Fandango Catering Offers 5 Tips to Make Your Large Wedding or Event More Sustainable

Whew! After our recent events we are just finally catching up.  Today we want to share with you some tips for making large events (over 200 guests)--whether a wedding, corporate event, or other large event--more sustainable.

Large events in particular need to be made more sustainable because their use of the Earth's resources is much greater than that of small events. 

For Randy and Lucy, whose wedding had 350 guests and who are both nature lovers and active in causes, increasing their large wedding's sustainability was important to them.

Here are some of the ways we made this wedding more sustainable, and which you can also use to make your large event more sustainable.

• The menu emphasized more sustainable choices--The couple changed their menu from beef to chicken; beef uses many more of the Earth's resources than chicken or fish.  The produce was local, as was the chicken.  We choose all the produce by hand from the Restaurant Row farmer's market, and it was so large and lush!
• Only compostable disposable plates and cutlery were used--we used bagasse (sugarcane) plates and cutlery and 100% recycled paper napkins.  Because the wedding was more fun and casual than formal, this worked very well, and bagasse would also work well at large corporate events such as a large cocktail party.  Bagasse plates now come in round, square, and even triangle shapes.  And if you're in a hurry you can even buy them by the case at Whole Foods--done!
• The food tables were decorated with "natural" flowers from our organic community garden source--these included passionflowers, trumpet lilies, calendulas, baby's breath (and even some wonderful wild mushrooms), which we coupled with our mod metal dessert towers for a "romantic and mod" design as the couple wanted.  Since these flowers are grown anyway by our master gardener instead of being grown for sale and shipped from far away, their decoration of the food tables was a more sustainable choice
• The cascading fruit display decorating the dessert buffet was taken down in the last hour and put on decorative trays and the guests, especially the children, enthusiastically ate all the fresh fruit.  Often fruit from fruit displays is just thrown away after an event.
• The groom provided boxes for our bartenders to recycle wine and beer bottles and designated some friends to take charge of taking the recycling boxes to a recycling facility after the wedding. 
• Leftover food was donated to a shelter the next day--The couple's family took home some of the leftover food and the rest was donated so no food was wasted

We hope these tips will help you with ideas for making your large event more sustainable :)

Warmly,

Kristina

Fandango Catering and Events
www.fandango-catering.com

Fandango Catering and Events in 002 Houston Article on Sustainable Catering

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/

7 Tips for Choosing a Sustainable Wedding (or Any Event) Menu

As promised, here are tips for choosing a sustainable wedding (or any event) menu, whether you do the cooking or have someone do it.

What is a Sustainable Wedding or Event Menu?

Loosely defined, it's a menu that uses local and/or organic ingredients so that the Earth's resources are sustained more than depleted or contaminated. Local food can be, or not be, organic (grown without pesticides or other chemicals), and organic food can be, but often isn't, local, as it's often shipped from far away. This is changing as increasing areas of the country and the world grow organic and an increasing number of food businesses of every type are turning to sustainable food due to increasing numbers of people becoming more aware of the food they put in their bodies.

It's Too Much

The issue seems overwhelming, especially if you already have to plan an event. But it's better to do even ONE thing to make your wedding or event more sustainable than to do nothing at all as the Earth's resources have been tremendously depleted already. What can you do? Read on.

7 Ideas for Making Your Menu More Sustainable

Use or ask your caterer if you can use local/organic/seasonal/sustainable food. An increasing number of food professionals are willing to do so. It's up to consumers to begin demanding fresher, healthier, and better-tasting food.

Find out what's seasonal for your event date (see www.sustainabletable.org and www.about.com on local food for your area). Many areas with warm climates can grow produce all year-round.

Request antibiotic-free meat, chicken, or pork. Some meats are local and that's good too. Grass-fed is also great, lower in fat than corn-fed, and has immune-building and other health benefits.

If you serve fish, check out www.montereybayaquarium.org/cr/seafoodwatch.aspx for a list of sustainable fish (fish that hasn't been overfished or hasn't been contaminated, such as with mercury). We use mostly tilapia, mahi mahi, and wild-caught salmon. If you want to serve shellfish or other seafood, avoid farmed as their water is treated with antibiotics, and also avoid seafood imported from Asia as it is often treated with substances and is flown in from very far away.

