Celebrity chef dishes on Hollywood’s Ozempic craze as he unveils decadent Oscars 2026 menu

Celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck has dished on Hollywood’s Ozempic craze and his Oscars predictions as he prepares to cater the Academy Awards’ official afterparty once again, The Governors Ball. 

For the 32nd year in his career, Puck will be serving a mouth-watering array of treats at the exclusive bash, with this year’s menu featuring cannolis, ‘In-N-Out Style’ dry-aged ribeye sliders, dark chocolate eclairs, and of course plenty of caviar.

The Daily Mail got a sneak peak of the menu and a chance to speak with the legend himself in his kitchen – where we can confirm the food will be just as delicious as it appears. 

The elegant soiree is not just a chance to try a feast whipped up by the one and only Puck, but an opportunity to enjoy a cheat day for those watching their waistlines. 

In recent years, a number of celebrities have been open about using GLP-1s to help them curb their appetite, but Puck, 76, isn’t going to change how he prepares for the night in the kitchen. 

‘No,’ Puck said when asked if he’ll be making less food to accommodate smaller appetites. ‘You know what? We change, but we do our stuff. I don’t wait until somebody tells me, ‘you have to do that.’ I do it. So, the only thing who tells me what to do is my wife, but the rest I do.’

‘We make the same amount of food. We don’t want to run out, but, when we finish, we pack everything up and send it downtown to Skid Row so people can eat just like at the Oscars, so nothing gets wasted.’

‘They want an experience,’ Puck’s eldest son Byron, who’s helping him with the evening’s menu, adds. ‘Maybe the only thing that I see is more sharing. 

‘So I think people are actually ordering food, sharing, maybe not eating a whole plate to themselves, but sharing amongst each other, because food is celebration with friends and family at the end of the day. 

‘So, I think it’s amazing how much of the world is wanting to trim down, I would say, in terms of the amount of eating. But no, I still think people love food. People love that experience and people still want to go out to enjoy themselves in that manner. So, I don’t think we’re cooking less.’

Out of the kitchen, Puck is enjoying some of the films up for a coveted Oscar. 

Puck revealed his Academy Awards predictions with The Daily Mail, predicting Oscars glory for Paul Thomas Anderson and Sean Penn.

But as far as Best Picture, he thinks it’s down to two films.  

‘I think One Dish After Another! Or One Battle After Another,’ he told The Daily Mail. ‘I think it’s a great movie, but Sinners is also very good, so maybe Sinners might win for Best Picture.

‘I think Paul Thomas Anderson might win for Best Director and I think Sean Penn should win, even he won already two, they might not give it to three to him, that might be too much. Might go into his head.’

Puck wasn’t putting all his chips into Timothee Chalamet receiving his first Oscar this year either.  

‘I think now it’s a little up in the air,’ he said.

The Governor’s Ball is one of the last major bashes celebrating awards season and comes after a slew of other extravagant ceremonies – many of which also served food.

Puck was unfiltered when asked what he thought of the food at past awards shows.  

‘I don’t give a s**t!’ he replied. ‘I only care about us!’ 

This year’s menu consists of his usual staples chicken pot pie and Oscar shaped chocolates, however he’s  also introducing some new menu items for the 2026 bash. 

‘Well, food, when somebody is hungry, you want comfort food,’ Puck told The Daily Mail. ‘And some people like innovation, but comfort food is different things for different people. Like this year, we set up a big sushi station in the dining room with five Japanese sushi chefs, and they’re going to make fresh nigiris, fresh hamachis, fresh hand rolls and everything. 

‘So it’s going to be made to order just like if you go to the best Japanese restaurant. So, for me, that’s really special, because I love Japanese food too. And then we have our beef from Japan, which we’ve served already for a few years now, because it’s the best beef in the world.’

This year’s annual gala menu will also feature Domaine Clarence Dillon wine, Don Julio tequila cocktails, Dassai sake, Piper Heidsieck champagne. Gorgeous floral arrangements will be on display throughout the room by celebrity florist Saco Sarkissian of Petals LA.

‘​​We make a tomahawk steak, so we’re going to slice it to order,’ Puck says. ‘We’re going to even have an English special. We’re going to have fish and chips, but fried to order with a few potato chips in it, the fish in it, the spicy sauce on it. You know, the English normally don’t eat a spicy sauce with it, but we spice it up with some jalapeno and with some other chilies and so it’s going to be really delicious and you can bite it, have a glass of champagne, and you’re fine.’

Puck has dealt with just about every kitchen crisis imaginable at this point in his career, and he and his team are prepared for anything anyone needs on the big night.

‘Well, we have five chefs, who just do special occasions, special dishes,’ Puck explains. ‘I remember when Martin Scorsese was here. And he says, ‘Can you just make me a good pasta with basil, tomato, and garlic?’ Well, it’s not on our menu. We made it. When Ang Lee won for Best Director for Brokeback Mountain, we made him a Chinese steamed fish, a Hong Kong style steamed fish with a little chilies on top. Fried some bok choy and some rice, and he said, ‘How did you know I like steamed fish so much?”

With names like Timothée Chalamet, Kylie Jenner and Michael B. Jordan expected to come through after the awards show ends, the father-son duo already has ideas in mind on what to serve special for their famous guests.

‘I think Leo DiCaprio and Sean Penn,’ the elder Puck says of who he’s looking forward to cooking for most. ‘I mean, he did such a great job in the movie. So, I hope they come and when they’re going to get the Oscar engraved, I bring them in the kitchen and make them some delicious steak.’

‘I know that Leo DiCaprio and Benicio del Toro and [Paul Thomas] who made the movie. They love Cut. So I had them at Cut. What did they eat? The Snake River Farms steak. The New York. So we’re going to have it this year. I made it special because I think they’re going to win. If not, I have the Oscar ready for them.’

‘I think one of the things that they’re going to love are going to be our Cut sliders,’ Byron adds of Chalamet and Jenner’s taste buds. ‘It’s actually one of the dishes we are bringing from London as well. But every time that he’s dined in the past with us as well, I know that that’s always something that just gets put down, so to speak. So we’re going to be pushing that out of the kitchen all night, but I think they’re going to go for it.’

While the 99th Oscars are still a ways away, with the weight loss craze in Hollywood showing no signs of slowing down, Puck is looking ahead for ideas for next year.

‘Maybe next year we have an Ozempic station next to it and they can eat as much as they want!’ jokes Puck. ‘Soon restaurants can sell that, too!’

The 98th Academy Awards will air live on ABC and stream on Hulu on Sunday, March 15, 2026, at 7 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. PT.