In a pop culture collision of epic proportions, the world’s most famous internet sensation du jour prepared a steak for one of the world’s most famous actors.
Early this morning, a photo emerged of Leonardo Dicaprio, a wine glass, and a steak basking beneath the sodium shower of Nusret Gökçe, better known a “Salt Bae.”
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The pic was posted to Gökçe’s Instagram account (@nusr_et), which has climbed to more than 3 million followers after his sensual “Ottoman steak” video became a global sensation, garnering almost 10 million views in less than a month. Taken at Nusr-Et Dubai, the post shows a transfixed Leo, toothpick in mouth, watching as Gökçe’s signature Loch Ness Monster arm splashes salt delicately on the meat and bones below.
And while there were no photos of DiCaprio actually eating the steak, a meat-centric meal seems like an odd choice for the Oscar winner, given that he was executive producer of a film called Cowspiracy, which proclaims that animal agriculture is “the most destructive industry facing the planet today.”
As with most areas of his personal life, Leo keeps pretty mum about his dietary habits, but Goop bae Gwyneth Paltrow once credited him with turning her off to red meat. “He’d talk about how dirty meat is and how bad factory farming is,” she told The Guardian in 2013. “I haven’t eaten red meat in 20 years and although Leo’s not totally responsible, he definitely planted a seed.”
Whatever the case may be, Leo seems to have a complex relationship with meat (as he does with private jets and fossil fuel), and who would say no to having a steak seasoned by the Sultan of Salt himself? A forensic analysis suggests that a toothpick may have been used to subsequently pick meat from his teeth.
Nitpicking aside, Salt Bae recently announced plans to open restaurants in New York and London, and it’s pretty clear that he hopes to take over the culinary world after having dominated the online one. And what better way to do that than by aligning oneself with A-list celebrities like Leo and Riri?
His Instragram bio is simply an enumeration of his restaurant locations: Turkey, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and “very soon all the world.”
