The Oscars–the high school prom for the Hollywood set. Will the Best Actress-nominated Natalie Portman and her baby bump  wear Rodarte? Will Best Supporting Actress-nominated Helena Bonham Carter wear something involving dangling spangles? Will she wear anything at all?

What’s really interesting at the Oscars, and what we only hear about days later through inappropriate over-shares leaked by loose-lipped, underpaid PAs, is what goes on behind the scenes.

A small, very ambitious Austrian man has ruled the back halls of the awards show with an iron skillet for 17 years: Wolfgang Johannes Puck. What’s on tap this year for the ridiculous, and possibly unethical display of excess and gluttony?

About 1,800 pounds of Dover sole (currently still swimming “in the English Channel or somewhere,” according to Puck) served with a confit of tomatoes and black olives, a vegan paella made with Portman in mind, 25 pounds of black truffles, 40 pounds of caviar, 400 pounds of shrimp and 1,200 bottles of Moët & Chandon champagne.

Oh, and chocolate Oscars. Just so everyone can go home with one. Trot over to The Feast for a video interview with Wolfgang and get a peek at the goodies the best and worst dressed will be supping on February 27.

Eminem, Arcade Fire and The Strokes and are among the headliners for the 2011 Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival, held June 9-12 in Manchester, Tennessee. Tickets go on sale Saturday February 19, and attendees can find plenty of information on directions, camping and more at Bonnaroo.com.

The Black Keys, Lil Wayne, Florence and the Machine, Mumford & Sons, Girl Talk, The Decemberists and dozens more will also play the tenth year of the festival.

For The Knux, Bonnaroo is quickly becoming one of the must-attend festivals. Here’s why.

Most people have a love-hate relationship with Bobby Flay. His recipes are always surprising, innovative takes on classics, plus they’re relatively simple to execute without being dumbed down, and the finished product is almost always delicious, bold and crowd-pleasing.

But then there’s Bobby himself.

He’s like the overlooked middle child of a divorced psychiatrist; brimming with attention-craving energy, he has the power to simultaneously attract and repel. And on “Throwdown with Bobby Flay,” his MO is to basically walk onto other people’s turf and tell them how much their life’s work sucks. He’s a person you kinda hate but kinda love while hating yourself for it.

Bobby recently flounced onto Jimmy Kimmel’s set to teach him a thing or two about a thing or two. As it turns out, though, Jimmy is quite the closet foodie, and taught Bobby a lesson–while getting in some nasty jabs about Bobby’s technique as well.

Check out the heart-breaker of a throwdown below, and witness Jimmy giving Bobby a taste of his own medicine with lectures on blanching tomatoes, the importance of using Japanese eggplants and the need to use traditional ingredients like Parmesan aged for 30 months–not Bobby’s crackerjack Romano.

Arcade Fire and Esperanza Spalding surprised at the 53rd annual Grammy Awards Sunday night with two major wins for independent music. Arcade Fire walked with Album of the Year, beating out Eminem, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry and Lady Antebellum.”What the hell?” asked lead singer Win Butler when accepting the award.

Esperanza Spalding scored another huge win as Best New Artist over Drake, Florence and the Machine, Mumford & Sons and Justin Bieber. The Portland-raised jazz bassist and singer has performed at the White House and became a professor at Berklee College of Music at age 20, the youngest in the school’s history.

Gil Goldstein, co-producer of Spalding’s album Chamber Music Society, told the Associated Press, “I’ve been kind of joking, saying it would be nice that if once in a while, the best new artist would be someone who reads and writes (music).”

Spaulding spoke with us about maintaining credibility in the music world, and why integrity is key in doing so.

The 53rd annual Grammy Awards air this Sunday at 8pm, and viewers can watch it on CBS or live online.

Indie favorites Arcade Fire, The Black Keys, Band of Horses, Broken Bells and Vampire Weekend are all competing for Best Alternative Album, while Drake, Kanye, Eminem, Ludacris and T.I. battle for the Best Rap Solo Performance. The Ramones will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award. Check out all nominees at Grammy.com.

We interviewed bassist and current nominee Esperanza Spalding, who told us about contributing to the many layers and years of jazz.

Phew! The economic foodie indicators have finally united, and they’re leading our country to Easy Street: Unemployment is down, 36,000 jobs were added to the market last month and Buffalo Wild Wings sold roughly six million chicken flappers on Super Bowl Sunday.

Or…not. Just as we were all preparing to gild our poop in gold, the Debbie Downers of Wall Street busted out with the latest: Forty-three million Americans (14 percent) of the country are on food stamps. And it’s only going to get worse and more unaffordable!

The ravages of climate change, the globalization of the meat and potato diet (China and India now want more beef, fewer rice and lentils) and political unrest in Egypt and elsewhere has led to sky-scraping food costs.

Check out this interview with President Obama on his secret weapon in tackling the issue. (Hint: It looks amazing in Alexander McQueen).

The Strokes’ new single “Under Cover of Darkness” is available free for the next 48 hours on their website. Fans can stream or download the song, which is available for purchase next Tuesday, February 15. Their full-length, Angles, is out March 22 via RCA and a day earlier in the UK via Rough Trade.

Rolling Stone calls the song a “return to form,” and BBC Radio 6 interviewed lead singer Julian Casablancas last summer about the songwriting process for his solo music as well as the new fourth full-length album.

It’s been over 10 years since the group formed in 1998. Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson is one of the lucky few who caught The Strokes when they were just another fledgling indie band.