These 5 foods are surprisingly banned from The Met Gala

The goings on inside The Met Gala are relatively elusive, but the food served to this year’s stars has been unveiled and 5 ingredients are nowhere to be seen.

Every year, The Met Gala red carpet looks take up a fair chunk of everyone’s social media feeds, and unless you’ve been living under a rock (or a rose bush), you’ll have seen Hollywood’s A-Listers dressed in lots of natural and floral themed clothing for this year’s event.

The theme for the 2024 Met Gala was ‘Garden of Time’, and therefore, the menu featured lots of botanical and floral dishes.

Part of the allure of The Met Gala is it’s elusiveness, and therefore the public don’t find out who will be in attendance or what food will be served until after the event has taken place. This year’s menu though, was just as lavish as you’d expect.

What food was served at The Met Gala?

Although the whole event was themed around flowers, flowering vegetables in the category of ‘alliums’ are not allowed to be served at the event. Alliums are a genre of root vegetable, and flavorful ingredients like onion, leeks, garlic, chives, and shallots fall into that category.

Met Gala Caterer Olivier Cheng told Vogue that the guests were served a starter of spring vegetable salad with elderflower foam, raspberry vinaigrette, and olive crumble that resembles soil, complete with butterfly-shaped croutons. 

After that, stars got a main course of filet of beef topped with a tortellini rose. Cheng hoped it resembled a culinary castle: “We’re floating the beef on a pine needle and mushroom ‘moat’,” he says. The floral accent is a nod to the exhibit itself, which features over 270 nature-inspired pieces.

Why are these foods banned from The Met Gala?

Anna Wintour, who is the Queen of all things Met Gala, disclosed to The Today show, “Those are things I’m not particularly fond of,” Wintour told Jenna Bush Hager when asked if she had banned alliums from the foods being served. “And so yes, that’s true.”

It makes a lot of sense if you think about it, onion breath is not very couture. On top of this, these foods have been shown to be bad for digestion, according to experts. Also, if you want your extravagant event costing $75,000 a ticket to smell like a rose garden, these garlicky vegetables are probably best to steer clear of.