Jon and I are really excited to be using Homegirl Cafe, a non-profit restaurant and catering business, as our caterer. The cafe is a subsidiary of Homeboy Industries, begun by Father Gregory Boyle, SJ, in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles as a jobs program offering alternatives to gang involvement. One really cool thing about Homeboy is that they also run their own garden, so that a significant percentage of vegetables and herbs used by the cafe are, in fact, home-grown.
When we started planning the wedding, we met with a lot of catering vendors. A LOT. Some were big operations with mediocre food; some were small operations with amazing food but not enough staff for a 100+ person wedding; some were big operations with amazing food but were too expensive; a few were scam artists; and one was associated with some sort of vegetarian cult, which we awkwardly discovered during the tasting.
From the outset, Jon and I both saw food as pretty central to the wedding itself. A party just doesn't feel like a party without plentiful, good food. In most cultures, feasting is an inherent part of celebration, and as something that sustains and nourishes, food has a symbolic resonance especially suited to this occasion. But deeper into the wedding-industrial complex, it also felt important that we work with an outfit that shares our values. We wanted the spirit with which the meal is conceived, prepared, and served to be aligned with the spirit of our day.
There were a couple of real contenders, but after tasting Homegirl's veggie carnitas, there could be only one (that reference is for you if you are reading this, Leigh Bardugo). They will be preparing a Mexican feast for us---tacos, rice, beans, roasted vegetables, a quinoa salad, and fresh-made salsas. There will be margaritas at the bar. What more could you need? Oh right, meat. Oh well.
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