Gone are the days when the options for your wedding breakfast were ‘the chicken, or the salmon’. Nowadays there are lots of exciting new and fun ways to tantalise your tastebuds, and think outside the box when it comes to the food (and drink) at your wedding. If the traditional sit-down banquet style meal isn’t your thing, and you’re looking for something a little more relaxed, or with more of a wow, here’s a round-up of some of my favourite foodie trends right now. Don’t read this hungry!
GRAZING TABLES
When searching for the hottest new things in the world of weddings, it often pays to look down under. Australia is at the cutting edge of wedding fashion and, it turns out, food. Grazing tables are an Australasian trend that have started making waves in the UK, and I couldn’t be happier! A grazing table is the perfect option for a laid-back, luxury celebration. Groaning with cheeses, cold meats, olives, breads, fresh fruit and other delicious morsels, the sheer abundance of a grazing platter or long table encourages your guests to pick, and to keep coming back for more - it’s a real conversation piece.
I love Grape and Fig’s take on the grazing table. This Essex-based team are at the forefront of bringing this trend to UK shores, and their sculptural, colourful blend of sweet and savoury is ticking all the boxes for me!
DIY FOOD STATIONS
Taking plate-loading one step further, the US trend for interactive, do-it-yourself bars and food stations allows you and your guests to get really creative and put your own stamp on your food.
The range of options here is just huge - from classic favourites (think sourdough pizza stations loaded with all sorts of toppings; or juicy burgers to personalise with the trimmings of your choice...mine’s a bacon, cheese and avocado!), to more out-of-the box ideas. Freshly shucked oysters with a range of sweet and sharp dressings; or toast-’em-yourself s’mores, anyone?
And don’t let your drinks get left out. Whether a ‘pimp your Prosecco’ bar dotted with syrups, fresh fruit and flowers in summer, to a cosy and comforting hot chocolate station in the winter months, adding a DIY element to your edible offerings guarantees your guests will come away with something bespoke and delicious.
STREET FOOD
Bringing mobile food trucks and street-food-style catering to your wedding is a trend that is going nowhere, and it’s no longer just the province of festival-style events. Traditional-but-trendy street food favourites are popping up more regularly at luxury indoor venues, and I love the added theatre that watching your food be flipped, grilled, fried or toasted brings to the dining experience.
According to Curran Dye from the mobile catering mecca that is Feast It - a versatile and easy-to-use directory of independent food trucks, mobile bars and event caterers - we’ll be seeing more vegetarian and vegan cuisine in the street food world this year. Street food as an eating movement is becoming more mainstream, he said, and traders are starting to reinvent the classic dishes to keep things fresh and interesting.
Take, for example, The Yorkshire Burrito - all the trimmings of a Sunday roast wrapped in a Yorkshire pudding for a guilty-pleasure style treat that celebrates the best of traditional British fare. Or how about Truffle - creating a menu based around that most lavish and indulgent of ingredients? Their beef shin nuggets with truffle mayonnaise is a total crowd pleaser, and is definitely going on my must-eat list.
MOLECULAR GASTRONOMY
At the other end of the scale from the gutsy, gooey, eat-it-with-your-hands pleasure of street food style catering, you’ve got the refined and theatrical world of molecular gastronomy. Made famous by chefs like Heston Blumenthal, you can now get a little scientific foodie wizardry added to your wedding day. Caterers like The Gastronomy Guys promise molecular magic and real food theatre, with flavoured bubbles, nitro ice-cream, smoking meringues and dry-ice cocktails, to name a few. If you’re looking for a high-end wow for your guests, and fancy food experiences that surprise and delight, then this might be the option for you.
Bon appetit!
IMAGE CREDITS
Via Grape and Fig
Via Feast.It
Via Feast.It
Via Truffle