How the Academy Awards Celebrates the Best in Food and Film

It’s Oscar time! That means designer gowns, elaborate production numbers, red carpet interviews and seemingly endless ‘thank-you’ speeches in addition to those prized statuettes.

Also present will be the elegant food that no Oscar event can be without. This year Cheryl Cecchetto is designing and Wolfgang Puck is catering the elite after-the-awards Governors Ball.

This Ball is an insider's must with an A List that literally defines who's who's in Hollywood. Being omitted can easily declare a career is in decline.

So what will Chef Puck serve to the 1,500 invited VIPs of the Film Industry that will be attending this year’s party-of-the-year ball? Here’s his innovative (and health conscious) menu:

Appetizers

• Bolognese-stuffed Rice Balls
• Mini-burgers with Aged Cheddar and Remoulade
• Spicy Tuna Tartare in a Sesame Miso Cone
• Salmon on Flatbread Shaped like Oscar Statuettes Garnished with Caviar
• Taro Root and Avocado Tacos

Passed Entrees

• Handmade Pretzels Stuffed with Pimento and Parmesan Cheese
• Bacon-wrapped Dates
• Small Chicken Pot Pies with Black Truffles
• Baked Potatoes with Black Caviar
• Shanghai Lobster
• Short Ribs with Goulash and Spaetzle

Desserts 

• Licorice and Chocolate Parfait with Caramelized Tobacco Leaves (Gluten Free!)

• Yuzu Semi Freddo with Green Tea Meringue and Sake Blueberries

• Caramel Garden of Coffee "Soil" Supporting a Chocolate Malted Tree with Fleur de Sel

Yet the revere that Hollywood holds for fine food and all matters culinary is not limited to the grand galas surrounding Oscar Night. In nearly every decade there have been great films about food, wine, the people who create them and those who truly enjoy them. Here are some of the best:

Babette's Feast

Chocolat

Julie and Julia

Ratatouille

Vatel

Le Cordon Bleu Honors Julia Child's 100th Birthday with the Perfect Recipe

Happy Birthday Julia! And who better than Le Cordon Bleu in Paris to celebrate this remarkable woman's 100th birthday for it was at this, France's most esteemed culinary school, that Julia first formally studied cooking.

However, it has surprised some that Le Cordon Bleu chose to honor Madame Child by posting on their website a recipe for such a humble dish as Oeufs à la Bourguignonne’ or eggs poached in red wine. (See a link to their recipe, also known as Oeufs en Meurette, below).

Yet have no fear - their choice is so much what Julia was truly about – simple fresh ingredients, great technique and a touch of historic French flair.

Just consider that Oeufs à la Bourguignonne’ was originally from beautiful Burgundy (the source for the red wine used in the recipe) and associated there with a Cadet Rousselle, who built in the late 1700's an open-air walkway above his house that offered shelter to birds (remember that eggs are also a key ingredient in the dish).

His strange walkway was soon immortalized in a local song that quickly became a favorite of Napoleon’s far marching soldiers.

It remained so popular that after a mere 50 years Tchaikovsky in czarist Russia chose to use it as the theme for the towering Mother Ginger and her many children in his beloved holiday ballet, The Nutcracker.

If you consider that Julia, like a modern Mother Ginger, led so many ingénue American home cooks out of the dark and into the larger world of fabulous French flavors, you can see how perfect (and oh so perceptively French) Le Cordon Bleu's honorary choice of cuisine was.

And what better work of musical talent could there be to represent Julia Child's love of sweets than The Nutcracker ballet with its many food references, all dancing by in wonder and delight.

(Thank you, Meryl Streep, for both of these two amazing portrayal of Julia Child in the award winning movie, Julie and Julia).

Julia Child never had children of her own but she shared with millions the very best that she knew - how to enjoy life each and every day. What can we say for such a gift, but thank you! Julia, you are remembered and treasured! 

Oeufs à la Bourguignonne' Recipe 

Your Culinary World copyright Ana Kinkaid/Peter Schlagel 2012