TREND REPORT FOOD CHOICES
With offerings such as this scallop delight, the chefs at the Amway Grand Plaza can be very creative with special-request menus.
PICK AND CHOOSE
Chefs and caterers constantly update their menus as special food requests and the number of cases and allergy types increases. B Y J E A N I N E M A T L O W
preference, local caterers and chefs are getting plenty of special requests for food. As corporate executive chef, Josef Huber at AHC + Hospitality in Grand Rapids, explains, “In the past 20 years, you might have one in a hundred people request a special meal. At this point, it’s anywhere from 10-15 percent.” While some requests are due to allergens, others are based on food preferences. “The food shows on TV really educated our guests. They’re savvier than they were 10-15 years ago,” he says. Some use the menu as a guideline before altering it, especially à la carte items. Others are allergic to The Big 8, such as shellfish and nuts. In Michigan, Huber says it’s a requirement to have at least one person in the kitchen that is allergen-trained. Whether someone chooses to be gluten-free or they’re allergic to gluten, he says, “They want to know what’s in there. For us in the
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kitchen, we need to be prepared to serve a celiac person. We need to take it very seriously.” Others may be health conscious or following a weight-loss diet. Huber says gluten-free remains their top request closely followed by shellfish or fish. Peanut allergies also continue to be a big request. Other food requests come from ethnic groups that may ask for halal meals or kosher meals. “We contract with a kosher kitchen in Grand Rapids. We also have quite a few Indian dinners and halal meals. We have to figure out how to make everyone happy,” says Huber. They are making more and more authentic meals for ethnic groups, such as one that wanted an Argentinian barbecue and Indian weddings that last for three days with up to 1,000 guests where they can partner with an Indian restaurant in town.
For a large group, they plate some vegan meals just in case. “We’re going to cover it all,” he says.
As You Like It In the last decade, Terra Brock, event manager for Zingerman’s Catering & Events in Ann Arbor, says they’ve seen the number of cases and allergy types increase tremendously, which has affected how they handle them. Ten years ago, she says it was almost seen as “their problem” and guests with allergies or dietary restrictions were left to bring their own food to events if they wanted to have assurance that the food they consumed was safe for them. “Not that we wouldn’t have done our best to facilitate allergy-related requests back then, but I don’t think clients were even asking the question of their guests because it was a rarity,” she says. “Now it is an expected part of the eventplanning process and we’re prepared for it and we know how to handle requests effectively and
A M WAY G R A N D P L A Z A P H O T O B Y L A U R E N P E A C O C K ; B E L L A E D O L C E C A K E S P H O T O B Y H E AT H E R P I E R C E
WHETHER A PERSON HAS ALLERGIES or it’s simply a matter of personal
