Reunion food

These are some ideas for feeding your reunions. Some reunions do their own cooking, others find many other sources for food, restaurants, caterers, delis, carry out. You need to decide how to best feed your group at the most affordable price. Some groups pool their resources and buy food together, others pay individually. These are all decisions that have to be made based on your individual needs. How did you do it? E-mail us.

How Many?! How Much!?
	How Many?! How Much!? A Step-by-Step guide to cooking for a large group is designed to help anyone who is cooking or planning events for large groups. Don’t expect a cookbook. It divides the process of feeding many hungry people into 13 easy-to-follow steps, making it useful to both the novice and veteran event organizer. How Many?! How Much!? shares ways to prepare meals for 25 to 1,000 that are creatively planned, well run, priced accurately, and served hot and delicious. It includes chapters about menu planning, recipe costing, calculating expenses, recruiting helpers, designing a program, planning seating, plating and presentation, and more.
Author Jennifer Cole’s light-hearted, easy to understand style comes from 15 years of experience running a catering business and cooking for large groups in restaurants, summer camps and churches. Jennifer says, “I love cooking, I love cooking for large groups, and I want to share ways that make this kind of cooking easier for everyone.” Available online at www.reunionsmag.com or call 1-800-373-7933.

Remember summer reunion food
Share your special reunion recipes now; while they're still fresh in your mind or recipes you look forward to at your next reunion. We're looking for a potpourri of favorites and why they are. Include an anecdote, vignette, story, even pictures to go with the recipe to ensure our serious consideration. Recipes and stories may constitute as articles in Reunions magazine and sometimes as reprints. Winners receive a year's subscription to Reunions magazine. Send to Reunions Magazine, Inc., PO Box 11727, Milwaukee WI 53211-0727; fax 414-263-6331; or e-mail us.

Recipe for a great family reunion
  Patience, persistence, planning and favorite dairy foods, according to Wisconsin’s Dairy Council. Like no other family celebration, a reunion is a special time to celebrate heritage and kinship. It's a time to take a break from the sometimes frantic pace of life to reconnect with your past while looking ahead to the future.
  Once you’ve managed to get everyone together, you must feed them. With over 500 mouths to feed, the Seidemans of Newburg, Wisconsin, offer a variety of mealtime options. Refreshment stands provide hot dogs, bratwurst, beer, candy, popcorn and ice cream. Some families bring their own picnic lunches. Others join together for an old-fashioned potluck meal. "Some of us make family favorites like potato salad or shrimp salad," says Phyllis Naumann. "It's tradition."
Vera Brooks of Richmond Township, Wisconsin, helps plan two family reunions each year. The Helling Family Reunion, in its 50th year, brings together relatives from her father's side. On the fourth Sunday of every July, the Klug Family (Brooks' mother's side) gets together. Each reunion includes from 30 to 50 people and a potluck meal is the norm. "You get a good variety of food with a potluck and because everyone makes just one dish, there's not a lot of expense involved, either," says Brooks. When deciding what to serve at your family reunion, the trick is to choose a menu with something for everyone. Think hearty, wholesome and home-cooked, not fussy and fancy.

Knapp/Napp family is nourished
  August 2001, 250 descendants of Conrad and Maria Napp gathered at the Beetown Hall in Grant County, Wisconsin. At high noon it was time for lunch. Lines formed and Sister Maria Hill offered grace. Thanks to the planning and coordination of cousin Beth McCullick, a resplendent German-American buffet was laid out by caterers from the Red Top Supper Club in Hazel Green, Wisconsin. On the menu were beef rouladen, broiled fish, bratwurst in sauerkraut, German potato salad, green beans and spaetzle, rye bread and rolls, plus hot dogs for the less adventurous appetites among the younger set. In addition to the catered meal, many family members contributed pot-lucked salads and desserts. Several large tubs set under shade trees offered self-serve beverages on ice.
  Following lunch the buffet tables were cleared to make way for desserts. A wide assortment of pot-lucked goodies surrounded the centerpiece, a beautiful three-tiered cake inscribed with “Happy 180th Anniversary, Conrad & Maria Napp.”
  Reunion hindsight offers some ideas for future gatherings: If you’re serving a buffet meal, call people into line in some sort of order. (Those who don’t have a prayer of getting food for 15 or 20 minutes might as well stay comfortably chatting somewhere rather than standing in line.) One good idea would be to say “Everyone over 60 and under 12, line up for lunch!” Naturally, mom or dad should go through the line to assist youngsters who need help choosing and carrying. In our case — if we’d thought of it in advance — we could have called the group to lunch according to generation, as this was noted on their nametags.
  Reported by Mary Thiele Fobian, Pacific Grove, California.
Food wisdom
“Food is probably the easiest way to preserve a sense of family and heritage,” says Diana Baird N'Diaye, program curator for the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage. “Most people love to prepare favorite dishes from childhood and share with others. Recipes are passed down, stories are told. Kids are usually involved in the easy parts of preparation, so they absorb it all.”
from the Washington Post

