These 4 Foods Are Banned From The Met Gala

The Met Gala is arguably the most star-studded event in the world, with a guestlist that includes countless A-listers from the worlds of fashion, film, music and sport. So, naturally, lots of care goes into putting together the food menu – and there are certain dishes that will never appear, due to a strict ban from Vogue’s editor-in-chief Anna Wintour, who oversees the event. So what’s on the veto list? And what were celebrities including Rihanna, Zendaya and Lewis Hamilton served for dinner this year?

Everything You Need To Know About The Met Gala Menu

Which Foods Are Banned At The Met Gala?

According to a former Vogue employee, Wintour has a say in the menu, with four key ingredients vetoed: garlic, onion, parsley and bruschetta. Why? Well, the first two are notorious for causing bad breath, while herbs can easily get lodged in people’s teeth (both clearly a no-no at one of the world’s most photographed events). Bruschetta, meanwhile, is off-limits due to its potential to drop onto outfits.

Wintour seemed to confirm the rumours surrounding the garlic, onion and parsley ban in an interview with Today in 2024, saying: ‘Well, those are three things I’m not particularly fond of.’ The bruschetta intel, meanwhile, was reported from another previous Vogue employee to the New York Times back in 2016.

What Was On The 2025 Met Gala Menu?

New York-based chef Kwame Onwuachi was in charge of creating this year’s menu, drawing inspiration from the theme, Superfine: Tailoring Black Style. ‘I was inspired by Black dandyism and the Black experience in fashion,’ he told Vogue, adding, ‘it’s pulled from so many different avenues and routes of the diaspora.’

 

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The event began with cocktails and a selection of elevated canapes, which were passed around on silver trays. Think cornbread topped with caviar, mini chopped cheeses, and curry chicken patties – a twist on the signature goat patties served at Onwuachi’s restaurant Tatiana. 

For dinner, guests were treated to a three-course meal, beginning with papaya piri-piri salad alongside cucumbers in a Caribbean green marinade. The main dish was Creole roasted chicken with lemon emulsion, rice and peas, with sides of BBQ collard greens and cornbread with honey butter. And for dessert, the celebrities enjoyed a Bodega Special Cosmic Brownie, paired with a sugar donut mousse and a golden cake with honey sweet cream. 

So what did the guests think? Well, musician Megan Thee Stallion shared some real-time insight via TikTok (despite phones being banned from the event). She was a fan of the cornbread with caviar and the mini lobster rolls, but she wasn’t so keen on the vegan lox – a plant-based alternative to traditional smoked salmon which she described as ‘funny looking’.