Farm to Table Wedding Catering

Wedding food trends come and go, but one thing remains true: everything about your wedding — including what you feed your guests — is an expression of you, the couple getting married! Recognizing this, some choose to serve dishes traditional to their heritage, or even made according to a family recipe. Others may offer custom-decorated cakes and cookies emblazoned with words and pictures that are meaningful to them. Another way many couples are expressing themselves through their wedding menus is farm to table catering, which honors environmental sustainability, health and great taste.

What does “farm to table” mean? At its most basic level, it means cuisine featuring minimally processed ingredients, preferably locally grown and therefore as fresh as possible. Some would say it also means organically grown — which makes sense, since the essence of the farm to table movement is reducing human interference in the process of growing and consuming nature’s bounty.

Fortunately for those interested in serving a farm to table menu at their wedding, caterers specializing in this service catering abound.  To make sure your caterer provides the kind of food you want to represent you on this most special day, there are several questions you can ask.

1. Where do your ingredients come from? Caterers will know who they buy their ingredients from, but, if they don’t know where they were grown or raised, it’s hard to be sure they are locally, ethically and sustainably produced. It’s also difficult to know how fresh they are, which leads to the next question.

2. How fresh is your food? Though there aren’t hard and fast rules regarding exactly how fresh farm to table food must be, if your caterer knows, that’s a sign of a good chef and one who has a relationship with their suppliers — which is part of the movement.

3. Which of your ingredients are certified organic? Your caterer should definitely know the answer to this question. If they don’t, that’s a bad sign. Not only does it mean their food is likely not farm to table, but it indicates they don’t care as much as they should about their craft, which doesn’t bode well for the quality of the food they will serve.

4. Can you provide us with some sample menus? Undoubtedly, your caterer will be able to do this. When you review the menus, note the extent to which they feature the underlying ingredients themselves, as opposed to relying on lots of sauces and other adornments. Farm to table food features the natural flavors of the produce and meats involved in its preparation — because they’re good!

If you're looking for farm-to-table catering in the greater Rochester, NY area, give Chef's Catering a call today. We'd be able to chat with you about catering a farm-to-table menu!