Food & Celebrations: Weddings!

‘Tis the season! Chances are, you’ve been invited to a wedding or two this summer. Food is an integral part of any celebration, but brides and grooms alike agonize over what to serve.

Around the world, weddings share common ground. No matter what religion or culture to which the bride and groom belong, the typical wedding is a joint celebration for the families that involves a wedding cake and traditional foods. Foods that feature prominently in weddings around the world may include:

• China: roast suckling pig, fish, pigeon, chicken, lobster and a type of bun stuffed with lotus seeds are commonly served. It is especially important to offer both lobster and chicken: the lobster represents the dragon and the chicken the phoenix, so including both on the menu is thought to harmonize the Yin and Yang of the newly joined families.
• Italy: there can be 14 courses to a wedding banquet in Italy. But don’t forget the candied almonds, meant to symbolize the sweet and bitter times the couple will go through!
• Indonesia: foods served depend on the region and religion, but could include spicy rice dishes like nasi goreng, dim sum, sushi or even Western recipes like Beef Wellington.
• Italy: food is a very important part of an Italian wedding. Bow tie-shaped twists of fried dough, sprinkled in sugar, represent good luck. A roast suckling pig or roast lamb is often the main dish, accompanied by pastas and fruits. The traditional Italian wedding cake is made from biscuits.
• Germany: a clear, brothy soup with vegetables and miniature meatballs is the German wedding soup.
• Korea: noodles are served, because they represent longevity.
• Norway: the traditional wedding cake is made from bread topped with cream, sugar, and syrup and is called a “kransekake.”
• France: the cake in France is actually a tower of carmelized cream puffs, called a “croquembouche.”
• Morocco: the traditional tagine stew is generally served, and guests are sent home with boxes of pastries.
• Britain: the honeymoon might originate from a time when the father of the bride gave the groom a moon’s (month’s) worth of mead (alcoholic beverage made from honey) before the bride and groom left after the ceremony. Americans save the top layer of the wedding cake for their first anniversary; the English save it for the first child’s christening.

You don’t need to agonize over the food if you’re planning a wedding. Even if you’re doing it yourself, there are fun ways to make a wedding both memorable and affordable! Try some of these ideas:

• Do brunch instead of dinner: Brunch has become popular lately because daytime weddings are cheaper than doing dinnertime or afternoon. They might include mimosas, Bloody Marys, an omelette station... daytime weddings like this are really trending lately.
• Think about alcohol. If your reception is for four hours, consider only having open bar for the first hour or two. Or consider serving one signature drink, perhaps you and your future spouse’s favorite. It would be fun for the guests to try it out, and it would save you money since it would require limited alcohol.
• Do it yourself. Having waiters serving guests is classic, but you could replace them with family members or friends (make it their wedding present to you!), or you could have a cooking party the day before your wedding where the cooks in your family get together to make their signature dishes. This idea could work great with either a buffet or family style service.
• Do “bars” or “stations.” Pasta can be a good budget stretcher. You could do a pasta bar, with several types (shapes) of cooked pasta, a small variety of sauces and add-on's (red sauce, white sauce, meat sauce, meatballs, sausage, grated cheese). If you are adventurous: a taco bar, baked potato bar, or chili bar are also easy, relatively inexpensive, and let people make food their own way.

No matter how you choose to do the wedding, if you live around Shortsville NY or Manchester NY, come in to Bliss Shurfine Food Mart for more ideas on how to create a great wedding feast that will be sure to please everyone! We can help with your wedding plans.

Why not ask us how today?