Food suggestions for a Gods and Goddesses themed party.

June 22, 2007 7:46 AM

A friend is hosting a party tomorrow night with the theme "Night Life of the Gods & Goddesses" where all attendees will be dressing as their favorite god and acting accordingly. I'd like to make an interesting and appropriately themed dish of food to bring.

The recipe needs to be vegetarian, savory, and relatively easy to prepare a good deal of. The dish should also be able to withstand sitting out for multiple hours without spoiling/congealing, though I've got a crock pot if you have hot food suggestions.

posted by Item to food & drink (21 comments total)

Ambrosia ~ the food of the gods. Here are some recipes.
posted by amyms at 7:52 AM on June 22, 2007

The obvious things that spring to mind are nectar, ambrosia, and green goddess dressing, although the first two aren't savory and the third isn't especially long-lasting. What god/goddess are you going to be? That might help with a recipe.
posted by iconomy at 7:52 AM on June 22, 2007

Yes, who are you going as?
posted by amro at 7:58 AM on June 22, 2007

You could be Pele and take poi (and pineapple and macadamia nuts).
posted by Pollomacho at 7:59 AM on June 22, 2007

Why not bring grapes with some sweet fruit dip? I would also suggest some other fruit as well, cut up and arranged on a platter, but make a couple large bunches the centerpiece. Then you can luxuriously feed grapes to each other, and everybody loves a sweet fruit dip.

Here's Paula Deen's version of what I'm thinking about: mmm. You can easily google up some other recipes as well, try "cream cheese fruit dip".
posted by warble at 8:04 AM on June 22, 2007

Well, you might go as Tantalus and bring a stew of dubious yet delicious tastes and textures. This is assuming we're talking Greek Gods and Goddesses. ;-)
posted by TryTheTilapia at 8:06 AM on June 22, 2007

I'll be going as Hanuman. The cop-out food of choice for such a monkey god would be banana-something, but I'm allergic to bananas.

There'll likely be ambrosia aplenty provided by other guests, and I'm making a big batch of a vodka-pineapple-berry to bring, so I'm looking towards a savory non-fruit dish to balance things out a bit. Intoxicants will be flowing freely and I'd like to make something a bit starchy to help keep folks grounded.

Great suggestions so far, though.
posted by Item at 8:24 AM on June 22, 2007

How about dolmades (stuffed grape leaves)? A Greek dish for Greek gods and goddesses. I'm sure you can find a vegetarian version and they would keep easily and be a good party food.
posted by stefnet at 8:26 AM on June 22, 2007

Athena won the contest to be the divine patron(ess) of the people of Athens (before it was called Athens, obviously) by gifting its citizens with the olive tree, which gave them beauty, shade, light (as oil for lamps), wood, fuel, oil for cooking, food, and a bunch of other useful stuff - while her rival, Poseidon, gave them a lovely spring as his contribution - of sea water. Pretty, but not really that useful. So Athena won.

This site has a bunch of olive recipes, though I can't link directly because of the stupid Flash interface (click under "homecooks", at the top).

There's an olive and seafood lasagna recipe there that would sort of cover both the Athena olive bit, and the God of the Sea bit, if you're looking for an entree type thing.

Their Olive Tapenade, though, sounds goofy. If you'd like something elegant and scrummy in the appetizer vein, ignore it, and do something more heavenly, like a Fig and olive tapenade. Don't forget to bring the fabulous, hearty, crusty, country bread to spread it on!
posted by taz at 8:28 AM on June 22, 2007

I'm such a picky bastard: I really don't like dolmas at all, much to my dolma-loving girlfriend's vexation.

The Gods and Goddesses attending will be spanning the breadth of mythologies.
posted by Item at 8:32 AM on June 22, 2007

Since you're going as Hanuman, what about Monkey Bread? You can add savories like cheese very easily, and it's nice and starchy, and will hold up well for hours at room temp. You could also add curry for the Indian tie-in, or even just make Curry.
posted by iconomy at 8:34 AM on June 22, 2007

Something Indian. A vegetable korma? You could say that it represents the sacred pudding Hanuman's mother ate to conceive.

On preview, iconomy's idea is awesome.
posted by amro at 8:36 AM on June 22, 2007

Here's a recipe for Garlic Parmesan Monkey Bread - you may want to cut down on the garlic though ;P
posted by iconomy at 8:40 AM on June 22, 2007

(That recipe is just as a for instance - you could basically make any combo of cheese and spices that you wanted...)
posted by iconomy at 8:42 AM on June 22, 2007

iconomy, funny you mentioned monkey bread. It's my girlfriend's favorite thing to bake, though she always makes a sweet version. I'd never thought of doing it savory. It would probably be pretty good with olives and goat cheese.
posted by Item at 8:43 AM on June 22, 2007

Pomegranate. Not savory, kind of a pain to eat, but so beautiful, and a very interesting story. You'd just have to bring one, and anyone who had a single seed might be forced to stay at the party forever.
posted by amtho at 8:46 AM on June 22, 2007

Oye. I missed the comment mentioning that you're Hanuman

Well, according to the legend, Hanuman was born after his mom nibbled a bit of very special stolen pudding, which was, apparently, Payasam. So, if you want to bring a dessert, nothing could be sweeter. :)
posted by taz at 8:51 AM on June 22, 2007

Yeah, payasam would be endlessly appropriate, considering Hanuman's tale, but it's just so... yuck. Rice pudding kind of grosses me out.
posted by Item at 8:56 AM on June 22, 2007

Okay, but it has cardamom, the number one aphrodisiac known to man*, which could make things interesting.

*I just made that part up. Still.
posted by taz at 9:12 AM on June 22, 2007

There's also this from the wikipedia entry on Hanuman: "As a child, assuming the sun to be a ripe fruit, he once took flight to catch hold of it to eat."

Trying to get savory from ripe fruit is tough, though. Salted oranges? Or maybe use oranges as little serving dishes.
posted by notyou at 9:23 AM on June 22, 2007

Trying to get savory from ripe fruit is tough, though.

Fondue however is rather easy
posted by Pollomacho at 9:42 AM on June 22, 2007