Green Entertaining

I stumbled across an interesting article by Danny Seo, author of several books including Simply Green Giving and Simply Green Parties, on Epicurious. Here are some tips I've taken away from the article, and how I plan to introduce them into Cafe Davis this year:
1) No disposable serving ware - this is something we've always done at Cafe Davis. Sure, doing the dishes sucks, but it's better than producing tons of waste.
2) Use aluminum foil - whenever possible, I'll go with the easily recycled alternative to plastic wrap.
3) Use reusable totes - I'm a bit of a "earth-friendly grocery bag" junky - I have bags in three chic grocery store varieties (ok, so maybe not chic). The problem is that I often forget to take them with me. NO MORE! I'll work on my memory issues by stashing them in my car. The logo on the bag doesn't always have to match the store I'm going in to, now does it? The same goes for the farmer's market - I don't need their plastic bags. The importance of disdaining plastic is more evident to me after I helped in the Black's Run Cleanup this year. Soooooo much of the trash I fished out of the creek were simple, everyday plastic bags.
4) Eat locally - Obviously this is my main goal. The crux of our veggies will come from our yard, from our shared garden at Tom and Sarah "Roberman"'s house in Dayton, or from the Harrisonburg Farmer's Market. That means that maybe the menu won't be as specific as it has been in years past, or that substitutions might be more common, but the surprise element just adds to the adventure!
5) Support sustainable agriculture - All beef served during Cafe Davis will be Weaver beef, and pork will be from Polyface Farms in Swoope (the farm of Joel Salatin, made famous by the book The Ominvore's Dilemma. It's a good read - I recommend checking it out!) Eggs and chicken will hopefully also come from Polyface, although I might have to augment my stock with other local offerings from the Dayton or Harrisonburg Farmer's Market. I'm in the Harrisonburg Polyface Buying Club, but pick up is only once a month and that might tax my planning skills a bit too much. A caveat: when I say "sustainable agriculture," that may or may not mean organic. Stuff from our house or the Roberman garden will be organic. Stuff from the Farmer's Markets may or may not be. In those instances, supporting local agriculture is more important to me than whether or not those farms use pesticides. This is a concept that Joel Salatin calls "beyond organic."
6) Offer vegetarian options - It's a fact that eating meat isn't the most ideal diet in terms of energy consumption and the food chain. Vegetables get their energy from the sun in a one step process. Animals have to eat the vegetables/grains and then convert that energy into their own energy - the process becomes more and more inefficient the larger the animal is. I know that little description isn't the most scientific in the world, but you get the idea. To increase the nutritional efficiency of Cafe Davis, then, one day a week will be designated as vegetarian day (probably a Friday or Saturday), and I will try to increase the vegetable offerings on other days as well.
7) Keep composting - According to the Clean Air Council, every day 43,000 tons of food are thrown out in the United States. To help reduce our waste-print, Cafe Davis will continue to compost left-overs!
8) Drink sustainably - That means we'll use filtered tap water for beverages, soda in cans (which are easily recyclable - it uses 95% less energy to recycle an aluminum can than to make one from scratch), local beer (growlers from Cally's, Starr Hill, and maybe a Coors Light every now and then), and Virginia wines. There might be times when we deviate from this plan, like when a Caipirinha is called for, but I can promise you this... I will walk to the ABC Store to get any necessary liquor. :)

Ok... I think those are enough ideas for now. I'm sure that as the planning goes on I'll be confronted with a number of tough choices, and I'll be sure to work out my justifications here on the blog. I won't promise perfection, but living sustainably is all about doing the best you can.