I’m barely a chef, and definitely not a film critic. But I am someone who loves to cook and loves movies, and any excuse to eat in front of the TV is a good one. Really though, as a Gen Xer, the Oscars have always been important to me. So much of what we thought was true isn’t. Pluto isn’t a planet anymore (or is it again?), long division isn’t real, and my Dewey Decimal System skills are useless. But the Oscars are still here and so are we.
So let’s celebrate the fact that we can sit at home and be entertained. We don’t need to risk the plague to see a puppet show in the crowded woods.
I try to see as many Oscar-nominated films as I can each year, although this time I missed a few. F1, for example. I don’t know. It’s about cars and it can’t be good. But for most of the films I did see, I had a lot of fun pairing each one with a recipe.
This isn’t a list of hors d’oeuvres, although feel free to make those too. These are dishes that either show up in the movies themselves or are inspired by the setting and vibe of the film.
OK, before they start playing the music and waving me off the stage, let’s get to it.
Recipes inspired by the 2026 Oscar-nominated movies. And a snub or two.
Sinners — To-Fish Sandwiches with Tartar Sauce
16 nominations (!!) including Best Picture, Best Director (Ryan Coogler), Best Actor (Michael B. Jordan), Best Supporting Actor (Delroy Lindo), Best Supporting Actress (Wunmi Mosaku), Best Original Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Original Score, Best Costume Design, Best Casting, Best Production Design, Best Film Editing, Best Sound, Best Visual Effects, Best Makeup and Hairstyling, and Best Original Song.
Sinners is setting records for the most Oscar nominations EVER. And it is my favorite movie of the year so I hope it wins it all. The storyline alone got me (I mean, vampires and the KKK, you know the drama is going to be satisfying) But then add in the absolutely breathtaking cinematography and the entrancing soundtrack and RYAN COOGLER TAKE ALL MY MONEY. The performances by Michael B. Jordan (Best Actor nom), Delroy Lindo (Best Supporting Actor nom), Wunmi Mosaku (Best Supporting Actress nom) and Jack O’Connell (somehow not nominated but still) are beyond as well.
So on to the food. Sinners is set in Mississippi, so we’re going as Southern as this Brooklyn Jewish vegan girl can. These crispy tofu fish sandwiches already have that fried-fish-shack energy, but you can take it further and skip the bun entirely: serve the fillets catfish-style with garlicky grits and sautéed kale for what I hope is a somewhat proper plate.
Marty Supreme — Vegan Knishes Three Ways
9 nominations including Best Picture, Best Director (Josh Safdie), Best Actor (Timothée Chalamet), Best Original Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Casting, Best Costume Design, Best Film Editing, and Best Production Design.
Did I want to love this movie? Not really. Do I wish Timothée Chalamet would STFU? For sure. But damn, he absolutely killed it here. And again, the premise already had me. Immigrant Jewish midcentury Manhattan is kinda my thing. Plus, ping pong is my sport.
Watching it felt a little like looking at the fading edges of my own childhood. I was born in the seventies, so small remnants of that world were still around when I was growing up. The storefronts, the accents, the street life. It all felt cozily familiar.
Knishes are peak New York street food, so they were the obvious pairing. These come from Vegan With a Vengeance and include a little hack that makes knish making much easier. Potato, spinach, or sweet potato. Pick your filling.
The movie itself is packed with great settings, action, drama, and humor, and it’s visually stunning. Exactly the kind of movie that deserves a tray of hot knishes on the table.
Hamnet — Blackberry Lavender Scones
Nominated for Best Picture, Best Director (Chloé Zhao), Best Actress (Jessie Buckley), Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Casting, Best Costume Design, Best Original Score, and Best Production Design.
Hamnet is set in Elizabethan England and it’s a heartbreaking film about grief and family. Based on the novel by Maggie O’Farrell, it imagines the story behind Shakespeare’s wife and their lost son. Watching it feels like wandering through a museum, a garden, and a national park all at once. Somehow it manages to be quiet and epic at the same time.
But most importantly, Jessie Buckley is always foraging in a thicket somewhere.
So blackberry lavender scones felt right. English and floral and foraged. Something you can eat with tea while staring out a window and thinking about mortality. The lavender adds just the right amount of wistfulness.
Train Dreams — Biscuits & White Pepper Gravy
Nominated for Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, and Best Original Song.
Train Dreams takes place in the dirt-under-your-fingernails Pacific Northwest in the early 1900s. If all you know about Train Dreams is that there’s a pair of logging boots nailed to a tree, then you already understand why it has to be biscuits and gravy.
Campouts, railroads, wide open spaces. Hearty, no-nonsense, stick-to-your-ribs cooking. The kind of meal you’d eat before dawn with your hands still cold. I know it was a book first but it really feels like the whole thing was built around William H Macys face.
Bugonia — Bee’s Knees Vegan Honey
Nominated for Best Picture, Best Actress (Emma Stone), Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Original Score.
First off. JESSIE PLEMONS WAS ROBBED. OK, now that that is out of the way.
Bugonia. Basement-level conspiracy brain meets corporate America. Emma Stone juggling her job, her sanity. Her exoskeleton?
Yorgos Lanthimos is Yorgos Lanthimosing. You will laugh and squirm and be confused, touched and changed.
And also, it’s got bees.
Vegan honey is the obvious call. Make the honey, drizzle it on toast, or go a step further and make a hot honey sandwich. The recipe is in the honey post.
One Battle After Another — Roommate Nachos with Coconut Queso
13 nominations including Best Picture, Best Director (Paul Thomas Anderson), Best Actor (Leonardo DiCaprio), Best Supporting Actor (Benicio Del Toro), Best Supporting Actor (Sean Penn), Best Supporting Actress (Teyana Taylor), Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Original Score, Best Casting, Best Production Design, Best Film Editing, and Best Sound.
Well, I would watch anything by Paul Thomas Anderson. It doesn’t really matter. I’ll say this was not my favorite PTA film. That honor still goes to There Will Be Blood. And Leo is not exactly my favorite actor. But why focus on the negative?
The good stuff: Sean Penn’s terrifyingly real-to-life racist military villain, Benicio Del Toro’s goofy but still too-cool sensei running an underground railroad, Chase Infiniti totally robbed! and totally owning her film debut as the new generation and voice of reason, and of course Teyana Taylor’s revolutionary with a few personal problems. The humor. The car chase. The unforgettable ending.
Since it’s a chaotic screwball action comedy about revolutionaries and border politics, nachos felt right. Communal, messy, and (maybe?) the quintessential borderland Mexican American food. Serve with a few small beers, of course.
Weapons — Smoky Vegan Hot Dogs
Amy Madigan nominated for Best Supporting Actress.
Weapons isn’t up for Best Picture, but Amy Madigan is nominated for Best Supporting Actress and she deserves it. Oh Aunt Gladys, with your baby bangs and your Robert Smith lipstick, I would invite you in for a bowl of water any day. There were a lot of food options for Weapons (soup, anyone?) but the tragic 7-hot-dog scene takes the cake.
No Other Choice — Vegan Rice Paper Rolls with Red Curry Peanut Sauce
This film got snubbed for Best Picture but it’s one of my favorites, so I am including it. It’s a beautiful, meditative movie about, well, paper. Kind of. So we’re eating rice paper rolls. The connection is literally paper. They also make the perfect Oscar hors d’oeuvre, anyway.
