Oscar nominees Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone and Meryl Streep will tuck into lobster corn dogs, spicy tuna tartare and baked potatoes with caviar at the ceremony’s official after-party.
Celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck unveiled the luxury food to be served at this year’s Governors Ball in Hollywood, where the menu includes gold dusted truffle popcorn, spiced Wagyu short rib and smoked salmon in the shape of Oscar statuettes.
Some 1,500 guests will attend the event after the awards show, where the winners can get their statues engraved and the losers can drown their sorrows with wine produced by film-maker Francis Ford Coppola’s company.
Puck, who is cooking for the Governors Ball for his 23rd consecutive year, said stars had demanded he return with some of his signature dishes including his chicken pot pie with shaved black truffles and baked macaroni and cheese.
He told the Press Association: “When we do the Oscar menu we have so many people saying: ‘Are you going to do this? Are you going to do that?’
“Barbra Streisand, I saw her at the Bel-Air hotel, and she said: ‘Are you going to make your chicken pot pie because this is my favourite?’
“I saw Viola Davis the other day and she said: ‘I love the macaroni and cheese you make.’ So I said: ‘For sure we’re going to make it.’
“This year we have lobster corn dogs. We make our own lobster mousse and then make little sausages and then put them in batter and fry them. We serve them with a little jalapeno sauce, so it’s really tasty. It’s a good snack.
“A twist on a classic English dish.”
Davis is nominated for best supporting actress for her role in Fences.
Guests will be served 10 kilos of farm-raised caviar, 250 Maine lobsters, 6,500 Oscar-shaped flatbreads and 2,400 bottles of Piper Heidsieck champagne.
Stars with a sweet tooth can enjoy caramel cappuccino Oscar lollipops, mini eclair gianduja mousse and caramel banofee pie.
The Governors Ball immediately follows the Oscars ceremony and invited guests include the winners and nominees, as well as the presenters and performers.
British singer and actress Cynthia Erivo, the star of Broadway’s The Color Purple, will perform at this year’s ball.
:: The 89th Oscars will take place at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood on February 26.
Models in Peta animal skins protest kick off London Fashion Week
A trio of lingerie-clad models kicked off London Fashion Week – with a protest against the use of animal skins on the catwalk.
The group stripped off into matching green underwear and crocodile masks before posing outside the show’s main venue on the Strand in central London.
Animal rights charity Peta, which organised the protest, is campaigning against the use of exotic animal skins in the fashion industry.
It follows an investigation of crocodile farms which found animals were confined to pits and sometimes still alive when their skin was torn off, Peta said.
Peta spokeswoman Kirsty Henderson said: “We are here to remind people that crocodiles are not handbags – they are living, feeling beings.
“When they spend their entire lives on farms before having their throats cut, they suffer.
“You don’t need the skin of crocodiles to make accessories, that’s why we are calling on everyone from London Fashion Week to the public to leave the exotic skins on the shelf.”
The investigation of crocodile farms in Vietnam is the latest in a number by the charity, which said it has exposed cruelty in reptile farms on three continents.
Five over-45s also strutted their stuff outside the main venue, The Store Studios, where fashion labels will showcase their latest creations.
The five models – including former page three girl Jilly Johnson, 63, and Janie Felstead, 65 – told London Fashion Week to “grow up” as part of a protest against ageism on the catwalk.
The group brandished signs which read “Fashion has no age limit” and “Too old to walk for LFW?” as they posed outside the building.
Johnson said it was “fantastic” that different ethnicities and disabilities were being represented on the runway but called for older models also to be used.
“Women don’t suddenly stop wearing or buying clothes after their 20s, so why isn’t this reflected in the models used in fashion shows?,” she said.
The protest was organised by online retailer JD Williams.
London Fashion Week runs from February 17 – 21.
BA cabin crew launch fresh strikes over ‘poverty’ pay
British Airways cabin crew are launching a fresh wave of four strikes in a long-running dispute over pay.
Unite said its members at the airline were “piling on the pressure” by walking out from today, and again for four days from February 22.
Members of the so-called mixed fleet have taken 11 days of action so far this year in protest at “poverty” pay.
A BA spokesman said: “As during the previous rounds of strikes, we will fly all our customers to their destinations.
“All flights to and from London Gatwick and London City will operate as normal, as will the vast majority of flights to and from London Heathrow.
“To enable all customers to travel, we will be merging a very small number of flights at Heathrow – about 1% of total flights planned.
“Our pay offer for mixed fleet crew is consistent with deals accepted by more than 90% of British Airways colleagues, most of them represented by Unite.
“It also reflects pay awards given by other companies in the UK and will ensure that rewards for mixed fleet remain in line with those for cabin crew at our airline competitors.
Unite regional officer Matt Smith said: “For every hour British Airways ‘wet leases’ an aircraft from another airline to cover striking cabin crew it costs in the region of £2,000 to £3,000.
“Our estimates put the amount of money British Airways has spent on defending the dispute and poverty pay at £1 million.
“This is money which the airline has taken a conscious decision to give to other airlines rather than addressing pay levels which are forcing hard-working mixed fleet cabin crew into financial hardship.
“We would urge British Airways to reconsider its costly intransigence and enter talks at Acas and reach an agreement.”
The two sides have clashed over pay, with Unite saying the cabin crew earned an average of £16,000 a year, including allowances, but BA insisting no one was paid below £21,000.
The mixed fleet, who work on short and long-haul flights, joined BA since 2010.
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