I think by all accounts now we can agree that this year’s Met Gala theme was not clearly communicated to the attendees (despite whatever homework Vogue prepared for them ahead of time). We had stars turning up in archival or vintage-inspired looks, others decked out in delicate embellishments, and some ready for a garden party. Such were the varied interpretations of the costume exhibit title, Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion, and the official dress code inspired by J.G. Ballard’s 1962 short story The Garden of Time.
It was a strange episode of confusion, especially coming from Anna Wintour, who helms the annual event with an iron fist. I won’t say she’s a control freak… But I will report the facts that she ordains the theme, co-chairs, guest list, seating chart, performers, food, and decor, and she strictly bans the use of cell phones inside. And speaking of bans, ahead of Monday’s soiree she confirmed to Jenna Bush Hager on Today that garlic, chives, and onions are strictly prohibited from the dinner menu. Anna, who hurt you? Via alliums?
With a mostly top secret guest list, that is hand selected by Wintour herself, the cost of admission is $75,000 per ticket or $350,000 for a table. Zendaya, Jennifer Lopez, Chris Hemsworth and Bad Bunny are co-chairs for 2024.
Gala guests, who are banned from using cell phones (except for sneaky bathroom selfies), will be treated to the debut of the Sleeping Beauties exhibit, a cocktail party, seated dinner and a surprise musical guest.
For that seated dinner, there are a few things that will absolutely never be on the menu: Garlic, chives and onion.
Wintour confirmed her disdain for the aforementioned alliums in a promo interview with Jenna Bush Hager for Today.
She definitely has her guests and fashion in mind when ruling out dishes to be served at the event. There’ll be no garlic breath!
And she’s wise to do so. Bruschetta, for example, can get really messy. And these are one-of-a-kind gowns that are hard to clean. Charles Tuzzi, managing director of Winzer Cleaners, the famous cleaning company that won a special Tony Award for cleaning many of the costumes worn on Broadway say it’s hard to remove food from silks and delicate clothing. “It’s definitely not coming off with seltzer and a napkin,” he says.
Anna Wintour has banned chives, onions and garlic from the Met Gala menu. “Those are three things I’m not particularly fond of. And so yes. That’s true,” she told Hager Bush of the banned foods. Also, according to Buzz Feed the Vogue editorial director also does not permit parsley or bruschetta.
Josh Jackson, executive chef/owner proprietor of Great Taste Catering in Los Angeles believes that Wintour’s decision to ban certain foods is a very personalized choice.
“She doesn’t want the food to affect the breath of the celebrity guests. Also, there are several people that are actually allergic to the allium family of bulbous plants which is rare but possible,” says Jackson whose clients include Cher, Ted Danson and Laura Dern. “But that’s maybe a stretch. The real reason must be she doesn’t want to see chives in the guests teeth. It’s understandable.”
But Jackson says that without those banned ingredients the depth of the flavor of dishes can be limited. And guests don’t get the experience of a fantastic meal. Especially when foods like onions are so fabulous when they are caramelized. “There’s nothing yummier than something that is caramelized,” says Jackson.
Oh, where to begin!! I love how the article tries in vain to put an altruistic spin on Anna’s exclusionary taste — She’s saving the guests from bad breath! From parsley in their teeth! From tomato juice stains on designer gowns! Celebrities can’t be trusted to eat bruschetta!!! — even going so far as to bring in expert commentary from an A-List caterer and dry cleaner. And then Anna goes on morning television and says, “I don’t like them, that’s all the reasoning that’s required.” Somebody please pitch next year’s theme as Fashioning Italian Food: Cooking As Couture. I really hope the chefs got the last laugh by slipping in leeks and shallots as a workaround. Because at $75,000 – $350,000 for entry (you could go to school with that money, just saying), I’d want some pretty frickin’ fabulous food. And banning garlic and onions is not a good start. Of course I could just be overlooking the obvious explanation: Anna is a vampire.
Lastly, I’d like to give a shout out to the one-of-a-kind Diana Vreeland. Vreeland was as eccentric and brash as Anna is reserved and calculating. It was Vreeland who first thought to center the gala around a theme. When the Costume Institute was renovated in 2014, it would have been nice for it to have been renamed for Vreeland, instead of Anna. To use my new favorite saying: Diana Vreeland ran so that Anna Wintour could walk.
