Fandango Catering and Events is honored that we were featured in the April issue of 002 Houston magazine. This issue focuses on eco-friendly weddings in honor of Earth Day this month. See the digital version of the magazine here (we are on p. 47):
http://www.002mag.com/
3 Reasons Why Eco Event Food Doesn't Have to Mean Quinoa and Sprouts
We want to take this opportunity to dispel a myth many people have about sustainable food for a wedding or any event, small or large. Many believe that to have sustainable event food, the only options are things like quinoa, sprouts, and macrobiotic-ish type foods. This is not true! Here are 3 reasons why sustainable event food doesn't have to mean quinoa and sprouts.
Reason #1
Most event food can be made (more) eco-conscious, even for formal occasions like weddings and galas. How? Use local and preferably seasonal products, or organic if you can afford it. Choose sustainable fish or antibiotic-free chicken, widely available. And if you can't afford to do all the food that way, choose part of the food to be more sustainable, whether you do the cooking or you ask a food professional to do so. Everything helps.
So, for example, if you're serving a dish with vegetables, at least buy local. Then prepare the vegetables or have them prepared according to the regular recipe--and the recipe can also be made more sustainable by using fresh local herbs and organic or antibiotic-free dairy if that's what the recipe calls for. Same recipe--no matter how complex or what type of cuisine--but made more sustainable.
As our Chef de Cuisine Josh says: It's like cooking school: you learn the techniques and then apply them to any recipe, and you learn to use the local and the sustainable and source and use it for any recipe.
Here's what's important: most people who host an event of any size DON'T want quinoa and sprouts-type food reminiscent of 1970s macrobiotic cookbooks (if you enjoy quinoa and sprouts, fine).
Truth be told, most people don't, and they especially don't want anything like that for a party or an important event where the food will play a huge part in the event's success. And by using sustainable ingredients for regular recipes, you don't have to! Using a food professional for your event? Ask what sustainable options they have within your budget.
Reason #2
The quinoa and sprouts route just doesn't taste good. Better to use local/sustainable ingredients to make REGULAR, people-pleasing recipes, whether you cook or have someone do the cooking.
The proof is in the pudding (no pun intended). As profiled in 002 Houston magazine, at a recent wedding we served tilapia (a sustainable fish) with sauteed local vegetables and wild-caught shrimp, the sauce prepared with hormone-free dairy and spiked with pimentón (OK, the pimentón wasn't local, it was imported from Spain). The recipe, tweaked by the Exec Chef, is a Spanish preparation called "a la mallorquina" (Mallorcan style) and is very popular with our wedding clients. But see how this recipe, or any recipe, can be made more sustainable?
The couple and family were ecstatic and the groom himself (whose parents had come over from Belgium for the wedding) personally came to thank our Exec Chef for the food, plus several guests and even the minister came to thank us, all saying that the food was excellent but its freshness didn't make them feel overloaded as in many restaurants. One aunt said the food reminded her of dining in France, where one dines well but doesn't feel sick afterwards--well of course not! Because their ingredients are also fresh and local and free of artificial things.
Reason #3
You really can't make the quinoa and sprouts route adapt to a FESTIVE gathering, whether casual or informal. In general, these macro-type foods are limited in the ways they can be prepared. If you need convincing look at so-called green restaurant menus and then compare them to menus by food professionals of all types who source locally and sustainably.
Whether you do the cooking for your event or hire someone to do it, please look into real people-pleasing food for your event. As the French say, Voilà!
Kristina
Kristina Ríos de Lumbreras, Ph.D.
Fandango Catering and Events
(713) 522-0077
http://www.fandango-catering.com/
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