Creating the perfect picnic

How to create the Perfect Picnic, with Sophie Storen from Cookes Food

Sophie Storen, founder and director of Melbourne-based catering business Cookes Food, is well known for her decadent, generous catering for events all over Victoria.

For over a decade, Sophie and the Cookes Food team have created memorable experiences around food. From simple dishes at home, to elaborate feasts that bring people together - the team always collaborates closely with their clients and suppliers, making food the heart of what they do.

Sophie shares her tips for creating the perfect picnic:

Picnics, as with any meal you are putting together, should be seasonal and make sense. Think about the items you are wanting to include and how they will work together - ie. crisp pear and delice or a white mould cheese go fantastically together, as do tomatoes with burrata, smoked salt and extra virgin olive oil. Keep things simple to allow the quality of the produce to shine.

One of the biggest considerations for putting together a picnic is how it will be consumed. At the park there are no plates, sinks or anywhere to wash-up, so it needs to be simple to consume with minimal mess. Think about the logistics - how will the client open any packaged items, or eat them? What is the whole experience, from how it is packaged and delivered to how it will be consumed and any waste disposed of? When putting together our Park Life hampers we literally had to go to the park, look at what we had included in our offerings and then take it out.

For other businesses looking to curate picnics, or really any food offering, we recommend speaking directly to the suppliers and producers. Ask them what they think - they have so much insight, as they live and breathe their produce.

Check out the Cookes Food “Park Life” hampers and more at www.cookesfood.com.au