My latest obsession: an all black curated food table

Towards the end of last year, I attended a function where the food table blew me away! Imagine a black table with a curated spread of gorgeous black & dark foods. Eating by colour at its best. It looked unreal & the food turned out to be super delicious too. Honestly, I think it was more of a talking point than the actual store that was being launched.

Edible black items have trending for a couple of years now, but after said evening I fell in love with the idea of this black food spread all over again! After weeks of contemplating, I decided to propose to my mother-in-law that we only serve black & dark food to go with our monochrome Christmas Eve theme. (The more traditional foods were saved for Christmas day). She was super keen, so this is how all went down:

Setting The Scene

I can imagine that a 100% black curated or monochrome sit-down dinner with a plated menu can be absolutely magnificent, but with kids around, our black buffet was a great choice. It was more casual & worked really well with the type of foods we served.

The kitchen counter was covered with a piece of faux leather (fabric) that we got from the local fabric store. We also discovered some unbelievable platters & bowls from PEP Home! Add to this black fairy lights from Elsje Design, some black serviettes & the scene was set!

The Food

To start, we served ice cold Cola Tonics in tall glasses, topped with lemonade & blackberries frozen into ice cubes. Drinks & bubbly were served along with my salmon bites on charcoal crackers. Possibly my favourite thing to eat at the moment.

I specifically chose a variety of snacky items to ensure that there was something for everyone to enjoy. We have some tricky eaters in our family so the last thing that I wanted was for anyone to feel like they couldn’t enjoy the food. Especially at Christmas.

Our snacky dishes included loads of strawberries, cherries, plums & blueberries. Bowls with beetroot crisps, black olives & the yummiest black prunes.

The main part of the meal was a delicious black pepper crusted beef fillet perfected on the braai, white cheeses, beetroot salad & black spaghetti served with olive oil, garlic, chilli & parmesan.

Sort-of last minute additions to the menu were oven-baked potato & sweet potato fries served in little bamboo cones. These looked delightful & satisfied the need for more carbs!

Some additional ideas for food & drink items to include in a black curated food table could be:

• Red Cabbage salad or stir-fry
• A black bean dip
• Mini grilled chicken & beef kebabs
• Black figs & dark grapes
• Black garlic
• Black sesame seeds
• Black mushrooms
• Arancini balls made with black rice
• Black bread (find out from your local baker if they make these)
• Black sushi rolls

Drinks can include black gin like the Phantom Craft Gin made in Knysna, blue & blackberry smoothies or drinks served in black glasses.

I am also quite keen on the following for dessert:

• Black & white meringues
• Black ice cream or Vanilla Ice Cream with dark chocolate sauce served in a black bowl or in black cones
• Black & dark macaroons

Special Touches

We added some white stars, white bowls & white plates. I would have preferred black plates & cutlery too, but since this was a monochrome Christmas the touches of white looked fabulous.

Mini aubergines, chillis & liquorice were scattered around the food table as part of the decor.

The guests (aka family) were also dressed in black & white for the evening which added additional flair to our monochrome Christmas!

What do you think of entertaining with all-black food? Do you love it or is it a no-go for you? I’d love to hear from you.

Yolandi ♥

Images: Me, Ernie & Elspeth Hoffmann

Note: I bought the majority of my ingredients at Woolies, so I recommend making it your first stop if you plan on putting together a charcoal feast for your guests.