02/08/2020 - 17:01
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Breathing the air in the atmosphere surrounding the 2020 Oscar Awards seems to be mostly exclusive to celebrities. If the nominees and the winners are stars, so should those who offer services on that magical night of the Californian winter. This logic is clearly observed in the head of the kitchen designated by the Hollywood Academy . This is the Austrian chef Wolfgang Puck, head of a gastronomic empire with extensions in various parts of the world and executor of the menu that actors, actresses, producers, directors and many other members of the film industry will enjoy. And this year, he will cook most vegan dishes.
Even the vegan portion of the scheme planned for Sunday dinner is encrypted: it will be 70 percent composed of plant-based foods, as defined by the United States Film Academy . For the rest of the grid, Puck will not fail to include classics such as caviar, Kobe meat (considered the most expensive in the world) and his famous smoked salmon bites in the form of the coveted figurine.
The burgers in kobe meat, another one of the inevitable at the Oscar dinner.
"We work with all products because as much as people like vegan, most eat meat and fish," said Puck, who has been cooking at one of Hollywood's most prestigious parties for 26 years.
At the head of a gastronomic empire that includes dozens of restaurants, from Beverly Hills to Singapore and the United Kingdom, Puck already offers in its establishments "vegetarian tasting menus" so he says he faced few problems to adapt to the last-minute change decided by the Academy.
As a result, the Austrian was able to add 18 vegetarian dishes to the menu that had already been prepared for the gala dinner that will be served by about 1,500 guests. To shape the evening, some 30 thousand dishes will be set up, for which 300 chefs will work and be served by 600 waiters.
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Sweet potato tempura with mint and coriander aioli will be next to Chef Puck's miniature kobe burger between snacks. And the black truffle chicken cake will accompany dishes such as tagine and couscous with vegetables, or eggplant in Hungarian sauce on a bed of black rice. There will also be smoked salmon mounted on matzah bread, typical of Jewish cuisine.
Smoked salmon on matzah bread, as input.
In the pastry section, the chef was not intimidated by having to leave aside the butter and eggs. "All raw materials can make an exquisite dessert," he said.
"We use a lot of almond and coconut milk, and we overcome difficulties finding substitutes," such as Valrhona's vegan chocolate, which will allow you to make the famous golden statuettes that mimic the Oscars. About 5,000 pieces will be prepared for the February 9 gala, which translates into about 400 kilos of chocolate.
Small frozen snacks, another variant of the menu.
Trained in traditional cuisine in France, where he learned in prestigious restaurants before emigrating to the United States, Wolfgang Puck, 70, insists that he is not a vegetarian himself, which does not prevent him from enjoying the cooking of vegetable products.
"It's fun for us too, we want everyone to be happy and finally we can make vegetarian food that really tastes good without missing meat or fish. It's easy because we have all the chefs of our different restaurants that I can call and ask them: ' What are you doing vegan? '"Puck joked.
In 2019, the Oscar menu chosen by the Academy and executed by Puck had included salmon canapés with Kaluga caviar, Piper Heisjeck champagne popsicles; Kobe meat and black burgundy truffles; persimmon kaki salad, 100% Iberian acorn ham, burrata and arugula; apple rolls; matzah macaroni, strawberries dipped in chocolate and gold; and the famous chocolate figurines.
The small statuettes made in chocolate, a classic.
The answer to a growing trend
If there are many celebrities who are converting to veganism , the Academy cannot make the mistake of ignoring such a trend. That is why most foods of plant origin, and those that come from animals (caviar, chicken, salmon) must have a sustainable breeding certificate. In this way, the Oscar ceremony will lay hold on a grid with a root similar to that seen in the delivery of the Golden Globes.
Joaquin Phoenix, in his speech upon receiving the Golden Globe, celebrated the vegan menu of the gala. (AP)
Moreover, the specialized press in the United States attributes much of the decision of the Academy. It is that in the prizes that precede the Oscars, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association set up a menu based mostly on vegetables for the Golden Globes: originally it featured a Chilean seabass dish, but it was changed to “scallops” of mushrooms, oysters with wild mushroom and vegetable risotto. For dessert, a so-called “vegan opera dome” by pastry chef Thomas Henzi was served.
Among the stars who have opted for veganism recently is nothing less than Joaquin Phoenix, favorite to win the award as best leading actor for his interpretation of the Joker in Joker. And another that has just joined is his friend Robert Downey Jr, to a list that also includes Natalie Portman, James Cameron, Morrisey and Olivia Wilde, among others.
Asparagus and small cabbage, vegetables chosen by Puck for the stars.
In its statement on this turn in the menu, the Academy affirmed its commitment to the environment, and argued that a great step for this is to reduce the carbon footprint left by the livestock industry. In addition, he said that in the last seven years, the famous event has not generated any kind of pollution.
Among the parties that are held around the ceremony, one of them, and perhaps among the most important, has already announced that it will have vegan dishes. It is the one that William Morris Endeavor Entertainment will offer in honor of Joaquin Phoenix before the awards.
There will be many variants of dishes and snacks made with vegetables.
In fact, Phoenix, upon receiving the Golden Globe as the best actor, dedicated his speech to thank that in that event a vegan menu has been arranged because they began to understand, he said, that 70 percent of global pollution comes from production Livestock And he asked that his example be followed by other organizations that deliver awards.
The celebrity who runs the kitchen
Wolfgang Puck was born on July 8, 1949 in Austria. He went through all the tasks in the kitchen of a restaurant: he peeled potatoes and washed dishes in his country and in France, and then landed in California. There he built a gastronomic emporium with premises that are the favorite of the stars, and whose approximate value is estimated at 75 million dollars . Since 1994 he has been in command of the Oscar Awards menu and in 2019 he visited South America for the first time, to cook in Uruguay with his friend Francis Mallmann.
Wolfgang Puck is Austrian, 70 years old and owns a gastronomic empire.
It has 27 restaurants - more than one recognized with Michelin stars -, almost 80 food stores, including several at airports, and a line of kitchenware with millionaire sales, plus a frozen food line and canned soup, cookbooks and television shows. In 2017 he was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Spago was the first restaurant set up by Puck in Los Angeles in 1982. It is located in Beverly Hills and the favorite of Hollywood stars. This place, and its name, is the star of the company and is replicated in four other cities: Maui, Las Vegas, Istanbul and Singapore. At his age, he just graduated in the career of Owner / President Management at Harvard Business School.
Oscars 2020 The list of all the nominees for the award. Videos, biographies and reviews.
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