Blue Door fires back after viral “anti-veganism” claims
A Sydney fine-diner has pushed back after a weekend Reddit post accused it of “anti-veganism” and sparked a pile-on.
The Blue Door, an 18-seat set-menu spot, found itself in the crosshairs when a screenshot of its website did the rounds, highlighting the venue’s stance that it can’t always cater for vegans if tweaks would “take away from the perceived experience of that dish or … create food waste”.
“Anti-veganism at The Blue Door, Sydney,” the original poster wrote alongside the image. “I was supposed to go to an event at this place until I was told they could not/would not cater for me as a vegan. Why are so many high-end chefs like this?”
The thread quickly racked up 100+ comments with opinions split. Some backed the transparency; others were scathing.
“Maybe they should employ better chefs – embarrassing,” said one person.
“Chefs who rely on animal products are so insecure,” another agreed.
“Basically they’re shit chefs who can’t adapt or make good food unless it has dead animals in it,” a third raged.
Speaking to news.com.au, co-owners Dan and Angelica said the backlash missed the mark.
“Bullying a venue (or doing fake one-star google reviews) because they simply don’t provide a service for you is unfair, and quite frankly slandering a business causing them to lose revenue on unfounded, unprovoked accusations causing mental anguish to our small team is simply not fair,” the couple shared in a joint statement.
“We are genuinely saddened by the comments on this post and whilst we appreciate the people who understand our restaurant and are sticking up for us, we just don’t want the negative energy.”
They also laid out why a fully vegan menu isn’t feasible for their operation.
“The work required to create 15+ menu items for one person is just not feasible for us as we have a team of only two chefs,” they shared.
“We make everything we serve in house including charcuterie, bread, butter, all while butchering whole animals and changing the menu weekly to reflect what is available to us [at] the peak of its freshness. Catering to vegetarian means changing one component of a dish but vegan is an entirely new menu …”
Sourcing is another pinch point.
“We only work with a very limited number of vegetable farmers who farm regeneratively, which means we have an extremely limited variety of vegetables available to us to use,” they said.
“Farming in a regenerative fashion means crop rotation and using a variety of plants to maintain a healthy soil system which in turns means there’s limited supply of a certain vegetable as our farmers rotate through crops.
“Using only NSW produce farmed in this fashion means we are very limited and because of this we don’t believe it offers the best experience to vegans … they wouldn’t see the value in getting 6/7 courses of just carrots and radishes for instance at $169pp. Animals provide a vital role in soil health and without them, we can’t manage the soil as effectively.”
And, ultimately, they argue it’s about business choice.
“We have the right to serve whatever and whoever we wish without vilification. There’s no difference between persecuting us for our belief system and spreading hate on the internet, to spreading hate against a religious group or any sort of cultural background,” they said.
“We are just a small business choosing to sell our products how we want. Car yards aren’t expected to sell push bikes, so why should we have to cater to everyone’s dietary beliefs? There are restaurants who cater to vegans, and we can’t go there and ask for a grass fed piece of wagyu, so we’re not sure why it’s different going the other way?”
Jonathan Jackson, 5th November 2025
