Wedding Blog
Mr. PN and I ranked food near the top of our wedding priorities and lucky for us, Auburge du Soleil is a five star restaurant with the best food in the Napa Valley. The menu changes with the seasons, so we didn’t get our hands on the fall menu until the middle of August, which made picking the menu one of our last big decisions.
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Before I get to the menu for our lunch reception, I must give you some background on our eating habits. I am a (pesca-)vegetarian, meaning I eat dairy, eggs, and fish but no poultry or red meat. I have been a pescatarian for about six years now and as long as Mr. PN and I have been together. Most people assume that I am a pescatarian for health reasons or for animal rights, but I am actually a pescatarian for environmental reasons.
Meat-based diets leave a major environmental footprint by exploiting natural resources including land, water, and fossil fuels, and polluting the environment. An interesting fact from the Vegetarian Times: in 2000, 40% of fresh water used in the U.S. was used to irrigate feed crops for livestock, compared to 13% for domestic purposes including showers, flushing toilets, washing cars and watering lawns.
On the other hand, Mr. PN is a self-described “meatatarian”. This makes meals in our house an adventure. Our dietary differences made our menu selection somewhat difficult. Not only did I want to be able to eat all the food at our wedding, I also wanted to make an eco-friendly decision and reduce or eliminate meat. Much to my surprise, Mr. PN was pretty open to having a pescatarian meal. We considering having two entree choices, but this would have cost us an extra $10 per person, and we would have needed to know every guest’s choice in advance. That didn’t seem worth the extra hassle or cost—so we agreed on a pescatarian option.
During the cocktail hour we will have passed hors d’oeuvres including:
The seated lunch will be a four-course meal, and each course has been paired with a local California wine:
First Course
Diver scallop garnished with eggplant caviar and ratatouille vinaigrette
Wine pairing: 2005 J Wilkes “Bien Nacido” Pinot Blanc
Salad Course
A bed of arugula, endive and radicchio, accompanied by Bosc pears, crumbled bleu cheese, and dressed with a light vinaigrette
Wine pairing: 2006 El Molino Chardonnay
Main Course
Vegetarian risotto with local seasonal vegetables, garnished with fresh herbs and freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Wine pairing: 2005 Goldeneye Pinot Noir
Symphony of Desserts (remember our decision to forgo wedding cake?)
An Auberge du Soleil tradition, the Chef will prepare a selection of three desserts for each of our guests
Wine pairing: 2003 Topaz “Late Harvest” Sauvignon Blanc
Any other vegan/vegetarian/pescatarian Bees out there? How did you incorporate your dietary choices into your wedding meal?
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I also do not eat meat, and only eat some fish. I’m so sick of weddings where the vegetarian meal is an afterthought for the chef and I get handed a giant mushroom and/or a plate of vegetables.
I am so glad to see more brides making choices for their weddings based on their own principles. I just watched a horrifying episode of Whose Wedding Is It Anyway? where the planner was so dismayed at the idea that a bride wanted to serve a vegetarian menu that she actually pretty much force fed the bride a tuna appetizer. “Just try it, it won’t kill you.” And the whole time the bride was portrayed as the unreasonable bridezilla who wanted to be able to um, eat the food at her own wedding…
Your menu sounds delicious, especially the vegetable risotto!
I’m a pescaterian too and my fiance eats anything though thankfully he is not too keen on red meat. It took a while but we finally came up with a great menu that suits both of us and will also keep the guests happy. I think we have a nice balance. It’s not an overtly veg menu but I definitely wanted to make sure that there would be plenty for me to eat at my own party! 
Big Ups for Vegetarians! I’m a 12 year veteran of the veggie world, and I had the same debates about our menu, too! Yours sounds utterly delightful, and I’m so jealous of your guests for getting to not only attend your lovely wedding, but also dine at L’Auberge de Soliel… its reputation precedes it for foodies like me! Congrats!
