THE END GOAL.. Ramblings of a convoluted mind:

the End GOAL of the Menu:
that the guests have a meal of  Rich, Savory, Sweet, Salty foods of various textures colors and scents that satisfy both the eye and the palate and that NO one feels deprived or excluded because of a food allergy..

well, the OBVIOUS answer is to feed 150 guests/family a reception tea that all enjoy
And no one ends up in er..
(the latter isnt USUALLY on the first sentence but with the extent of food allergies...it is an issue)

And as i have been puttering with the menu, READING LABELS up the yahoozy and STILL not finding an Edible (my opinion here) bread product that has NONE of the allergy triggers, it dawned on me, we really didnt have a stated focused goal for the meal 'Except" just to feed people.

gahhhh.. that just not good enough..
if THAT were the only goal we could just serve clear broth, a salad and water. done finito...

i
dont
think
so..

that would be a cop out and a failure.. (granted it IS cheap on the budget!!lol)
but it is NOT the point

so back to the menu.. the entire tea could EASILY be ONLY salads.. and i suppose thats not a 'bad' thing.. i have recipes for Incredibly interesting salads. & hope to use at least 2. but theres no balance. it feels 'unfinished.

a note on the one thing i have NOT focused on....While there may be a vegetarian or two in the group that is the ONE thing we are not being specific for.. Vegetarians for the most part are very capable of picking & choosing their food preferences so we feel confident we dont have to "Worry" as they will have a good number of choices for them to pick from..

Examples of the kind of choices & what i mean:

Everyone knows jello. & most have had it In SOME flavor or another. plain or with stuff in it.. look at the old standbys that families love at the holidays.. & to be honest many of them are rather boring and trigger a large number of allergies & one would think them unusable..
but.....
well, i am Rediscovering there is a WHOLE world of just gelatin based dishes.. absolute classics. like 1930s jellied beef or chicken consomme: they were all the rage back then.. a hostess wasnt "in" if she couldnt serve a really nice jellied consomme!! check these variations in 1889 https://books.google.com/books?id=cJBCAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA289&lpg=PA289&dq=on+serving+a+jellied+consomme+at+a+party&source=bl&ots=zq1UOjvhti&sig=2_bis5UKfM2wPL5IIcejFHDv--0&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiv6raTrcrTAhUH-mMKHXwhD6sQ6AEIIzAA#v=onepage&q=on%20serving%20a%20jellied%20consomme%20at%20a%20party&f=false
 but i digress a bit

soooooo......

picture a small bowl of savory vegetable tomato aspic with a side of salty calamari olives..

or of deep bone broth rich gelatin served on spinach leaves with jicama sticks

or rice paper spring rolls with crisp vegetables & pressure cooked turkey slices /with non soy sauce dipping sauces like spicy mustard & sweet & sour..

a small plate of handmade cream mints as well as pieces of home made fudge

and you begin to see where i am trying to go with this.. ALL of these dishes i listed are allergy free.. (from OUR list of allergies)