Fandango Catering Offers 4 Tips to Make Your Summer Event Greener

Today in our continuing blog series, "Summer Entertaining," today we offer 4 tips to help make your summer event greener.

Here we're thinking of more casual events--not weddings, for example, though we blog on making weddings more sustainable too.

If you're planning a more casual get-together this summer--4th of July, block party, informal gathering of friends or family, family reunion, beach house gathering, for example--there are several ways you can make your event more sustainable.  Read on.

Use biodegradable disposables--This is almost the easiest way to make your gathering more sustainable.  If you don't plan to use china and real flatware, buy biodegradable disposable plates and, hopefully, cutlery, and you can use them all summer for any gathering or even just for your meals! The ones we use most often are bagasse (sugar cane) or bamboo.  Bagasse is generally less expensive than bamboo.  You can find bagasse widely online in both round and cool square shapes and now many upscale supermarkets sell bagasse plates and even cutlery.  Colors are off white and tan for bagasse-ware--if you want more color at your event, use a colored tablecloth or colored drinking glasses or a colored centerpiece.

Don't use the oven--People are surprised when we say this but it's true--why cook something requiring the oven, which heats up the house and makes it necessary to make your cooling system work harder? Choose something that you can grill on the spot outside, grill a few days ahead, saute, braise, saute, or even no cooking, or bought.

Buy only produce in season--This will taste best and doesn't need a lot to dress it up.  One of our grandes lunches ever was a wonderful one a few years ago at Chef Jesús's family's beach home in Torrevieja, Spain, on the terrace, where we lunched on wonderful tomatoes and fresh mozzarella with fruity olive oil and home-grown chopped fresh herbs to start, pork cutlets in rosé sauce, sauteed, with potatoes also sauteed in pesto sauce, and homemade fresh fruit granitàs, made with fruit from the market that morning.  See? No baking! And fresh produce in season. Summertime!

Avoid late-night outdoor affairs that require a lot of artifical lighting--when the sun goes down, go indoors or if you want to keep partying, go to a club (which would be lit whether you are there or not, so you aren't adding to the carbon footprint there), whatever, and by doing so you will save on not having to use energy to light your event. Or use candles in hurricane lanterns--safe, and adds a magical glow, or use solar lanterns, which now come in cool shapes and some last up to six hours instead of four like the older versions. 

Warmly,

Kristina

Fandango Catering and Events
(713) 522-0077
www.fandango-catering.com