Last night was the 2024 Met Gala, which is held on the first Monday in May. This year, the featured Costume Institute exhibition at The Metropolitan Museum of Art was “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion.” To match that fairytale exhibition, this year’s theme was the “Garden of Time” and the outfits were nothing short of ethereal with celebrities like Karol G gracing the Metropolitan Museum of Art steps with fairy ears (it was giving ACOTAR), Elle Fanning looking like a delicate glass swan, and Mona Patel who wore the most magical butterfly dress. And just like the fashion, the 2024 Met Gala menu had to be on theme with dishes straight out of a storybook.
What was served at the 2024 Met Gala?
Caterer Olivier Cheng was behind the fairytale dinner. Inspired by “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion,” Cheng wove the fantasy throughout each meal.
The first dish on the 2024 Met Gala menu was a spring vegetable salad with elderflower foam, raspberry vinaigrette, and olive crumble, which was the foundation of the salad to resemble soil. To complete the fairytale salad, butterfly-shaped croutons were scattered around the plate.
The main course was a filet of beef topped with a tortellini rose. To pull the whole experience together, the course was served on lettuce plates.
Dessert was an ode to the Disney Princess Snow White — an apple. But not just any apple, no it’s not poisoned, Cheng created an almond cremeux molded into the shape of a miniature apple with a bright red glaze that’s then placed on a walnut-flavored ‘leaf.’
But with this delectable spread, came some restrictions.
What foods were banned at the 2024 Met Gala?
It's no secret that Vogue's editor-in-chief, Anna Wintour, is heavily involved in all planning aspects of the Met Gala and that includes making sure that the menu is on theme. It also means that Wintour has preferences on what is served to benefit the guests. In a 2016 interview, a Vogue employee told The Post that Wintour once banned ingredients that could get stuck in your teeth, give a guest bad breath, or stain a guest's outfit. So appetizers are made to be easily eaten. Specifically, Wintour banned three foods from ever being served at the Met Gala: chives, onion, and garlic.
"Well those are three things I'm not particularly fond of," said the global director of Vogue to TODAY’s Jenna Bush Hager in a video interview posted on May 6.
All three foods, to be fair, are known to cause bad breath and we have to thank Anna Wintour for thinking of everything.