Oscar potluck 3: Django Unchained, Silver Linings Playbook, Zero Dark 30

By Janet Simons

We’ve come to the final chapter of our three-part guide to potluck food related to the nine movies that have been nominated for the Academy Award for best picture:

So here’s a final tip of the hat to Regal Cinemas, which provided the trailers for Django Unchained, Silver Linings Playbook, Silver Linings Playbook and Zero Dark Thirty.

Be sure to tell the guest charged with bringing adult beverages that Leonardo DiCaprio, who plays the heavy in Django Unchained, concocts and consumes a rum-laced  “Polynesian Pearl Diver” in the film. If that sounds like an historic inaccuracy, forget about it. People have been diving for pearls for thousands of years, and the term “Polynesia” has been in use since 1756.

Now that you know that the film’s continuity director did his job, you might as well enjoy this fruit-imbued cocktail. Here’s a link to the recipe, courtesy of the Beany Malone Blogspotand Deep South Magazine, which brought it to our attention. You should be able to find all the ingredients — which include honey, pineapple, orange juice and  lime as well as rum — at any supermarket that sells liquor.

You also can do all the shopping for snacks related to Silver Linings Playbook at your local supermarket. The hero of the film, Pat Solatano, who’s played by Bradley Cooper, comes out of a shell of obesity and mental illness to take a newly upbeat, optimistic and (perhaps) manic view of the world outside the mental hospital. If you relate to Pat, perhaps you should stay away from the Polynesian Pearl Divers and focus on the vegetable crudites.

That also would be appropriate advice for anyone who’s bringing snacks related to Zero Dark 30, the film based on the successful Navy Seal operation to take out Osama Bin Laden. After all, you’ve got to be fit to be a Navy Seal, which is why our LiveStrong site features a link to the Navy Seal diet. 

About Janet

I'm an old-fashioned journalist and refugee of the Denver newspaper wars. I love shopping more than anything, and I'd go nuts without regular doses of "retail therapy."