A tiny bird made of cream cheese and herbs perched atop a cucumber round. An edible piano with a lemon and chocolate cake keyboard. Sushi rolls that look like purple flowers. Reiko Reid and Isabel Kurth, partners in new catering company Flavor Palette, create hors d’oeuvres not typically found on party trays.
Kurth, a biochemist, and Reid, an artist and co-founder of design firm Rfive Design, met through a mutual friend in 2008. The pair quickly discovered shared interests in food and art, and started collaborating on parties for friends. Reid sketched whimsical drawings of bite-size treats and worked with Kurth, a self-taught cook, to create edible versions of her ideas. “Using food to create art is great fun for me,” Reid says. “Every time I come up with an idea, I talk to Isabel and she comes up with a recipe. We create together.”
Last fall the two began offering their services for events, crafting custom menus of hors d’oeuvres in their whimsical, extremely detailed style. “We do a lot of finger food. It’s great for shaping little objects,” Reid says. Their trademarks include items that look like animals, edible garnishes, and lots of fruits and vegetables. “Color is very important to us. We try to avoid artificial colors and experiment with natural foods, like blending parsley to add bright green,” Kurth explains.
In October, the company catered Green Halloween NYC, an event promoting healthy ways to celebrate the holiday. To play off the party’s dramatic decor, Flavor Palette made skull-shaped tomato, bacon, and Gruyère patties with olive eyes, quail egg “ghosts” atop tuna rolls, and lemon-almond cakes shaped like bones.
“We had three catering companies bidding on the job, but Flavor Palette completely stood out, with a very creative presentation of their food,” says Vincent Reverdy, creative director of Connected Productions L.L.C., which produced the event. “They created unique canapés that perfectly complemented the decor elements. Their food looks like art you can eat, and tastes good, too.”
Reid says their goal is to create a memorable experience. “We like to design whole tables, including napkins, flowers, and little accents to go with the food. We don’t want to just set up canapés and leave. It’s art for us, so we set up everything.”
