samedi 27 juin 2015

Considering Taco Catering? Seven Questions to Ask a Taco Caterer

Publié par Unknown
Good planning means asking as many questions upfront as is prudent. Better that you know limitations in advance - and perhaps negotiate a better package.
Event planners, be it for corporate or family events, have much to think about: Who is coming, what is the event about, how can it be memorable or motivate attendees to do something?
In recent years, at least one question has gotten bigger: Where can we hold the event? In the past, that often had to do with the availability of an on-site kitchen.All good!
But even with tacos served from a mobile kitchen - most mobile taco caterers have several, such that an event serving a large crowd might have stations set up around the periphery - there are questions that should be asked beyond menu and price. Here is a short list:
1. What kinds of healthy taco choices do you provide?
Tacos can be a complete meal, one that features a good mix of protein, carbs and fiber, with lots of quality nutrients within. Be sure to accommodate gluten-free guests.
2. What can you tell me about the freshness of your ingredients?
Some caterers may work from frozen ingredients and others from a fresh produce market. It's good to have some dialog about it.
3. What certifications does your company have?
Different towns and cities have different rules regarding taco caterers. Ask to make sure your caterers are in compliance with local laws and that they are licensed and insured.
4. Aside from the existing menu, can I add an ingredient or menu item?
What's awesome about tacos is their versatility. If you want calamari or turkey tacos, ask!
5. What are the rules of bar service?
Many taco catering firms provide an optional margarita bar or other beverage service. Some lack the proper licensing to do so.
6. Where can I see feedback from past customers of your product and service?
You can consult with Yelp! or other review services, although everyone knows there can be misrepresentation in online reviews. You might be able to phone an actual previous customer to see if they were satisfied with the service.
7. What happens on the event day, from start to finish?
Map out how it happens - how early the caterers arrive, along with the margarita bar, which requires its own setup - when service begins and ends, and what happens in terms of clean up.
Event planners, professionals as well as private party hosts, should be able to enjoy an event once it's underway. By asking all the important questions upfront, they have a much better chance of actually doing that.
But with food trucks, including mobile taco caterers, the realm of event sites has expanded. With today's healthier attitudes, many firms provide vegan and vegetarian taco catering.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Michael_Tosh

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Increasing Interest in Healthy and Specialty Food in the US

Publié par Unknown



Polls from recent food events in the US show that Americans have a passion for Italian food. Their curiosity about Italian products is constantly growing. After years of recession and crisis, their attention to quality food, traditional cuisine, and organic products is on the rise.
The watchword is "value", and Americans are quite conscious of the relationship between quality and price. The price difference between organic and non-organic food has been reduced considerably, and now it is around 15%. According to the Organic Trade Association, the sales of organic foods in the United States have long passed those in Europe. The US is now the world's largest consumer of natural and organic food.
As American interest in products from Italy grows, so does the number of "Italian fakes" on the market; products with Italian names whose labels state an Italian origin even though they come from other countries. This is especially in the dairy sector. Just think of the countless imitations and counterfeiting of Parmigiano Reggiano! For the first time, in 2014 the global production of fake parmesan and grana padano has overtaken that of the authentic Italian originals.
According to the organization of Italian farmers Coldiretti, last year the production of parmesan-like and grana-like cheeses exceeded 300 million kg, while in Italy cheese makers produced 295 million kg of genuine Parmigiano and Grana Padano.
Fortunately, American consumers are becoming increasingly aware. The growing trend is to explore beyond established mainstream products in order to identify those that represent not just a culinary delight, but also belong to local tradition, which tell a story, and represent a view into Italian life. Nearly a quarter of consumers of gourmet foods looks for specialties tried while on holidays - a particularly relevant factor considering the high number of American tourists travelling to Italy.
Supermarkets are a major provider of Italian foods in the USA, but the need of large retailers often does not allow small companies which produce excellent niche food products to reach consumers. More and more specialty shops and smaller chains serving a sophisticated and wealthy clientele play an increasing role in this context. But only online stores, with their capillarity and wide distribution, can guarantee everyone the opportunity to discover and taste the best products from Italy at affordable prices.
Starting from this scenario are springing up a variety of interesting projects online, bequeathed to the world of quality food. Ambitious projects bringing to the tables of Americans products that cannot be found anywhere else.
This is the scenario in which Sensibus.com appears, to allow lovers of Italian gastronomy to find the highest quality products, often hard to find even in traditional specialty food shops, and to make procuring them simple and affordable. This allows consumers to enjoy savings and high quality niche products, particularly hard to find even in Italy, such as Burrata di Andria, Pecorino di Filiano or precious cured tuna heart. Along with a wide array of selected Italian products, Sensibus.com offers some of the best European fresh and aged cheeses. For more details visit http://www.sensibus.com
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The Top 10 Mexican Dishes

