The Table Catering
is featured
Berkeley caterers talk about the motivations, the changes and the challenges in becoming a certified green business.
“For Nicole and Peter Callis, the husband-wife team behind The Table Catering, issues of food justice, insecurity and sustainability were just archetypal Berkeley. “I’m local,” said Nicole. “I went to Berkeley public schools. You grow up with Michael Pollan and the Slow Food movement. You’re just in this environment where people are paying attention.”
“Following a similar philosophy, The Table Catering is a “full-animal butchery” using all the parts of the local cows, pigs and chickens it buys. They do it because buying parts-only uses multiple animals, which are often transported far and require more plastic packaging. “We’re always in the process of minimizing the distances that our products travel,” said Peter Callis.”
Peter Callis agrees. “If you’re thinking about the last chapter of green business, it’s about plastic,” he said.
As a potential solution, both businesses are exploring a pilot program with Berkeley startup FoodWare that makes it easy to replace single-use packaging with reusable containers and cups. It provides an app that quantifies the environmental impact for businesses and their customers. The company also works with restaurants, colleges and corporate campuses across the Bay Area, helping them save money while becoming more sustainable.”
“How do we offer high-quality, farm-to-table meals that are accessible to a broad audience while honoring our farmers, our team members, and our own expertise?”
Nicole Callis and her chef husband, Peter Callis, try to answer that question each day as they find more and better ways to make and serve healthful and appetizing meals packed with great flavors for their East Bay customers.
“We want our meal subscriptions to benefit busy professionals and parents and also give back to the community,” Nicole adds.
Alternatives to Sugar and Salt
“I love cooking and I love to cook food in the most natural of ways,” says Chef Peter, who is always looking for ways to reduce the use of processed and refined ingredients. “If a recipe calls for salt or sugar, you can find substitutions,” he says. For sweetness, Chef Peter relies on puréed dates, persimmons, or honey. For salty and umami flavors, he turns to soy sauce or miso. Try out his chocolate chip cookies and spaghetti and meatballs recipes, which show home cooks how this creative chef might revise his recipes to arrive at a more nutritious end product.
Peter Callis has a broad range of experience as a Bay Area chef. After earning a degree in chemistry at UC Berkeley, he attended culinary school, interned at Chez Panisse, worked at several Bay Area fine dining restaurants, and fed 2,000 Google employees daily with his culinary team at the Mountain View campus…”
“Before the duo opened the Table Catering, they had both held restaurant and corporate food-service jobs and worked for various mission-driven companies. They also frequently stepped up to help when friends or family needed their entertaining expertise for large gatherings.
But when the pandemic hit and they were both laid off, they turned to each other and said, “What better timing to go in and launch our own business!”
Former Google Chef Now Serving Up Help For Oakland's Needy
By Garvin Thomas • Published March 5, 2014 • Updated on March 6, 2014 at 9:35 am
“In spite of what you may think, Chef Peter Callis says working at Oakland’s Society of Saint Vincent de Paul isn’t all that different from running Google’s largest cafe.
As far as the clientele goes, it's hard to imagine two more different groups than the ones Chef Peter Callis has cooked for at his last two jobs.
Up until a few months ago, Peter was the executive sous chef at Charlie's Cafe, the largest restaurant on Google's Mountain View campus. Peter now, though, runs the kitchen for the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul of Alameda County, feeding 800 of Oakland's neediest five days a week.
From fueling the movers and shakers of Silicon Valley, to feeding the down and out of Oakland's streets, might seem like a dramatic change. Peter, however,doesn't see it that way.”
He sees the two jobs as more alike than different.
"No money exchanged between the people I cook for," Peter says. "It's large batch cooking, you try to make it as nutritious as possible, and it's the same people you see day to day."
The Table Catering
wants to serve
your event