I must credit this idea to my wife, as she has thrown such Oscar parties in the past. The menu selections are mine.
You have several friends over to watch the telecast of The 87th Annual Academy Awards. You have all gathered around the television, kicked off your shoes, made your bets, checked off your ballots, and you are ready to begin dishing on the bad dance numbers, the ugly dresses, and the appearance of minor stars that the show’s directors insist are giant stars. People like Chris Hemsworth and Rooney Mara.
Check Out: Six Best Picture Winners that Weren’t the ‘Best Picture’ At All
But what do you eat at this Oscar party? Why stick with mere bowls of chips or mail-order pizza when you can have an Oscar-appropriate menu? In order to pay tribute to this year’s eight Best Picture nominees, CraveOnline would like to recommend the following eight-course meal to eat during the telecast. Each course is a small dish, and each course is meant to tie directly into one of the year’s Best Picture nominees.
Slideshow: Your Party Menu for The Oscars 2015
Witney Seibold is a contributor to the CraveOnline Film Channel, and co-host of The B-Movies Podcast. You can follow him on “Twitter” at @WitneySeibold, where he is slowly losing his mind.
Your 2015 Oscar Party Menu is Here!
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American Sniper
Clint Eastwood's American Sniper follows the real-life adventures of Chris Kyle, one of America's most deadly snipers. Kyle was born in Odessa, TX, and lived in Texas his whole life. Kyle's wholesome Texan upbringing and innate Texan patriotism is what drives American Sniper. So why not tap into the native food and drink of Texas? I would recommend Shiner Bock, a Texan beer available in most stores. If you want to go the craft brew route, go to the TexasBrews website and start rifling.
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Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Birdman tells the story of a movie star, known for playing a superhero 20 years previous, who is trying prove that he is a real actor by staging his own Broadway play. The film is largely about the conflict between Hollywood's perception of actors and New York's perception of them. New York actors are always seen as the classier performers. The same may be said of New York cuisine. There are a lot of hearty, classic delis in New York that are sparse in L.A. One thing New York does correctly that L.A. does not is pizza. If you live close to a proper New York pizza joint, pick up one of their wonderful, foldable slices, and tuck in.
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Boyhood
Another Texan film, Richard Linklater's Boyhood follows the process of a young boy growing from age 6 to age 18, exposing the glorious universalities of childhood. So rather than just choose another piece of Texan cuisine, why not have a snack that would remind you of growing up in Texas? A local burger joint called Whataburger, has put out packaged versions of their own french fries, available at Texan groceries, but can also be ordered through the mail.
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The Grand Budapest Hotel
Wes Anderson's The Grand Budapest Hotel is a frothy murder mystery and bizarre fantasy of pre-war Europe. A feature of the film was Mendl's Bakery, a fictional pastry shop that made some of the most elaborate cakes and cookies ever committed to film. The star cake was called Le Courtesan au Chocolat. One of these might take a good deal of work to prepare, but it would be the single most appropriate dessert for the evening. If you want to take the extra step, bake prison escape tools into them. Slate recently published a recipe.
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The Imitation Game
Morten Tyldum's sleepy biopic of Alan Turing is one of the least food-centric films on the list. The only food that makes an appearance in the film is an apple, given as a gift to colleagues in order to placate them. So why not put out a plate of green apple slices to snack on? If you really want to skew abstract, you can also prepare some German Grüne Soße to dip the apples into, symbolizing the English insertion of intelligence into the German war effort. But that's a reach.
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Selma
Ava DuVerney directed a soulful biopic of Dr Martin Luther King, Jr. called Selma. I don't know of any cuisine associated with the titular area of Alabama, but a small piece of trivia I know about the man himself (and this was obscure trivia accumulated back in elementary school) is that his favorite foods were fried chicken and pecan pie. Fried chicken (home cooked, of course) would be a dandy entree for the evening, and a slice of pecan pie would make a fine dessert for those who prefer pie over cake.
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The Theory of Everything
Another sleepy biopic, James March's The Theory of Everything tells the story of Prof. Stephen Hawking, the astral physicist who introduced black holes to the general public, and who is perhaps one of the smartest living humans. Hawking's eating habits are not really explored in the film, which focuses on his other appetites (for knowledge and for groupies). Seeing as Hawking is an astral physicist, constantly looking at the galaxy, I would recommend a bowl of fun-size Milky Way bars and, if you can find them, British Star Bars.
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Whiplash
One of the points of Damien Chazelle's Whiplash is that the main character – an ambitious jazz drumming student – forgoes food, sleep, human relationships, and even common dignity in order to become the best jazz drummer that he can be. He doesn't want to be a good drummer with a well-rounded life. He wants to be a legend, even if it means he has to give up a life. And if not eating is a theme of this sacrifice, how does one associate a food item with him? For the people who don't like the darker lager Shiner Bock, why not counter it with the lighter Belgian-style Whiplash White IPA, from Sweetwater brewing?
