Decadent Dark Chocolate and Salted Sweets
The dessert trends for 2013 indicate that our sweet teeth crave new flavours: dark chocolate and salted desserts are on the rise. If you’re planning a catered function with dessert on the menu, you might want to think about shifting away from traditional options and embracing the sweet/savoury flavour trend. Talk to your caterer about the best way to bookend dinner with the rich, earthy flavours of a good dark chocolate. For a large function you could try a simple dark chocolate ganache or fondue with fresh strawberries and other sliced fruit, or rich rum and dark chocolate truffles with a tall glass of red wine. If you’re catering for a small crowd, you could opt for a classic layered dark chocolate cake with raspberry-laced cream.
Salted caramel is another great crowd pleaser. Try salted caramel fudge or even salted caramel ice cream. You can play with textures flavours: combine the trends with a salted caramel and dark chocolate tart. You caterer will be able to suggest other ways to infuse your dessert menu with the flavours of 2013.
Edible Weeds
Another emerging trend, perhaps on the back of a new era of sustainability and self-sufficiency, is the art of foraging for food, bringing edible flowers and weeds onto our plates. If you’re catering for an adventurous crowd, this is a fun way to test your palates with unfamiliar flavours. Dandelions, which you may well find in your own back garden, are perfect to add a pop of colour to any green salad, as well as being high in minerals, vitamins, and antioxidants. Fierce, stinging nettles are edible once dried or boiled, and make for a perfect spinach substitute. Succulent Purslane has a crisp, tart flavour that works well in tomato-based dishes or as a base for dips. Ask your caterer about whether or not they can source these plants for you: you could even identify them and pick them yourself!
Edible flowers are a colourful way to make any salad or dessert more exciting. There are a huge number of common edible flowers that you could ask your caterer about: chrysanthemum, citrus blossoms, clover, daises, pansies, lilac, pumpkin flowers, even roses!
Raw Foods
In the wake of the trend of health-consciousness and clean eating, we’re seeing the popularity of raw diets on the rise. Rawism is the consumption of foods in their natural state: raw food is, as the name suggests, uncooked and unprocessed. Comprising a menu of only raw foods might only please a select crowd, but if you’re catering for a health conscious bunch, it might just be the perfect thing to impress!
The staples of a raw food diet consist of:
- Seaweed
- Sprouts and sprouted seeds
- Whole grains
- Beans
- Dried fruits
- Nuts
Ask your caterer about ways to incorporate raw foods into your catering menu. You don’t need to be extreme about your menu choices: experiment with infusion rather than taking over the menu entirely.
South America and Asia
South American and Asian foods are as popular as ever! This food trend is perfect for a diverse crowd: you can include old favourites on your menu to please any hungry guest.
Include popular Asian cuisine such as hot curries, sizzling stir fries, satays, dumplings, and laksas on your menu. Asian cuisine is diverse enough that you can rework your menu to any dining style: cocktail reception, a buffet, or a sit-down meal with several courses. You could contain your Asian flavours within a certain region such as India or Japan, or diversify your courses to become a multi-cultural affair. Talk to your caterer about the best way to make your menu exciting, but flowing.
Hot, spicy South American flavours are perfect for the colder months. Warm up your guests with the flavours of Peru, Chile, and Brazil. Serve Argentinian empanadas, or play with Mexican flavours with a construct-your-own taco bar.
Casual Dining
We’re going back to basics with our love for casual dining. This style of dining, including picnics and buffet spreads, is perfect for both intimate family functions and larger affairs such as weddings. Casual dining includes old children’s favourites reworked for adults and street-style food. Keep your catered function simple with a selection of home-made pizzas on fresh bases: give it an adult twist with flavours like rocket, brie, caramelised onion, wild mushrooms, or haloumi.
You could give your function that street-food feel by setting up a series of stations where your guests can help themselves to food; or serve your guests at a sit-down meal with picnic baskets packed with fresh bread, fruits, and cold cuts. You caterer will be able to help you think of simple ways to recapture the simple times in life.
Pure Catering was the first significant eco-caterer in South East Queensland to adopt these practices. Check out our website for more information of eco-friendly Brisbane food delivery for your function. Office Delivery Brisbane
Pure Catering is an Australian company based on the Sunshine Coast of Queensland, Australia. With combined 35 years in the hospitality industry, in most environments, we are market leader in performance and professionalism. Weddings in Brisbane
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