The film world acknowledges the link between diet and the climate crisis, and is offering a series of vegan menus for events throughout the awards season.
"We keep asking ourselves what we can do to fight the climate crisis, but there's one thing we can do right here and right now, and that's choose what we eat." These are the words that actor Joaquin Phoenix, the Joker of Todd Phillips, spoke shortly before being arrested during an environmental demonstration organised by actress and activist Jane Fonda on 10 January.
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Phoenix has been vegan since the age of three. Together with his brother he witnessed a fish being violently killed and understood that he did not want to contribute in any way to such practices. Since then he has never stopped working to raise awareness about people's food choices. His activism led him to be named person of the year by the animal rights organisation People for the ethical treatment of animals (Peta), and he has managed to influence the world of Hollywood to such an extent that the food served during the most important film season of the year — that of the Oscars — is plant-based.
Thanks to Phoenix's intervention, the Golden globes, the Critics choice awards and the Screen actors guild awards (Sag) have already offered vegan menus at their events.
But his influence has been such that the agency representing him, William Morris endeavor, also known as Wme, decided to serve a menu free from animal products and by-products at its pre-Oscars party on 7 February, thereby becoming the first talent agency to make such a choice.
Catering was entrusted to Nic's on Beverly, a popular Los Angeles restaurant owned by Nic Adler, the culinary director of the Coachella music festival. Dispelling every myth about vegans having nothing to eat is the menu proposed by the chef: from burgers to spaghetti, from falafel to meatballs and even tacos, all strictly vegan.
Read also: Joaquin Phoenix's speech at the Golden globes on veganism and climate change
Joining the list of events that have offered plant-based menus are the Academy awards, better known as the Oscars, which will take place on 9 February at the Dolby theatre in Los Angeles, in the United States.
The food served at the nominations party and the pre-ceremony nibbles will be vegan. The menu at the Governors ball, the party held immediately after the ceremony where the statuettes are personalised, will be predominantly vegan, but vegetarian and meat- and fish-based dishes will also be offered, albeit in smaller quantities. Plastic bottles and containers have also been banned from all events.
Running alongside all these initiatives was Veganuary, a month dedicated to vegan eating of which Phoenix is an ambassador, which raises awareness towards a more ethical diet.
One thing that isn't talked about enough is that livestock farming represents the third biggest cause of climate change in the world.Joaquin Phoenix
Both inside and outside the Hollywood universe, events to discuss the link between livestock farming and the current climate crisis have multiplied. The Veganuary initiative took hold for the first time in Italy as well, supported by the organisation Essere Animali and the celebrated cartoonist Bruno Bozzetto.
Read also: Bruno Bozzetto depicts the suffering of caged animals in a cartoon
The move towards compassionate, suffering-free eating is spreading ever more widely across the world, and it is wonderful to see events of the calibre of the Oscars striving to improve, in the hope that next year the last remaining meat-based dishes will be dropped as well.
