Food Art Love puts health on the party menu.
A good gathering shares big love with your people—and doesn’t have to throw anyone’s health off. “The principle of abundance reigns supreme in grazing spreads,” says Shannon Sims, a holistic health educator and food artist based in Portland and the visionary behind the catering company Food Art Love (and who created these spreads). Sims’ grazing spreads move beyond just cheese and charcuterie to incorporate seasonal produce, vibrant colors, and uncommon vegetables and fruits. Her forever goal is to make each spread deliciously captivating, inspiring to look at and irresistible to consume. She works in texture, color, flavor and seasonality, always finding alluring combinations that work well for many diets but feel like art. “My not-so-secret agenda is always to fill people up with local vegetables,” Sims says.
Above: Assorted firm cheeses with peaches, raspberries, blueberries, and mimosa and dogwood blossoms. Below: Zucchini coins, caramelized cipollini onions and petals, radishes, grilled eggplant, wisteria, nasturtium leaves and blossoms, honeysuckle blossoms, lemon and Armenian cucumber spears, prosciutto flowers, and hummus garnished with zaatar, extra chickpeas and flaky salt.
Flowering chervil, leek scapes, artichokes, miniature zucchinis, asparagus, purple snap peas, prickly pear, pea shoots, broccoli, avocado, green grapes, spinach leaves, sugar snap peas, little gem lettuce, garlic scapes, spring onions, green garlic, green strawberries, elderflowers, fennel, hakurei turnips, cauliflower and peony flowers.
Bloomy-rind goat cheese, purple grapes, lilac flowers, apples, blood oranges, kiwi, small wheel of brie and orange violas.
Rainier cherries, cucumber coins, purple daikon radish, roasted Middle Eastern squash, roasted sweet potato wedges, roasted baby potatoes, shishito peppers, blanched yellow cauliflower, roasted purple cauliflower, sugar snap peas, sharp white cheddar cheese, roasted eggplant wedges, roasted garlic scapes, raw romesco, sliced yellow patty pan squash and young carrots.