We had a vegetarian wedding =) DH has been veg his whole life, and I rarely eat any meat, so it worked out. The food was really good, and no one noticed or complained about the lack of meat!
I have decided to become as ‘locavore’ as I can become.
Locavore: Locavores are people who pay attention to where their food comes from and commit to eating local food as much as possible. The great thing about eating local is that it’s not an all-or-nothing venture. Any small step you take helps the environment, protects your family’s health and supports small farmers in your area. (from here.
Fortunately, that fits both Mr Corn and my eating lifestyles…unfortunately, that doesn’t protect us from the issue that Mr Corn is a ‘plain’ eater and I prefer variety out the wazoo!
Oh, it’s so awesome to hear you talking about this, Miss PN. My FI and i are both vegetarians — we eat dairy and eggs but no meat or seafood — and we knew from the very beginning that we wanted an all-vegetarian menu for the reception. Handily, our favorite meal is brunch, so we’re having a buffet that’s half traditional supper-time food and half brunch deliciousness like stuffed french toast, roasted vegetable frittata, and latkes. We’re trying to make sure that everyone gets enough protein and doesn’t have to eat brunch food at 8pm if they don’t want to — but we’ve discovered that this is a pretty awesome way to both ensure that we can eat at our own reception and celebrate our favorite meal of the day!
My FI is a total meatatarian, while I don’t eat red meat or fish. We joke that I’m a “flexitarian” and at home, we work hard to make meals we both enjoy.
We’re really committed to serving a meal that ALL our guests can enjoy - meatatarians, veg*ns and flexitarians alike. We’ll probably end up with two or three entree choices - a meat or fish dish, a vegetarian dish, and maybe a poultry dish.
I hardly eat any meat. We’re doing a 4 course tasting menu of mostly vegetarian (and mostly local/organic food). One of the courses gives an option of free range elk, but other than that, it’s all veggie all the time.
It’s so great to see this post! I am a vegetarian of about a year, and FH is a carnivore…although he’s turned into a flexitarian without really realizing it because i keep our house pretty much vegan! I come from an old school italian family, and to be honest, i’m sick to death of the annoying remarks like, “OMG, what are you going to serve at the wedding?”, like it would be SO awful to eat vegetables! Anyway, because of everyone’s difference in opinion, we will serve a little of everything, but i refuse for there to be any pig flesh anywhere, and I would like most of the cocktail hour to be veg friendly. I’m going to try to push for organic cuts of animal flesh, at the very least, but i’m not sure our RH will do it, or that expense will be huge.
Funnily enough, I’m also a pescatarian with an FI who is a meat-and-potatoes guy. Our menu strategy thus far is just to have a huge variety of stuff in stations so that we can both have foods we enjoy. We are considering a couple of chef stations, like a make your own pasta one, where people of all preferences can be happy. I know we can’t please everyone– our guests range from not easily impressed foodies to people who only eat, like, three things — but we are trying our best.
your menu sounds yummy! i try to limit my red meat intake (was a pescatarian for a hot minute) but Mr. ST’s dad worked in the meat industry for years so you know they love their red meat! I tried to make sure there was mostly fish at the wedding, and enough good vegetarian food so our veg friends wouldn’t miss out. I think we only have one dish that incorporates red meat/chicken in it- yay!
Your menu sounds so delicious, and that salad!! oh man I am drooling right now. Your venue’s menu is Michelin rated girl!!! Your guests will love the food no matter what!!!
I love meat, but I also love locally sourced foods and all veggies and fish so your menu still sounds great!! Totally agree that people thing veggie is bland and that is not/does not have to be the case.
Yum-Mers! I have toyed w/ the idea of being a pescatarian, but selfishly I really enjoy red meat - Lately I’ve done my best to avoid it and I only eat red meat when I’m absolutely craving it.
We’re vegetarians and are having a veggie reception next fall.. your menu has inspired me! Fall is such a great time for yummy fruits and veggies…pear, pumpkin, root veggies… I doubt anyone will miss the meat!