Use or ask to use hormone-free or organic dairy, and check out any local cheesemakers as these often use hormone-free and/or organic operations.

If you serve coffee, tea, or chocolate desserts, you can use fair-trade, which ensures they weren't produced in terrible slave labor conditions in developing countries.

Price?

Organic produce is more expensive because it's more expensive to grow. Local produce can be cheaper because it's not shipped from far away (gasoline prices), so check out farmers' markets; but for lowest prices and excellent quality. the farmers' restaurant outlets in many cities that also sell to the public are your (or the caterer's) best bet. Organic, antibiotic-free, and grass-fed meats are more expensive; grass-fed is the less expensive of the three (but many grass-fed operations are organic too as the owners don't want to contaminate the livestock with anything). Organic and hormone-free dairy is more expensive than regular dairy. Fair-trade sugar and chocolate is not much more than regular (but fair-trade coffee is pricey).

As more people demand fresh and healthier food, more food businesses will turn to these foods and more local operations will be able to provide to caterers, hotels, restaurants, and other food businesses.

If you can only do one thing, buy or have catered with local produce as this can actually lower your event cost and encourages sustainable farming and local business. But do whatever your budget and time will allow. Your taste buds and the Planet will thank you.

Warmly,

Kristina

Kristina Ríos de Lumbreras, Ph.D.
Director of Sales and Operations/Event Manager
Fandango Catering and Events
(713) 522-0077
info@fandango-catering.com
www.fandango-catering.com

Fandango Catering and Events Offers 12 Eco-Friendly Wedding Tips

Many wedding couples hire us to help them create an eco-friendly wedding, and today we offer our top 12 tips for making your wedding more eco-friendly.

Eco-friendly weddings come in many styles and don't necessarily have to mean tons of raffia, terra cotta pots, or repurposed things, if that's not your style.

In fact, nearly any beautiful wedding design can be made more eco-friendly with just a few simple tweaks!

Here are 12. If you do even a few you will have already made your wedding more eco-friendly!

1) Have your caterer use local and, optimally, seasonal food. Organic food is often shipped from far away. Local and organic is even better if your budget allows it. For meat entrees, request no antibiotics and/or grass fed.

2) If you use disposable napkins (such as for hors d'oeuvres), use recycled paper napkins (Seventh Generation makes white ones appropriate for nice occasions like a wedding).

3) Use cloth napkins for the dinner.

4) If you use votives or candles, buy soy candles.

5) If you use flower centerpieces, donate them to a hospital or nursing home rather than throwing them away. Or use small vases, goblets, or silver cups to hold only a few amazing flowers each, or consider non-floral centerpieces, such as interesting table statues and flower petals on each table, which will cut down on the number of flowers needed and still look beautiful.

6) Have leftover food donated to a shelter.

7) Donate leftover table menus, invitations, and non-food favors to a low-income school for the kids to make crafts.

8) Have the bartenders pour soda from bottles rather than cans.

9) Recycle any recyclables, including wine and spirits bottles, large soda bottles, and unused paper napkins.

10) Consider electricity use: some of the most beautiful weddings use a dimmer turned about halfway down and votives, candles, or lanterns to lend a magical glow and ambience while cutting down on electricity use.

11) If you're having a destination wedding, you can ask guests to donate to offset carbon emissions sites, which use the money for good works, to compensate for the air travel of getting to the wedding destination.

12) Ask people attending the wedding or your event manager to take care of any donations and recycling so you know it will get done while you're busy with the wedding and/or honeymoon. We regularly prepare food for donation and often arrange for its pickup or deliver it to shelters ourselves, as well as taking care of the recycling from weddings.

Upcoming: How to make your wedding menu more sustainable.

Warmly,

Kristina

Kristina Ríos de Lumbreras, Ph.D.

Director of Sales and Operations/Event Manager

Fandango Catering and Events

(713) 522--0077

info@fandango-catering.com

www.fandango-catering.com