Catering revision

Catering revision

Planning a menu

A good menu will have a variety of options to suit all. It should also include alternatives for people with special dietary requirements.

Planning a menu:

Nutritionally balanced:

Menus should be balanced in nutrients. They should at least some of these: Proteins, minerals, vegetables, fruit, carbohydrates, iron and possibly a small quantity of fat.
Menus will need to be able to suit people with special dietary requirements. For example, vegetarians will need an alternative meal without meat or a meat substitute. Vegans will need a meal without anything from animals and the elderly should have a meal high in vitamins. Pregnant women should have a meal without raw egg and high in proteins and vitamins.

Colour flavour and texture:

All menus should provide a variety of different colours, flavours and textures.
If foods are colourful it will make them more appealing to the customers.
It is important to balance a dishes colours. For example, a pie could be served with seasonal vegetables which will add colour.
If it can be avoided, flavours shouldn't consist throughout the different courses. For example, a mushroom soup for starter then stuffed mushrooms for main. There should be a wide variety of flavours and each dish should be unique to the others.
If flavours accompany each other then they should be served together. For example, a spicy curry served with a mild yoghurt dip would be good because the flavours accompany each other well.
Different textures in a meal are good and attractive because it prevents the customer from experiencing the same texture each time they take a bite. For example, shepherds pie served with mushy peas isn't good because it consists of the same texture.

Time of year:

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