The Green Wedding Series: Food
Eco-minded wedding food
One of the big challenges in having a more eco friendly wedding is the catering. It’s your job to keep your guests fed and watered all day so keeping those carbon emissions and overall waste down can be tricky. The great news is that more and more caterers are choosing sustainable practices. It makes sense for them as a business to minimise waste as much as possible and also helps the planet, so the key piece of advice when it comes to food - pick a caterer that cares about the planet as much as you do.
The Menu
Ok, let’s be frank. The easiest way to have a wedding meal that’s kinder to the environment is to go vegan, or at least vegetarian. The processes of producing meat and dairy use way more land and natural resources and result in more emissions then a plant based diet, similarly fishing creates a lot of chemical waste and plastic in the oceans. If you’re happy to take meat off the menu for the day that’s the single biggest thing you can do from a catering perspective.
Ben Moore
And here comes the but…but we know that’s not for everyone and can feel very restrictive, so if you’re reluctant to go meat free then the next best thing to do is keep your menu seasonal. The great thing about this is that it will not only taste better because its fresher but it will also be cheaper. The UK has a great seasonality of food - from lamb in Spring, game in Winter to strawberries in Summer and pumpkins in Autumn - there is so much to choose from, staying seasonal is an easy win.
As well as seasonality it’s important to think about sourcing. You’ll most likely find that your caterer really cares where their ingredients come from and can provide you with a transparent supply chain so you can feel reassured of the provenance.
Julie Crump from Caviar and Chips suggests “Try to find out how and why they choose the suppliers they work with. If it's based on convenience and price, then that may not be a great approach, but if they're looking for things such as aligned values, quality of product and ethical sourcing then you know that a lot more care is going into what you are paying for. Are they sourcing sustainable fish from British shores for example? Is their beef British and are their chickens free-range and farm assured? The food manufacturing industry has a lot of measures and guidelines in place to ensure we can sustain and produce food in an ethical and balanced way, but sadly there can often be short-cuts in how this is done. If your caterer can describe the journey of your ingredients to your plate then you know that they're investing their resources in their supply chain and care about where your food comes from.”
Also, just a tip from a hungry supplier who’s on their feet all day - please feed us. Keep your suppliers happy and make sure they get a meal. Caterers will approach this differently but if suppliers can have the same or a variation of what is being served to your guests, it means they aren’t bringing in extra meals which can create additional waste and cost.
The Presentation
Seth Carnill
BrancoPrata
Sometimes the devil is in the detail, and with so many catering elements to the day its important to be mindful of where you can make some easy changes for a more eco-friendly experience. Be it canapes, the wedding breakfast or evening food, it all has to be presented somehow so ask your caterer what this looks like and how they minimise waste. For example doing away with plastic skewers and using wooden forks instead. If you’re going for family style dining what sort of boards, bowls or plates are used? If your evening food is a casual buffet or street food make sure its served and eaten in biodegradable containers, and most importantly stay away from plastic as much as possible.
You’d be surprised what you can change with just a few little touches, such as swapping teabags for loose leaf tea. A lot of tea bags contain micro plastics and so don't decompose whereas loose leaf tea makes a great addition to compost.
Make sure your caterer knows you really want to consider the impact on the environment your day might have and ask them to respond to that accordingly. Communicate properly to your guests as well. There is no point in going to the trouble of using biodegradable or recyclable utensils only for them to be thrown in the wrong bin.
The Waste
An eco-friendly caterer will be looking to minimise their own waste as much as possible. This means using bones and vegetable cuttings to make stocks and sauces and cooking from scratch with raw ingredients rather than buying pre-made items in packets.
It’s important to ask your caterer what happens to the waste after your wedding day. Will they take it away? And if so, what will they do with it? Ideally you’re looking for a company that will compost the food waste, separate out recycling and have as little rubbish to throw away as possible, if it’s possible to do all these on site at the venue that’s even better.
The transport
If you want to do a real deep dive on your caterer it’s worth asking about logistics. Are they sensible about deliveries and minimising unnecessary trips to the venue? How do their staff get to and from the venue? A lot of wedding venues aren’t immediately near public transport so do they car share? put on a mini bus? or does every staff member drive in separately? It’s important to consider not just the food miles but supplier miles too.
Catering is an industry in itself so there is only so much control you can have, but any eco-minded caterer will be happy to share their working practices and collaborate with you to create a day that has a catering conscience at its heart. Now head on over to the drinks chapter to find out more about eco-friendly booze (who knew?!)
