Bon appetit, Sundance

Food may not be the star at the Sundance Film Festival, but it certainly plays a supporting role.

And although the economy has affected the number and lavishness of some parties, there's still a lot of wining and dining for film industry movers, shakers and tag-alongs.

The Food Network's "Iron Chef" Cat Cora hosted a Humane Society of the United States dinner party Sunday night that included socialite Paris Hilton, Nigel Barker of "America's Next Top Model," actor Alan Cumming, and Slash of the rock groups Velvet Revolver and Guns N'Roses.

The vegan menu for 75 guests featured a silky roasted winter squash and saffron soup, herbed potato risotto spiked with chanterelle mushrooms,and a rich chocolate ganache tartlet with a salted caramel gelato that was accented with peanut brittle.

For appetizers, there were pretty little chickpea fritters and polenta squares topped with Swiss chard, candied pumpkin seeds and a sliver of sun-dried tomato.

Since this was, after all, the Humane Society of the United States, there was no foie gras, filet mignon or other meat in sight. The leftover pancetta-wrapped shrimp appetizer that Cora served at an earlier party for actor/comedian Chris Rock was kept discreetly in the kitchen.

This was Cora's third year cooking for the Bon Appetit Supper Club during Sundance. She arrived Saturday, did the Chris Rock and the Humane Society of the United States dinners back-to-back Sunday night, and was scheduled to leave Monday.

"I think next year I'll change it up a little bit and have more time to ski a little," she said in an interview in between parties.

The Humane Society of the United States dinner spotlighted its campaign to stop the commercial seal hunt in Canada, and Cora announced that she signed a petition of well-known chefs to boycott Canadian seafood until the country halts its seal hunts.

"I believe in safe fishing in general, for across the board it makes the industry stronger and brings a lot of integrity to what we all do as chefs," she said.

It takes some planning to drop in on an an unfamiliar kitchen one day and turn out back-to-back dinners for 75 people the next day.

"You have to acclimate yourself," she said. "We have a lot of planning and conference calls to make sure we are able to get all the products we need. When I got here yesterday, I checked to make sure all the products were up to my standards."