The Best Food Moments From the 2019 Oscars

The 91st Annual Academy Awards ceremony was full of triumphant wins, memorable speeches, and a few shocking upsets. Here’s a roundup of notable food-related moments from the red carpet, the main stage, and the after-parties:

Bao wins big

During last night’s Oscars telecast, first-time director Domee Shi and her producing partner Becky Neiman-Cobb took the stage to collect a gold statuette for their terrific short film Bao, about an empty-nester mom who makes a dumpling that springs to life. In her excellent, succinct acceptance speech, Shi remarked, “To all the nerdy girls who hide behind their sketchbooks, don’t be afraid to tell your stories to the world.”

Last summer, the filmmaker told Eater that Bao “was loosely inspired by my own life growing up as an only child to my two Chinese parents.” During production of the short film, Shi invited her mom to the Pixar headquarters in Emeryville, California, to show the animators how to make dumplings (find the director’s illustrated recipe here). As Vox notes, Shi is the first woman of color to win the Best Animated Short Film category, and the first woman to direct a Pixar short.

José Andrés takes the stage

For the second year in a row, world-saving chef José Andrés appeared on stage at the Oscars. This time, he was introducing a segment about Best Picture nominee Roma, along with actor Diego Luna:

Considering all the work Andrés has done recently rallying against President Donald Trump’s immigration policies, his last line seemed to have a timely hook: “This beautiful, intimate film, one that gives a voice to the voiceless, reminds us of the understanding of compassion that we all owe to the invisible people in our lives, immigrants and woman, who move humanity forward.” While Alfonso Cuarón’s movie lost in the Best Picture race, it took home the gold in the Best Foreign Language Film category, and the filmmaker won the statues for Best Director and Best Cinematography.

The Vanity Fair party shakes off the bad press

Despite a damning New York Times article suggesting that the once-hot Vanity Fair after-party had gone cold, some of Hollywood’s biggest stars turned out for the event at the Sunset Tower Hotel last night, including Lady Gaga, Amy Adams, Jason Momoa, Charlize Theron, Lupita Nyong’o, Judd Apatow, Idris Elba, Tiffany Haddish, Barbara Streisand, Natasha Lyonne, Chris Hemsworth, Priyanka Chopra, Nick Jonas, and Elton John. Glenn Close was apparently dancing so hard that she accidentally fell down. Chrissy Teigen and John Legend were also there last night, and she is hurting a bit this morning:

Will Guidara, Daniel Humm, and the team from their restaurant the Nomad LA, served carrot tartare, fried chicken, black truffle tartes, and a fancy chicken burger. An In-and-Out truck also made an appearance later in the night much to the delight of attendee Jeff Bezos.

Across town, Jay-Z and Beyonce hosted their party at Chateau Marmont, which also featured food from chef Daniel Humm. But thanks to an extremely tight guest list and strict no-cellphone policy, the gossip rags have yet to report any details from the gala, and no photos have surfaced on social media yet.

Red carpet snacks, memes, and more

• Awkwafina smuggled a flask of tequila onto the red carpet, while Jennifer Lopez had a secret stash of cheese in her purse.
• Richard E. Grant cooked breakfast for his Can You Ever Forgive Me? co-star Melissa McCarthy and her husband Ben Falcone yesterday.
• Emma Stone’s dress looked like either a stroopwafel or a piece of fish.
• And finally, get ready to see this gif everywhere till the end of time:

• The 2019 Oscars broke boundaries, especially for women of color [Vox]
• José Andrés Honored Immigrants and Women in His Oscars Cameo [Eater Chicago]
• Inside Vanity Fair’s Oscars bash [Page Six]