Catering - Food for thought

Cape-based foodies Nici Beaumont and Jennifer Franklin of Zest Catering have years of experience catering for winelands and city weddings, big and small, using the freshest produce to create contemporary and mouth watering flavours. Quality, they say, is their most important ingredient. (www.zestcatering.co.za)

 

Don't skimp on the canapés. This is a time when guests have to wait and socialise whilst the bridal couple is welcoming friends and family, and photos are being taken. With drinks starting to circulate it's important to serve delicious and interesting snacks, not only to awaken taste buds, but also to line empty stomachs.

Follow the trend of the "culinary theatre". With food channels becoming increasingly popular, use this opportunity not only to feed the guests, but to keep them entertained by allowing them to interact with the chefs and the food that is being prepared for them.

Use food stations to replace canapés and starters, mains or even desserts.
One example is to choose a selection of International food stations:

South Africa... serving bredie, bobotie or koeksisters and nougat
Spain... serving patatas bravas, paella or churros with chocolate
Italy... serving homemade ravioli, risotto or Italian ice cream
Japan... serving sushi, tempura or robata grills
China... serving spring rolls, dumplings or noodles in wok boxes
Thailand... serving green and red curries
India... serving curries with naan bread and a selection of chutneys and sambals
Belgium... serving moules et frites, steak tartar or waffles
France... serving coq au vin, baguettes, pâtés, cheese platters and crêpes
Britain... serving fish and chips in newspaper cones, or deep fried Mars Bars

Serve platters to the tables to break the ice. Serve starters or mains in platter format. This gives guests the chance to sample a selection of different dishes. Most importantly, though, the act of passing around food, and "breaking bread" together breaks the ice and is a perfect way of getting guests to interact and relax around each other.

Go for canapé desserts. Once guests have gone through the ceremony, the photos, the snacks, the starters, the main course and all the speeches they generally want to start mingling and dancing. Plated desserts often sit on tables untouched. Rather serve desserts in canapé format or station format. This way everyone gets to choose their selection of sweet endings.

Local is lekker. Use local ingredients and flavours that are unique to the area. Not only does this give overseas guests a taste of where they are, it also ensures that the ingredients sourced are local and seasonal.

For the budget conscious. Stay away from buffets. Buffets mean self service and therefore a lack of portion control. Stick to plated menus, or even substantial snack menus.