The latest piece in our Unpopular Opinion series looks at our changing attitudes towards food and whether caterers or organisers should be driving the continued evolution.
I’m not sure if the term ‘conscious catering’ has been coined yet, but I’m using it to refer to any type of catering that involves a level of consideration for more than just ones’ taste buds.
Whether it be towards individual health and wellbeing, that of other living creatures, or the health and wellbeing of the environment, it’s clear that people’s priorities are shifting towards compassion.
Veganism is the most prominent version of conscious eating, but it is by no means the only one. Low waste menus, nose to tail concepts, smoothie stations, bans on single-use plastic, or simply just healthier lunch menus at the company conference. People are increasingly interested in the wider impact of their eating habits and as caterers we have an important role; not just to satisfy these new priorities with menus and packages, but to push the envelope and encourage event planners to adopt these values as much as possible.
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Mark Maher is Director of Boulevard Events, a multi-award winning family catering company.
I come from a family of food and catering entrepreneurs and I spent most of my youth hanging around the kitchen in our family restaurant ‘Boulevard.’ I was always intrigued by food and the way it’s prepared to enhance different flavours and then presented immaculately. After school, I worked full-time as a Chef for Boulevard Catering before attending University to study another passion of mine in Sports Science.
It was there that I found I had a passion for health and human performance. I’ve spent a decade trying to improve my own health and wellbeing, dedicating most of my spare time to learning what I can about nutrition, exercise and sleep. I’m a strong advocate for health and I try to help others, wherever possible, to take better care of themselves. When I’m not doing that, I’m running our family events catering company with my brothers and sister.
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If you have an unpopular opinion that you would like to be published, get in touch with me at molly@eventindustrynews.com
Author: Molly Hookings
Molly joined the editorial team in March 2019. She has several years’ experience working in broadcast and journalism, as well as marketing and PR. Past experience includes working for the BBC and independent publishing houses. If you have a story you think Molly might be interested in, please email: molly@eventindustrynews.com
