LOVE fresh summer foods... especially at weddings!

If you've been in or around Pennsylvania, New Jersey or almost any part the northeast, you might have noticed a smell recently...or rather...an aroma. Thats right, it's strawberry season, one of my favorite times of the year. A recent visit to a local farm market had me drooling over some of these red beauties and gave me an idea about what to write about this week.

The importance of buying food local. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you've seen the commercials recently and you buy your vegetables from farm markets during the summer, but what the heck does it have to do with weddings. Simple, have the food served at your wedding be local too! Not only does it support local businesses, but your food will taste that much better. Go ahead, get a tomato from a local farmer and then take it to your supermarket who shipped theirs from states (if not countries) away and just look at the difference, and then cut one open and taste the difference! Wouldn't you love to go to a wedding and notice how fresh and delicious the food was? and then realize it was your own wedding?
One of my favorite websites for find everything local in the Philadelphia area is LocalFoodPhilly. They even provide a list of caterers that use local food. BuyLocalPA features a map to help you find restaurants, caterers, bakeries, wineries and all things local. And for those of you that are outside of the PA/NJ area, you can always head over to Local Harvest which helps to find these things all around the country, or you can always just try a search engine to search for locally grown services in your area.

One last thing about using locally grown foods at your wedding - You have to use what's in season. Sorry! I know you might dream of having a december wedding with beautiful chocolate-dipped strawberries with the cake, but you know in the back of your mind that strawberries don't grow in December (at least not around here they don't). So before you get your heart set on having asparagus served at your august wedding, check with your local farm market first. Go ahead and ask them when they get what foods and such, most of them are more than happy to help. Another great resource is epicurious, who feature the coolest Peak-Season Map I've found online yet. Just click on the month you're having your wedding, and the state you're having it in and voila! you know what's in season!

Hope this has been a help and that you're enjoying the start of the summer-food season as much as I am!