Golden Globes 2020: Celebrities to be served only vegan food at this year’s ceremony

‘The climate crisis is impossible to ignore,’ says HFPA president Lorenzo Soria

Those in attendance at this year’s Golden Globes will be served an exclusively vegan meal during the awards ceremony.

Over the past few years, veganism has continued to grow in popularity as an environmentally-conscious practise, supported by celebrities including Natalie Portman, Zac Efron and Ariana Grande.

As of 2019, approximately 1.16 per cent of the population in Great Britain (600,000 people) followed a plant-based diet, according to The Vegan Society.

On Thursday 2 January, Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) president Lorenzo Soria announced that the 2020 Golden Globes will follow suit, as a means of addressing the climate crisis during the star-studded event.

“We are going vegan!” a statement published on the Golden Globes Facebook page said. “At the 77th Golden Globes Awards ceremony, a 100 per cent plant-based dinner, including a chilled golden beet soup and king oyster mushrooms with risotto, will be served.”

Mr Soria said that over the festive season, the organisation “took time to reflect on the last year and began thinking about the nw year and the decade ahead”.

“The climate crisis is impossible to ignore and after speaking with our peers, and friends in the community, we felt challenged to do better.”

The HFPA president said the decision for the Golden Globes to go vegan was “embraced” by the organisation’s partners at The Beverly Hilton, where the awards ceremony is held.

“By partnering with Icelandic Glacial to hydrate guests via glass bottles, eliminating single-use plastic, and serving a 100 per cent plant-based meal, we’re hoping to raise awareness around small changes that can have a greater impact,” Mr Soria stated.

“We know awards shows have a long way to go, and we all can do better.”

Matthew Morgan, executive chef at The Beverly Hilton, said the announcement of a fully plant-based menu was initially “a little shocking”, considering the Golden Globes is due to take place shortly and the dinner menu had already been decided.

“But once we thought about it and the message that it sent, we were really excited about it,” Mr Morgan added. “That’s something I stand behind myself.”

A study conducted in June 2018 by researchers at the University of Oxford concluded that following a vegan diet is the “single biggest way” to reduce your environmental impact.

The team discovered that cutting meat and dairy products from your diet could reduce an individual’s carbon footprint by as much as 73 per cent.

“A vegan diet is probably the single biggest way to reduce your impact on planet Earth, not just greenhouse gases, but global acidification, eutrophication, land use and water use,” said lead author Joseph Poore.

“It is far bigger than cutting down on your flights or buying an electric car.”

The study, published in journal Science, included data from nearly 40,000 farms in 119 countries.