to follow a vegan diet. Lambert, for his part, insisted that his comments on Instagram were made only to “p--- off” a vegan during a petty argument about meat, but the damage was already done.
The hotel was soon bombarded with one-star reviews and requests for action. Initially, management responded by merely suspending Lambert, on the basis that his comments had been “made in the heat of the moment” and were not true. After the flood of complaints persisted, however, Lambert’s contract was terminated.
“Being a vegan is a minority,” Lambert told with woman with whom he was arguing, reports The Telegraph. He added, “... [F]ind a better way to spend your time, my personal favorite is feeding vegans animal products and them not knowing.”
The Littleover Lodge Hotel released the following statement:
Per The Telegraph, the hotel’s general manager, Nicholas Crooks, said: “This is the last thing we need, the comment was nothing to do with us. We've investigated the situation and we've replied to every single review.
“We cater to all dietary requirements, we run a proper and professional operation here and we feel as if we've been completely battered by this.”