Oscar’s Governor’s Ball
Ghetto fare by Wolfgang Puck – «Oscar cuisine is going global»
1,500 guests are catered for at the Governors Ball after the Oscar gala. Photo: Barbara Munker/dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
Every year, star chef Wolfgang Puck cooks for guests at the Oscars. But they have to wait until after the ceremony for the culinary delights. That’s on the table this year.
For 28 years, star chef Wolfgang Puck has been serving the dishes for the celebrity guests after the Oscar gala – for the first time he has brought the culinary collective Ghetto-Gastro from the New York Bronx on board.
“The Oscars are global, now the kitchen is also going global,” says the native Austrian with a wink to the German Press Agency.
At the press event in the makeshift kitchen next to the Dolby Ballroom, the celebrity chef flirts with three black food activists who have deep roots in the Bronx, creating soul food there and campaigning for social justice.
Traditional dishes and new creations
This time, 117 chefs, including chefs from Hungary and Alsace, are helping to organize the traditional gourmet feast for 1,500 guests at the Governors Ball after the Oscar gala. “They’re all really hungry after the show,” says Puck about the newly chosen award winners, nominees and show participants. “We give them “modern comfort food”, i.e. indulgence food, but a bit upscale”.
Puck’s traditional dishes, such as mini burgers, chicken pot pie (a truffled chicken ragout in batter) and premium pizza are on the menu, alongside many new creations. The ghetto gastro celebrate Southern fare with fried chicken and waffles and cornbread topped with shrimp and caviar.
Long shopping list
Puck’s long shopping list includes 100 lobsters, over 130 kilos of smoked salmon and 30 kilos of the finest Wagyu beef from Japan. Thousands of strips of wild salmon are trimmed precisely in the shape of the Oscar trophy and served with caviar on crackers as an appetizer.
Of course, there are sweet consolation prizes again at the 94th Academy Awards. By Sunday evening, several thousand chocolate Oscars will be dusted with edible gold. None of the 1500 guests should go home without an Oscar.