The 2021 Met Gala Is Going Plant-Based
The fashion industry’s biggest night will serve guests a 100% plant-based menu this year to highlight how food is changing in America towards more sustainable, meatless choices.
The prestigious Met Gala, known as the “fashion industry’s biggest night out”, will be serving its guests an entirely plant-based menu this year to showcase changing food tastes in America.
The annual event is a fundraiser for New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art and is attended by some of the biggest names in fashion and the creative industries. This year's theme is American fashion, which inspired the decision to make the menu entirely plant-based.
“We thought it was important to really talk about what’s present, what’s happening—how food is changing in America,” celebrity chef Marcus Samuelsson told Bon Appétit. “We want to be the future of American food, of plant-based food. That conversation is happening now.”
Samuelsson’s comments come as the demand for plant-based food soars across the U.S., with iconic American brands including Burger King, McDonald’s and KFC adding plant-based protein options. Long John Silver’s even became the first U.S. seafood chain to add vegan fish to its menus last month.
And that plant-based trend is having a huge impact on the country’s fine-dining scene, too: one of New York’s most prestigious restaurants, the Three-Michelin-Star Eleven Madison Park, made the decision to go entirely plant-based earlier this year.
Now, Samuelsson’s menu at the Met Gala will reflect the modern American appetite, with “picnic-style” dishes including a watermelon salad, roasted potato skins, and a tuna-less Niçoise salad.
Samuelsson enlisted the help of ten up-and-coming New York-based chefs to collaborate on the menu, including Junghyun Park of Atomix, Aquavit executive chef Emma Bengtsson, and Fabian von Hauske of Wildair.
In the run-up to the Met Gala on September 13, Vogue will post video recipes from each of the ten chefs on their Instagram. See the first video below, where Sophia Roe walks us through a Plant-Based Nicoise Inspired Salad.
More stories:
Species Unite
A collection of stories of those who fight the good fight on behalf of animals.
The footage was reportedly recorded at Marshall BioResources in North Rose, New York, where up to 22,000 dogs - mostly beagles - are being bred for animal experimentation.