Southern Style Cooking: How to Host Your First Post-Vaccination Gathering

Saturday, May 29, 2021

How to Host Your First Post-Vaccination Gathering

Here's an Easy Menu for Your First Post-Vacination Party

Adriana Velez

There's a scene in The Wizard of Oz, just after Dorothy's house has landed on the Wicked Witch of the East, when Glinda the Good Witch descends in her iridescent bubble and sings, "come out, come out, wherever you are!" And the munchkins emerge from their hiding places with awe and wonder. Well, that's how I'm feeling as we emerge from our respective pods into this (can I say it, yet?) almost-post-COVID America. For those of us who have been vaccinated, it is now safe to come out and—ulp—gather again.

Some of you have been gathering outdoors for a while, and others of us are hyperventilating at the very thought of people-ing again. To quote cartoonist Emily Flake, it's mumus and social awkwardness for me. Regardless, it's probably been a while since you last prepared food for a group of people besides your family, and throwing packages of ramen and yelling "fend for yourselves" is not going to cut it. So how do we prepare food in a hosting-type situation?

I'm so glad you asked me this question (silently inside your head). Here is the answer: Make something easy, earthy, and grounding because it's going to be so surreal to socialize IRL again.

Now is the time for big bowls of summer salads, salads without lettuce, cool cucumber salads, and grain salads. Look, we have all of the salads, OK? Including Big Mac salad. Maybe distribute mirrors here and there for people to check for green things in their teeth. Are you feeling up for actual forks and plates? Debatable. Should you choose decorum, here are some lovely options for outdoor serveware.

Can we trust ourselves with pointy sticks? If so, chicken satay, pineapple shrimp kebabs, kushiyaki, and grilled vegetable kebabs could be fun. Or maybe you're really lucky and happen to live near a Southeast Asian barbecue joint that does takeout.

Wash it all down with big-batch cocktails or—even easier—canned cocktails. I'm looking forward to trying these new Lunar craft hard seltzers. Have some non-alcoholic options on hand as well.

And for dessert, you could make dozens of paletas. It's not summer 'til you've licked something icy, sticky and sweet. Or you could heat up some skillets of molten s'mores dip.

Whatever your flavor, embrace the awkward, because we're all feeling it. String up some lights and crank up the Karol G. And yes, that mumu looks fantastic on you, munchkin.

- Adriana Velez
Senior Editor, The Spruce Eats