The Caterer
Thursday 05 June 2014
Looking recently at the movie The Women, a 2008 remake of the acerbic and amusing 1939 movie, based on a play by Clare Boothe Luce on the lives, loves and dramas of a group of Manhattan wealthy socialite friends, all I could think was plus ca change.
One of the early scenes is set on the lawn of the magnificent country estate of an errant husband where the perfect wife has invited her stick-thin socialite friends to lunch. As they comment on the food, she stuns them by saying that, no, she didn't have a caterer, she had prepared it all herself.
Caterers, like hairdressers, manicurists, beauticians, interior designers and couturiers, are the people who really know what goes on behind the scenes. However, they have to be totally discreet for their reputations and careers are made on personal recommendations from satisfied clients.
Hosting any big party or other event is stressful and it is great to pass the responsibility over to someone who is experienced in catering for numbers – big or small.
Ali Davis has built a superb reputation in this field for wonderful fresh, creative and vibrant food. Ali has travelled the world and her foods come from the contemporary Irish world with Mediterranean and Asian influences. Be it casual or more formal, what she does is just beautiful. Now, apart from her private clients, she is the contracted wedding and corporate caterer at Kilruddery House and Gardens in Co Wicklow.
Ali, who is from Stillorgan, Co Dublin, didn't go straight into the food business.
"When I left school at St Andrew's, I contemplated going to Ballymaloe at 18 because I was always massively into food and had a passion for it. However, I got a place in Trinity and I thought I probably should go to university first and get a degree.
"After college, I kind of came full circle. I travelled a lot in Australia and Asia, including Vietnam. The street food over there is just so amazing – all that lovely Pho soup and the spring rolls. Looking back now, some of my menus are inspired by those days.
"I came home then and worked in event management during my 20s, which was great but again, the catering end of events is where I was drawn," Ali says.
By the time Ali was 28, she was working in Google, again in the events area. However, she was still looking for a further challenge. So, at the end of 2009, Ali enrolled in catering college in South Africa for a 12-month full-time intensive course at Silwood School of Cookery, a cordon bleu school in Capetown, South Africa. Interestingly, the school was set up in the 1964 by an Irish woman, Lesley Faull, Commanderie des Cordons Bleus de France, and her daughter, Alicia Wilkinson who also carries the same distinction, now runs the school.
"I'd been to Capetown once before and loved all the cuisine there. I also had some friends living in Capetown and they were very good to me, so I had a support network, as it were.
"Many of the cookery schools here have the food all laid out for you when you walk into class but, at Silwood, after class every day, we had to go supermarket shopping because they were big into costs. You had to bring everything in yourself, come in with your cost sheet, weigh out your flour and say how much everything cost. So it gave me a tremendous grasp on all of that element
"Food in South Africa is just amazing, the way they present their food, it's all very colourful and vibrant, quite healthy. There are a lot of Braais – BBQs – they are big into their meat, but there are also a lot of Asian influences and they eat a lot of fruits, salads, sweetcorn, it's a healthy way of living, not as starchy. For instance, if you order scrambled egg or smoked salmon there, you won't automatically get toast or bread, it will be with a little bit of rocket. The southern hemisphere lends itself to outside dining and beautiful wine farms. They live more outdoors."
Ali stayed on for six months after her course had finished, working in restaurants, and came back in 2011. Her next job was as a private chef to a family for six weeks in Provence.
"It was a full-on experience with three kids and a nanny. It was busy, busy, busy. They had friends in the area so they would also have play dates for children. The nanny did the breakfast for the kids and I would go to the market and then come back and do the lunch for 15 to 18 people.
"After that you cleared up and it would kick into play-day kiddies' food at 6pm and then mummy and daddy's food at 8pm including friends for dinner parties, so the days were quite packed. People think it's so glamorous but it's a hectic job. It was a great experience because you were cooking non-stop for six weeks. You learn so much," she says.
"After that I started the business here. I know we think we live in a fish bowl but all the friends of my parents and neighbours supported and recommended me. In fact, Irish people are great for supporting new businesses."
Ali says the first thing she did was set up a Facebook page because it's free and people want to see your images.
"I still find it quite a good tool. I then learned from a great friend how to build a website because obviously at the start you don't have much money and 2011 wasn't really the time to be approaching the bank. It did me grand for a couple of years and I got great feedback on it. It's really all about the pictures. I did a lovely food shoot with a friend and her mum in Sandymount in beautiful gardens.
"I have another friend, Des Moriarty, who is a photographer and he did me a favour as he was also setting out and used the photos for his website as he wanted to get more into food. So, I always advise people who come to me looking for advice when starting up, teach yourself as much as you can and do as much, pull in contacts, do contra deals with people. Try and look at what you have in front of you that you can utilise."
Ali has her own menus but she is not tied to them. "If you say, 'I really want a beef stroganoff', I will do it. I try to guide people with menus that I know work and will be popular but again, I will always do what the client wants.
"My food is very fresh, with Asian influences, I like it to be very vibrant and I am very into the presentation and the look because people eat with their eyes. I try to move away from the old fashioned chafer units, I am more about setting up a lovely buffet station with flowers and candles and beautiful platters. I make all my own stocks and I don't thicken things with flour. I use a lot of rice flour and tempura."
I ask about wedding trends.
"There is a noticeable shift in what brides want nowadays. Budget is an issue too. Couples pay mainly for their weddings now, it's not led by mammy and daddy, so they can say we want more of a fun party. They are also looking at having weddings in adventure centres, or even hostels or barns. The formalities of the plated starter, with mains of beef or salmon all served on a plate is moving away. People want simpler food, very good quality, but you don't need three vegetables on the plate, or six desserts. Half of our weddings this year at Kilruddery are luxury BBQs so we'll do beautiful lamb or rib-eye steaks and gorgeous salads. It lends itself to being more creative. Otherwise people go for plank menus (boards in the middle of the table with beautiful Mediterranean antipasti).
"It looks great and is more interactive because you get chatting to people which breaks the ice when you are sitting at a table with people you don't know."
Ali believes in loads of canapes when people arrive.
"I have been to so many weddings, standing around for hours starving so I send out lots of canapes like Vietnamese spring rolls, Japanese gyoza, arancini with a roasted pepper dip, more substantial than smaller canapes, which I think sets the tone for the meal to come.
Ali says private clients would be 70 per cent of the business and corporate 30 per cent as that market obviously went down in recent years.
"However, saying that, we are very busy this summer with corporate BBQs. I rent the kitchen at Wanderer's Rugby Club so they come there and do team-building and games for the afternoon followed by BBQ and DJ.
"I do a lot of catering for couples who both work full time but still want to have a dinner party on Saturday night. They know it's a half a day to go out and buy the food, to unload your car and get the food in, plus a half-day of prep if you have a good group over. Then by the time you cook and clean up, there is a lot of work and time involved. I come with everything prepped as far as possible off site. Then we serve and clean up."
www.alidavisfood.com