Publié par Unknown
Every country has popular dishes among the residents and Mexico has some of the best. The Mexican gastronomy is one of the richest and most well known in the world; besides tacos, quesadillas, enchiladas and nachos, Mexico has many other popular dishes in which the locals never get tired of eating. Here is our list of the top 10 most popular dishes in Mexico:
1. Gorditas - Corn cakes made entirely by hand and cooked on a flat grill, then opened and stuffed with a variety of filling options, such as potato, beans, cheese, pork, beef, chicken.
2. Menudo - Soup made out of beef tripe and hoofs. The broth is very rich in spices and includes dried red peppers like ancho and guajillo chilies. Some people add whole corn to the soup and it's served with tortillas. Menudo is traditionally consumed on Sunday mornings.
3. Carnitas - Pulled pork cooked with the it's own lard in a big copper pot until the meat is tender and the skin is crispy;no part of the pig goes to waste. Carnitas are usually served in tortas (Mexican sandwiches) or tacos.
4. Pozole - Red soup made with pork, whole corn, dried peppers and spices. It is the most popular in the winter season and is served with tortillas or tostadas, fresh lime and slaw. A variation of this soup can be found as "pozole verde", made with chicken and tomatillos.
5. Tamales - Corn dough stuffed with pork cooked with spices & salsa, wrapped in corn husks, and steamed. In order to get the proper consistency, the raw corn dough is mixed with lard; pork lard is usually used but vegetable lard can be substituted. Other fillings can be cheese or chicken. Sweet tamales with sugar, cinnamon and fruit are also popular.
6. Mole - A traditional thick sauce made with a large variety of peppers, nuts & spices. Mole is usually served on top of chicken or pork and accompanied by rice, beans and a side of tortillas.
7. Coctel de Camarón (Shrimp Cocktail) - Cold tomato juice and spices with fresh shrimp, avocado, tomato, onion and cilantro. Other options include octopus, oysters, mussels or a combination, often called "campechana".
8. Barbacoa - There are a few variations of barbacoa. The most popular is made from lamb, slowly steamed for hours until moist and tender; the juices from the meat are collected and transformed into a very flavorful soup called consome. Birria is a similar dish with the difference being goat instead of lamb and usually served with a mild red sauce called adobo.
9. Ceviche - Just like other countries in Latin America, ceviche is very popular in Mexico. Ceviche is raw fish fillet chopped and marinated in lime juice; it is usually mixed with onions, cilantro & tomatoes, and served with or on top of tostadas or saltine crackers. Ceviches can also be made with shrimp and other shellfish.
10. Chiles Rellenos - Poblano peppers covered with an egg batter, deep fried and stuffed with a variety of filling options, most commonly cheese. Some cooks top them with a tomato salsa. Chiles rellenos are usually served with Mexican rice, beans and tortillas on the side. This is a very good vegetarian option when the filling is cheese.
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For Taco Catering, Which Drinks Are Best Paired With Tacos?

Publié par Unknown

Tequilas, margaritas and cerveza all go well with a Latin-themed meal. But the event planner that arranges your taco catering can make a party go one better by thoughtful drink pairings.
The taco is one of the most versatile foods on the restaurant-food truck scene today. Tacos travel well and are so versatile you can serve some for dinner and others for breakfast. there really is a broad choice on what libations are possible.
This might be because taco caterers have shaken up the foodie world with creativity. But much of it owes to principles of good food and great taste - sometimes a good Mexican beer makes sense, other times it's about the tequila. And you'd be hard pressed to find a taco meal when a margarita doesn't complete the evening.
Smart taco caterers provide educated choices. The drink is not the main dish, but it can make the main dish better. Culled from the experts, here are some thoughts on what pairs with which tacos at the best of events - regardless if it's an intimate gathering of just two people or a massive corporate event for thousands:
Tequila - The first consideration is that there are different kinds of tequilas. Anejo (aged in oak for at least a year) is made for red meat, hence a beef taco benefits most from it. Blanco (not barrel aged) is light enough for seafood, perhaps a fish taco made with citrus. Gold (which is a blend) matches well with sweet-spicy foods; a sweet vegetable (sweet potato, peas, shredded carrots, corn) mixed with chilis and chicken is worth a try. A reposado tequila (aged 2 to 12 months) will have a smokiness that nicely complements a barbecued ingredient.
Cerveza - If the broad variety of tequilas make your head spin, sit down. The advent of craft beers offer more choices than an accomplished brewmeister can ever master. Suffice it to say this much: a hoppy pilsner is best with complex flavors (mole, chilis and citrus are a good start). Lighter, woody and dry beers (e.g., Tecate) go with verdes and tomato-y fillings. A lighter but caramel cerveza (e.g., Negra Modelo) matches up well with carne asada and al pastor-style pork.
Margaritas - A website dedicated to young singles staying thin while enjoying a night out makes this point clear: it's about the quantities, so make sure your sparing consumption is packed with taste. A grapefruit margarita goes well with spicy salsas, such as those flavored with cayenne pepper, cumin, onions, shallots and lime juice. Perhaps a good party with a broad variety of taco flavorings should begin at the margarita bar, allowing you to base your meal off what they offer there.
What remains true for all occasions is that nothing says "fiesta time!" better than the easy-to-hold, delicious-to-eat taco. Event planners know it's the kind of food that keeps the party rolling.
There are also those who specialize in mobile taco catering operations that use taco carts rather than food trucks. But while a simple margarita bar might seem a natural for accompanying beverages.
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Brief Information on Indian Food

