LOS ANGELES:

Hundreds of pounds of caviar, black truffle, sushi and tomahawk steak have been shipped to Hollywood for the traditional lavish Oscars after-party this Sunday.

They will be washed down with thousands of bottles of tequila and champagne at the Governors Ball, where newly minted Academy Award winners get their statuettes engraved while fellow A-listers feast, dance and gossip.

“We make 25,000 small plates,” said Wolfgang Puck, the celebrity chef who is returning to take charge of the party’s menu for a 32nd consecutive year.

“You can have Japanese food, you can have Austrian food, you can have always the best steak,” the Austrian-born restaurateur told AFP, as he seared a juicy tomahawk at a Tuesday press preview event.

At a time when diet pills are ubiquitous in Los Angeles, Puck joked that Tinseltown’s famously weight-obsessed stars can have their Miyazaki beef “with Ozempic instead of spinach” if they prefer.

Quantities matter at a party of this scale: Puck anticipated that 1,200 of his traditional chicken pot pies will require 50 pounds (22 kilograms) of black truffle, served alongside 70 pounds of caviar, 1,000 plates of macaroni and cheese, and more than 200 pounds of tomahawk steak.

A new sushi station will feature five chefs preparing handrolls and nigiri.

Piper-Heidsieck champagne and Dassai sake will be served along with wines from Domaine Clarence Dillon — and movie-themed Don Julio tequila cocktails.

This year’s offerings include the “Best in Show,” the “Golden Cut Margarita,” the “Maestro Martini” and “The Sequel,” made with gold vanilla edible paint streaked along the side.

These are the Mexican and Italian-inspired creations of Lorenzo Antinori, co-founder of Hong Kong’s world-renowned Bar Leone, who has been flown in for the event.

As usual, dessert will be accompanied by thousands of golden chocolate statuettes, ensuring everyone can take an Oscar home.

“I think the reason why people love them so much is because it’s so hard to get a real Oscar, right?” chef Garry Larduinat told AFP.

“So having one made of chocolate, being able to take it home and be like ‘I was there,’ that’s very special. It’s unique,” he said.

“This is the only place you can get one.”

The nominees for the 98th Academy Awards were announced on January 22, 2026, at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills, by actress Danielle Brooks and actor Lewis Pullman.

The sixteen nominations received by Sinners are the most in Oscar history, surpassing the previous record of fourteen shared by All About Eve (1950), Titanic (1997), and La La Land (2016). It also broke the record for most Black individuals nominated for a single film at ten. The film’s studio, Warner Bros. Pictures, earned thirty nominations, tying its own record set in 2005. Numerous film critics and journalists praised the breakthrough of nominations, applauding the Academy for embracing Black cinema and the horror genre.

At the age of 30, Timothée Chalamet became the youngest actor to earn three acting nominations since Marlon Brando, and also the youngest person to be nominated for both acting and producing in the same year, surpassing Warren Beatty. Wagner Moura became the first Brazilian nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role. Stellan Skarsgård became the first actor nominated for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for a non-English language international feature film.