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- Celebrities attend the 2024 Met Gala Celebrating ‘Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion’ at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City Featuring: Anna Wintour Where: New York, United States When: 06 May 2024 Credit: Michael Stewart/INSTARimages.com
photos credit: PA Images/INSTARimages and Getty
That sounds considerate enough, particularly the allergy bit. She has a somewhat weird relationship with food in general. Doesn’t she order the same hamburger every day – someone goes out to get it for her, she removes the burger from the bun, discards the bun and eats just the burger. Why not order a burger sans bread. And wow what a minimal and protein heavy meal.
I think the most obvious explanation is that AW is a vampire. Another reason I do not like her – banning onions and garlic???? Blasphemy!
I am also finding her highly over rated. A legend in her own ego.
I don’t think many of the guests are actually eating, to be honest. The women are in these crazy dresses that you can hardly sit in, let alone be able to comfortably eat in. They are typically fitted within an inch of their lives and so eating and then bloating are not going to work. On top of that, most of the dresses have to go back to the designers and so eating and dripping on the dress would be a no-no. I think there’s a lot of drinking and then maybe when they change for the afterparties they can eat something.
Repeat attendee Seth Meyers said this on his show Tuesday. He gets to eat anything and everything because nobody else is eating.
The allergy part does make sense- except at 75k a ticket guests should be able to give their allergies and diet requests and have a meal planned for them. There were pictures of the food at the Gala and all I can say is that Anna is not beating the allegations: it is a well known fact that the food at the Gala is unseasoned and just NOT good.
Now I just wana know the actual menu😂
Yes to Anna Wintour is no Diana Vreeland.
So, to sum up. Wintour has banned everything that would make the food taste good and then charges $75,000 per ticket. Anna Wintour may be the greatest con artist of all time.
She doesn’t benefit from the money. It’s a charity event that funds the costume department of the Met. It’s not a con, and nobody goes for the food. The same as the Golden Globes. It’s a networking opportunity for most of them. And you get to humblebrag about it to the media.
A life without garlic is not worth living.
I get that it’s a polarizing ingredient— for good reason— but for one meal, I could make it work, as long as there’s enough cilantro.
I remember as a young Flamingo. A chick if you will. I went on a date with a guy to a chinese restaurant and ordered Garlic Chicken. He asked me about 4 times if I really wanted to order that. I happily ate it all.
Needless to say there was no making out after. It took me a few years to realize garlic and first dates don’t mix.
I actually can’t eat those and never cook with onion, garlic etc that family give me gastro issues so if I EVER! Get invited to the Met I’ll be able to eat.
No garlic at big events is pretty common in the event world. [Isn’t it banned at royal functions as well?] I used to work for an event planner and no garlic or foods that give you bad breath was on the riders more often than not. Garlic can also give people bad digestion issues if you consume too much.
Probably not a good idea if you’re welded into your clothing for the night and can barely sit.
She really does seem like a flavorless woman, so this tracks.
This would be heaven for me. White onions are a huge migraine trigger for me, and people chuck them into EVERYTHING.
Oh, please.
This is not about allergies. Onions and garlic are pretty far down the list of common allergy triggers (#18 and #20 according to this list: https://www.medicinenet.com/what_are_the_20_most_allergic_foods/article.htm). If she were truly motivated by concern for guests’ safety from allergies, there are much more prevalent triggers to ban, but I doubt wheat or fish and shellfish were off limits.
And it’s also not about avoiding the risk of staining and damaging precious textiles. I don’t see her banning red wine, perfume, lipstick or Kim Kardashian …
This is about good old-fashioned WASP-y snobbery and class status marking. Same reason the British Royal Family eschews garlic (in fact, I’m confident this is rooted in AW imitating that same role model). Garlic and other strong flavors are associated with the traditional foods of the poors, all the brown and black and “ethnic” varieties of white people that their lot don’t want to be associated with.
They can keep their bland-ass “food”.
I think what a lot of you are missing, is that these women do not say in these dresses they switch into more comfortable dresses so they can move around, eat and drink.
Alcohol are served at these Met even so the need food to eat so they don’t get sick.
Did not know that. So the red carpet photos are it? That’s all?
Yes, that’s why it’s encouraged for them to go crazy with the styles of these dresses because they are not going to be in them for long.
Zendaya for example changed 4 times. She walked the red carpet twice. She had on a loose silver dress for her speech at the event then a black loose dress for the after party.
Breaking News: WASP woman bans flavor from food…
I get people have allergies, but that’s why those events hire catering companies that have variable menu items for those who cannot indulge or have special dietary needs.