Comfort food, 3D dessert for Oscar winners

US: Hollywood's elite will feast on five-star comfort food, the inevitable slices of smoked salmon and a new 3D dessert dreamed up by celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck at the post-Oscars Governors Ball. Behind Swarovski crystal curtains and lavish floral arrangements, guests at Sunday's party hosted by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will find family fare on their plates: pizza, macaroni and cheese and sliders. "We have comfort food for everybody," Puck, who is the man behind the menu for the 18th straight year, told AFP.

"Comfort is what you ate in your childhood, when you were young -- pizzas maybe, and for some people it might be a risotto, if you come from Italy," said the Austrian chef, who has 21 restaurants in the United States.

"For the Americans, it might be macaroni and cheese or chicken pot pie." For the French attendees, of which there are several thanks to the 10 nominations of "The Artist," Puck will have lamb chops with a mint cilantro vinaigrette on offer.

Sandwiches, braised short rib, lobster with a hint of ginger and fiery spring rolls are on the menu. But the first thing to be offered to guests will be Oscar-shaped smoked salmon hors d'oeuvres, garnished with caviar.

"It's not going to be a formal sit-down dinner. People are going to have fun because they can sit with their friends -- they won't have to sit in a table with people they don't know," Puck said.

At the end of the meal, guests will have a choice of 30 desserts, including the traditional gold-dusted chocolate Oscars and a bar of chocolate that, when viewed with 3D glasses, appears to pop out at diners.

AFP