Entertaining the Entertainers

Celebrities- everybody loves them, actors, musicians or athletes; we all have our favorites. Tabloids and weekly entertainment magazines fly off the supermarket shelves as we indulge ourselves in the lives of our favorite stars. We want to know where they stay, what they wear, what they eat. We dream of meeting them. We want to talk to them, dress like them, eat like they do. We want to be close to them. Celebrities bring excitement and glamour to our regular every day  lives.

Very few people really enjoy their jobs, but we consider ourselves lucky. We love going to work. Imagine waking up, getting ready for work knowing you will be spending the next two days with your favorite magician, or the next three weeks with your favorite actress. Imagine spending  three weeks with your favorite Irish step dancers or knowing the next two work days you will be surrounded by the secret service. That’s what we have on our minds when we get ready for work. Welcome to our world. We are backstage caterers and specialize in catering to the entertainment industry. Our job is to provide food service  in a  comfortable setting to touring entertainers and the people they travel with.

An entertainer’s life might appear glamorous because they travel all over the world. But the truth is constant travel can take its toll and life on the road can be difficult. Some performers may have been on the road for months, either living on a bus or sleeping in questionable beds at different hotel rooms every night. Often the hour is late when their day is done and few restaurant choices are available, so if they are hungry they wind up eating fast food. When traveling, many diets and good eating habits suffer. Good nutrition is very important to maintaining a healthy immune system. If one member of an entourage gets sick, chances are the others are going to come down with something as well and that could spell disaster to a traveling production. A healthy immune system is also important for a positive mental attitude, which is vital to every performance. When people are well fed, they feel good and when they feel good, they do their best. Whether it’s performers or crew members, the result is this: a happy cast and happy crew equals a happy audience. On the road, good food is king.

Celebrity and crew well-being is the total focus of our job. We coordinate every detail to guarantee a smooth running day. Making sure all artist requests are granted goes a long way to insuring a happy backstage atmosphere and food desires are the number one artist request. It has been exciting for us to cook for some of the industries greatest legends and what we have learned about them is this. Even the highest paid and highest profile entertainers are just regular people. They have diet and health problems like anyone else. Some folks are wheat intolerant, so the breads and pastas they eat have to be made from alternative grains such as rice or quinoa. Those that are lactose intolerant can not digest milk or dairy products and substitutions, such as margarine, soy milk or “Rice Dream” for ice cream, are made . There are those that can not have onions, tomatoes, peppers or eggplant and a separate meal must be prepared if any of those items will appear in what is served to the rest of the group. Can you imagine being allergic to chocolate? Backstage, chocolate is a dessert staple, although several dessert choices are offered up so the non-chocoholic is never left out. High protein, low carbohydrate diets such as  Atkins or South Beach are common-place requests. Many performers and crew members have chosen to eat as vegetarians in varying degrees. Some will not eat red meat, but include fish or chicken in their diets, while others, termed vegans, consume no animal products at all, including cheese or butter. There are some stars that have a favorite dish and send along recipes. No matter what an entertainer’s diet or desire, we structure our menus to reflect his or her personal taste and plan meals to please the entire entourage.

When entertainers and their following visit our venue, we make them as comfortable as we can and cook them the best meal we can create.  Our greatest reward is when an entertainer or one of his party comes into the kitchen and says “That was great..how did you make that”?  Many of the recipes we are sharing have been requested by entertainers or someone traveling with them. Over the years, we’ve been asked by fans what their favorite star is having for dinner and what he or she likes to eat. This book will give you some insight into what it is like to be backstage, and what your favorite star is eating .With that in mind, here are two thoughts: First, the better time an artist has backstage, the better time they have on stage. Second, before a performer takes the stage to entertain the audience, we are the ones, entertaining the entertainers.