Mr. Taffy is a pescatarian, and I am except for the occasional turkey burger.
I’m curious about figuring out how to eat fish in an environmentally way. How do you make sure the fish you eat are not a result of overfishing practices? Is there a way to find this out? Are certain species of fish/shellfish more environmentally friendly to eat than others?
Thanks for this post, Miss PN. I am a pescatarian and I don’t even really eat fish all that often. FI eats what he wants when he’s out, but I make no chicken or beef at home. He’s gotten pretty used to it now and sometimes even asks for vegetarian food for dinner. I think Jenn brings up a good point about overfishing. When I shope for fish I try my best to get the wild caught if I can, but it can be hard. For my reception, the person who will be most hard to plan for will be my mother who is a borderline vegan! I will make sure to have things that she can eat.
If you’re interested in eating fish that’s sustainably raised/caught, check out the Monterey Bay Aquarium website. http://www.mbayaq.org/cr/SeafoodWatch.asp (sorry it’s not linked… I’m not up with the html). It has a wonderful card that you can print out and it shows you which fish are safe to eat and which to avoid.
As for me, I’m not a vegetarian, but I do follow locavore eating habits, belong to a CSA program and try to eat only pastured meat (most of it direct from small local farmers). It helps that I’m in California and my farm is able to deliver delicious fruit/veggies to me year round. I’m hoping to have mostly farm-fresh food at my reception in April, but I’m afraid my budget isn’t quite big enough so we’ll probably have to make a few concessions.
@Jenn: The Environmental Defense Fund has some good info: http://www.edf.org/page.cfm?tagID=1521 I just printed this pocket guide from their website: http://www.edf.org/documents/1980_pocket_seafood_selector.pdf
I’m a big fan of eating local too! Lucky for us Auburge has a policy about working with local farmers to include their vegetables in the meal - not everything is local but it will be part of the menu!
Every time I tell people that I’m a pesca-vegetarian, they always think its “cheating”, so I’m glad there are others out there. We try to get all our food at the local farmers market, its hard this time of year- the harvest is almost over. My FSIL keeps bees so we get fresh honey from her, its delish and also keep our allergies at bay.
Ovo-Lacto Vegetarian and my FH is too. We picked our venue based on the food because our entire reception will be meat and fish free. I also became vegetarian for environmental reasons nine years ago. FH cut out meat fourteen years ago. We couldn’t see feeding people food that we wouldn’t eat ever. We decided to go with a buffet because it would allow for more options. Lasagna Florentine, wild mushroom strudel, broccoli gratin, white beans with swiss chard and grilled polenta cakes with veggie ratatoullie … oh and butternut squash soup. Plus a Caesar salad (no anchovies in their fresh made dressing) and 4 cold salads of our choice. If there isn’t something in there that my meat-eating friends and family love, then so be it.
Cayce and Mrs. Gingerbread, thanks for the links!
LOVE
THIS
TOPIC!
My FH and I are trying to work things out to include a “Statewide” menu. We also considered using the 100 Mile Diet system. i.e. only foods grown/harvested within 100 miles. Hosting the wedding in CO in the Fall, we will have great choices either way!
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Mrs. Pinot Noir, New York/Napa Valley
Age and Occupation: 24, Health Educator
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 31, Market Researcher
Engagement Date: November 10, 2007
Wedding Date: October, 2008
Blogging Since: June 25, 2008
Venue: Auberge du Soleil
About Me: I am a Minnesota raised, NYC transplant planning a destination wedding in Napa. I'm balancing my love for the environment and my hubby-to-be's love for tradition to create our "green wedding in disguise." Our wedding will include local food and wine, antique touches and lots of love and laughter. When wedding planning isn't taking up my free time (and money) I love to read, cook, workout, watch baseball and travel! Follow along in my adventure as I attempt to plan an eco-friendly and socially responsible wedding (with eco-oblivious Mr. Pinot Noir).
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