We're saved! Golden Globes serving plant-based meals to 'send a signal' about climate change

The Golden Globes will be serving its first exclusively vegan menu at its ceremony on Sunday night, and many are wondering if it’s another empty, virtue-signaling move from the limousine and private jet loving stars.

The goal of serving an en vogue meatless menu to guests before the televised ceremony is to “send a signal” about the potential dangers of climate change. 

“If there’s a way we can, not change the world, but save the planet, maybe we can get the Golden Globes to send a signal and draw attention to the issue about climate change,” Hollywood Foreign Press Association president Lorenzo Soria said in a statement. “The food we eat, the way we grow the food we eat, the way we dispose of the food is one of the large contributors to the climate crisis.”

Entree items include king oyster mushrooms scallops and wild mushroom risotto. Brussel sprouts and carrots will also be served, and a golden beet soup will be the evening’s appetizer.  

There is no official word on whether the food was produced locally or what was used to deliver it, but Matthew Morgan, executive chef at The Beverly Hilton, which is where the ceremony takes place, said the dishes were already mostly available. They were simply vegan options in the past and Morgan simply enhanced the dishes for the new, slimmer menu.

The red carpet at the event will also be reused at other events, and water will be served in reusable glass bottles. 

The decision to change the menu was made two weeks before the telecast was set to air.

Climate change activist and actor Leonardo DiCaprio — who is up for the Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy award for his work in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood — praised the HFPA on Twitter for their climate friendly decision.

Others were not so celebratory of the decision and saw it as an example of empty and hypocritical activism out of Hollywood, considering the Golden Globes will still take a toll on the environment thanks to the many after-parties and gas-fueled limousine rides to and from the ceremony.

“This will stop all of China’s pollution good job everybody,” commentator Dana Loesch tweeted.

“It will be interesting to see what modes of transportation will be used to travel to said event... Golden Globes meals going meatless to raise environmental awareness,” The Hill reporter Joe Concha added. 

“It’d be even more environmentally friendly if they just tweeted a list of winners,” another user wrote.

Hollywood award ceremonies are often platforms for virtue-signaling politics. Last year, many celebrities attended the Golden Globes wearing Time’s Up pins, in support of the #MeToo movement which affected many people within the industry. Both men and women wore the pins, including actor James Franco who has faced several allegations of sexual misconduct. 

That same year, many female guests wore black outfits to protest the apparent power imbalance in the industry between men and women.

“I think people are aware now of a power imbalance and it's something that leads to abuse, it has led to abuse in our own industry. We want to fix that and we feel emboldened in a thick black line dividing then from now,” actress Meryl Streep, who wore black to the ceremony, told Harper’s Bazaar.

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