Newsletter 8 2005, September

Convention Food: the FAZ loves Frankfurter Pea Soup!

Fruit, vegetables and vegetarian dishes are enjoying increasing popularity at German congresses.

’You are what you eat’ wrote German philosopher, Ludwig Feuerbach. Nutritional scientists are fully in agreement with his sentiments. Our general health is inextricably linked with our personal nutrition. More and more people are focussing attention these days on what and how they eat and drink. This trend is also increasingly evident in congress catering - lighter, more easily digestible and healthier meals. But congress catering is by no means the same everywhere one meets. Meals at the Berlin Estrel congress and hotel complex are prepared differently to meals served at the m:con Congress Center Rosengarten in Mannheim. And there are also many variations on the theme ‘light cuisine’. Light cuisine is reckoned to spurn delegates’ concentration and help prolong attention spans.

‘Plenty of fruit, lots of vegetables and vegetarian have become quite popular in recent times’ explains Sven Malmstroem, Managing Director of United Catering Services in Berlin. He was preparing a special delicacy for 300 guests at the third anniversary celebrations of the Frankfurter Allgemeinen Sonntagszeitung - Frankfurt Pea Soup. ‘A desire for healthy and nutritious congress catering is evident. While organisers were once happy for meals to taste well, they are now concerned that their guests are served delicacies which facilitate a clear conscience’.

Europe’s largest convention, entertainment and hotel complex - the Estrel in Berlin – shares Malmstroem’s sentiments. Kitchen Director Peter Griebel: ‘Light cuisine is part and parcel of congresses at the Estrel. Flying Buffets and Finger Food with fresh fruit and vegetables are very popular with conference delegates. And it doesn’t really matter where the fruit and vegetables come from any more. Local products are just as popular as exotic.’ Sven Malmstreom adds ‘Very few congresses avoid light food. This is quite rare these days in Berlin. Substantial, heavier food is more characteristic of rural areas.’

At the Fuchs Petrolub (the world’s largest manufacturer of lubrication materials) General Assembly in the m:con Congress Center Rosengarten Mannheim the Palatine speciality and former Chancellor Helmut Kohl’s favourite - pig’s stomach - was served to great acclaim. This was also the case with shareholders of chemicals giant, BASF – they also like it heavy and traditional: Frankfurter sausages and potato salad.

Financial service provider MLP served its General Assembly guests roast pepper casserole with onion and bacon sauce. Sven Meyer, Economic Director of the Dorint Sofitel congress hotel am Rosengarten Mannheim states: ‘In the Rhein-Neckar region between the Odenwald and the southern Wine Road we definitely prefer traditional specialities: Palatinate wines, fresh asparagus and pig’s stomach top the list of current favourites – but only at General Assemblies, let it be said!’

One thing goes without saying these days, irrespective of whether substantial or light cuisine is on the congress menu:  ‘People eat with their eyes’, swears Sven Malmstroem. ‘Every type of catering should generate appetite at first sight. Simplicity for its own sake is simply not enough. Every meal should be decorated and garnished with love. The person who eats it should realise that lots of work has gone into its preparation. Then it tastes twice as good!’

And that’s where the question of how food is served comes in. Looks are not good enough. Finger Food is in, canapés are out – forms have changed and continue to change over time. For example: salmon is no longer served on trays – it is served in Champagne glasses! Traditional buffets outside conference rooms have been replaced by Flying Buffets – where meals are served on small trays by waitresses and eaten at cocktail tables.

How food looks also takes pride of place in Wachtberg-Niederbachem near Bonn. Nicole Volksheimer from the catering company Lohmer & Deimel states: ‚Many of our clients request buffets in corporate colours or meals where company logos are incorporated’. Another favourite is Front Cooking - preparing meals in full public view. And Front Cooking is not only enjoying increasing popularity at gala dinners but also at congresses themselves.

Recipe for Frankfurt Pea Soup:

Ingredients:

700 grams of deep frozen peas
2 shalots (onions)
1/4 litre beef fond
1/2 litre milk
Salt
100 grams cooked ham
4 Frankfurter sausages
1 bundle parsley

Preparation:

Purée peas and shallots (onions) with hot beef fond in a blender and pour into a pot. Add milk gently and stir, add salt and bring to the boil. Cut the ham into fine strips and slice the sausages, then add to pot. Stir and serve. Bon Appétit!