So a lot of speeches take place at banquets, luncheons, and breakfasts. . .which means you have tons of opportunity to do some quick humor by having fun with the food. Now this doesn’t mean you should be super mean about it – you don’t want to insult the chef who has worked hard for the meal. But you can joke around a bit. Especially since so many dishes at these events are elaborate – they don’t look like anything we make at home, which means you’re not the only diner wondering what the heck it is!!!
Here’s a couple ways. . .
Tie it in to the evening’s event. I spoke at a banquet at the Flamingo hotel in Las Vegas, and they ran out of entrees and had to cook up some more, which made some meals late. I thought about them making the extra food quick AND about the venue we were in to make the connection. My joke went something to the effect that those new “chicken dishes don’t look like chicken, and I noticed that the hotel was missing some FLAMINGOS.” That got a nice laugh and smoothed over the fact that several tables got served late.
Name it. Some of these concoctions, while beautiful, are not recognizable, so give it a name. Ask yourself, what the chef must have been thinking or doing when he made it. Could it be the “Chef Quit Special” or the “Chef School Graduation Day Desert?”
When is it being served? Again, you could name it something depending on the day of the week or the part of the evening in which it is being served. The end of the week special. . .the desert is pronounced “MTWTF (MaTWatF) Combos “for Mon, Tues, Wed, Thurs, Fri Combos?
Look at the portion? I once ate a dinner in which the first course was 3 shrimps. Then the wait staff took like 30+ minutes to serve the entrée. When I got on stage, I asked how many people where happy that those shrimps weren’t the entire meal. It got a huge laugh because everyone had been thinking the same thing – that’s small, I might starve! Or again, recognize that it’s small by naming it “The Chef Must Be Dieting” special or something like that.
hese are just a couple ways that you can have fun with the food. Food is something everyone can relate to and it’s happening at the moment, so don’t miss an easy opportunity!
Jan