Food as décor
  No money for centerpieces? Use food! A bowl of fruit can be arranged in a pyramid or fill a large platter beautifully. The fruit can be used as between-meal snacks or dessert. Other centerpiece-worthy food arrangements include platters of cookies or a colorful trifle in a beautiful bowl. Fancy decorated cakes will intrigue those who look forward to digging into them.


Tailgate tips
  If your reunion activities include “a game,” take your picnic to the ballpark.

• Safe tailgating means keeping hot food hot and cold food cold.
• Pack food in airtight containers or bags that seal tight.
• Chill cooked foods in the refrigerator before packing them in the cooler.
• Pack highly perishable foods right next to ice in the cooler.
• Transport the cooler in your car’s interior, not in the hot trunk.
• Put cooler in the shade and keep the lid closed

Using restaurants
Planning your reunion in your city, where you have lots of favorite restaurants? Which one(s) to choose? How to choose? How about a dine-around? Take your reunion to more than one of your favorites. Introduce your guests around town.

• Consider your group’s demographics.
• Work only with restaurants that understand group business.
• Determine a budget, then find out if restaurants can work within those limits.
• Be sure each has appropriate staffing levels.
• Decide whether an open or cash bar will suit your needs. Consider limiting drinks to beer and wine if cost is a factor.
• Are restaurants able to accommodate food allergies or dietary restrictions?
• Hold a tasting; don’t rely on reviews or reputation.
• To enhance the experience, add music, décor, entry signage.
• Have servers welcome guests with pre-poured libations and hors d’oeuvres.
• Proofread all printed menus.
• If time is an issue, pre-set a schedule to expedite food service.
• Have someone travel about an hour in advance to ensure that the restaurant is on schedule and that tables are properly set.
  
  

Short-cuts for party planning

• Use only finger foods so no utensils are needed.
• Pick up baked goods.
• Decorate with bowls of fresh fruit such as colored grapes.
• Pick up prearranged flowers.

Picnic spot
The ideal picnic setting is an area with large shade trees, on-site parking and necessary permits for entertainment (alcohol, fireworks). This venue should have sufficient liability insurance, paved access for wheelchairs, clean water fountains in working order, electrical outlets and safe boundaries. Have a backup location in the event of inclement weather.

It really takes a lot of help
  When the Buet(t)schell family met in Texas, many family members from Texas took responsibility for making sure everyone was fed. Consider this list.
Marie and Tom Holsworth of Palacios took charge of the kitchen for morning drinks and snacks and all-day desserts. Sisters Diane Caddell of Kingsbury and Donna Culton of Mentz helped in the kitchen, as did their mother, Adeline Heintschel of Columbus. Many families contributed desserts.
  The wonderful food was prepared by the Brod family under the leadership of Karen and Bobbie Brod of Cat Spring. Other family members who helped included Ray and Hazel Brod Braden of Alleyton, Marvin and Frances Brod of Cat Spring, Cecil and Beverly Brod of El Campo, Bobby and Irene Brod Morgan of Katy, Kent Brod of Cat Spring, Charles Harbich of Mentz and John Buettschell of Sealy. They charged actual cost for food; labor was their contribution to the picnic.
  Their generosity helped meet most of our expenses from registration fees and donations. If we had hired a caterer, the meal would have cost at least twice as much.
Reported by Arliss Treybig, Buet(t)schell Family Reunion, El Campo, Texas.

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