Publié par Unknown


Indian food or Indian cuisine includes a very wide range of foods. All these are native to India and have been discovered in India. There is a lot of diversity in India in terms of climate, soil types, occupations and these cuisines also vary because of such factor. The Indian food is also influenced by the herbs, spices, vegetables and fruits that are available based on the location of the place. This location influences the climatic changes as well. The growth and evolution of Indian food has not ended because India continues to interact with other societies even today. For example the North Indian food is influenced by the Mughal rule.
Many historical incidents like trade relations, foreign invasions and also colonialism have played a very huge role in introducing a certain type of food to India. For example, Potato was bought to India through the Portuguese people. These Portuguese people also bought breadfruit and chilies to India. Indian cuisine is responsible in spreading trade relations between India and Europe. The trade of spices between India and Europe strengthened the relations between both these parties. The spices that originated from India were traded all over around Europe and also Asia.
A normal Indian diet consists of vegetables, legumes, grains, fruits, honey, dairy products, meat, eggs and also fish. As time passed, various segments of the Indian population embraced vegetarian food because of Hinduism and Jainism. India cuisine has a lot of spices included in its food and these spices include cumin, cardamom, turmeric, coriander, ginger and also garlic. Garam masala is a very popular mix of spice and is very commonly used by the Indians.
It must be understood that India cuisine usually differs from the region in which you are living in. North Indian food is a lot different from South Indian food. One main difference is that North Indians prefer wheat or atta over rice and South Indians prefer rice over anything. The sweets also differ a lot. Lunch, breakfast and dinner are different and they differ on the basis of the region mostly. However the food that the Indian eat is not limited to their region. They can behave flexibly and eat any type of food. Indian cuisine has grown in popularity in recent years and there is no doubt that Indian food is appreciated all over the world because of its extraordinary taste and flavor easily.
To know more about Indian restaurants or Indian restaurant, please check our website.
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Fun and Weird Facts About Insects

Publié par Unknown
• Two billion people consume insects daily, living mostly in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
• It is rumoured that crickets can tell the outside temperature: Count the number of chirps they make in one minute, divide by 4, and then add the number 40 to reach it.
• There are about 1,900 known species of edible insects available.
• Insects are among the most diverse group of animals in the world, with over 1 million known species living. That amounts to over half of all known animals. As far as estimations go, there are 6 to 10 million species of insects on the planet, most of which have not been discovered yet.
• It is estimated that there are 10 quintillion insects - or 10,000,000,000,000,000,000 - alive on earth at any given time.
• The most popular species of edible insects are, in descending order, beetles, caterpillars, bees, wasps, ants, grasshoppers, locusts and crickets.
• The FDA already accepts as much as 60 insect fragments per 100 grams of chocolate, so you have probably been eating insects for longer than you think.
• Entomophagy is the practise of eating insects. Entomon derives from Greek and means "insect(ed)", literally " cut in two", referring to an insect's segmented body. Phagein means "to eat", hence, "insect eating".
• The Jumbo supermarket chain in the Netherlands has already started selling ready meals containing insects, in 800 of it's supermarkets.
• Crickets are considered to be a sign of good luck in many cultures including Japanese and Chinese.
• Unlike most other animal species, insects have an exoskeleton, which protects them from the environment.
• They are cold- blooded, they reproduce rapidly and live in big populations.
• They metamorphose and can adapt to the seasonal changes around them.
• Many insects do not require their parents to look after them.
• Locusts are able to eat their weight in food in only one day. People eat their body weight in 6 months.
• Honeybees actually have hair on the eyes.
• Female crickets can't chirp, only male crickets can chirp.
• 8 out of 10 animals living on our planet are insects.
• A snail is able to sleep for years consecutive years without waking up.
• Some worms in Australia are more than 1 m 20 cm long.
• The total weight or all termites living on our planet is 10 times more than the weight of all humans put together
• The heaviest insect on the planet weighs an astonishing 70g.
Find out more about edible insects, why they are a healthy and sustainable protein source, go to http://www.croprotein.com
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