It’s finally the time of the year when our social media feeds are flooded with pictures of celebrities posing in the most fashionable clothes, fashion’s biggest night — the Met Gala. It’s not just the meticulously crafted fabrics of the celebrities that follow a particular theme, it’s the food on the menu as well. For example, since last year’s Gala was dedicated to Karl Lagerfeld, his favourite beverage Diet Coke was served to all the guests.
Similarly, to complement this year’s theme “The Garden of Time,” the bouquet and the buffet were decorated with floral and fairytale themes. The caterer Olivier Cheng left no stone unturned to design a menu that looks like it came straight out of a children’s storybook. “Drawing on inspiration from the lush gardens and palaces of Sleeping Beauty’s fantasy world, we really aimed to build our own bite-sized fairytale,” Cheng told Vogue Magazine.
The first dish served on the plate was a spring vegetable salad with elderflower foam, raspberry vinaigrette, and olive crumble that resembles soil, complete with butterfly-shaped croutons. The caterer puts down the idea behind this dish beautifully, he says he chose the early spring vegetables which grow after a long winter as a metaphor for the awakening of Princess Aurora after her deep sleep. This dish perfectly complements this year’s exhibition “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion.”
The main course was a fillet of beef topped with a tortellini rose for the guests to enjoy. It symbolised a culinary castle floating on a pine needle and mushroom “moat.”
The dessert served was an ode to the infamous apple from the story ‘Snow White.’ The not-so-poisonous apple was actually an almond cremeux moulded into the shape of a miniature apple, blanketed with a bright red mirror glaze, and finished by placing it on a walnut-flavoured ‘leaf.’
The forbidden theme also had some forbidden food – onion, garlic, and chives. In an interview, the Editor-in-chief of Vogue, Anna Wintour, revealed that she is not particularly fond of these three ingredients. The reason is simple, they don’t want their guests to have bad breath or chives stuck in their teeth.
The attention to detail of the decor was as precise as the food menu. The tables were adorned with burgundy roses with English ivy, candelabras, and lettuce plates.
We have to admit, not only do the dishes complement the aesthetics of the event, but the thought behind them is equally appealing. We would certainly love to have a seat in this hall which looks straight out of a fantasyland beside our favourite celebrities, dressed in our absolute best.
