hef Michael Swann of Gaylord Opryland Hotel and Convention Center, Nashville, recently transported banquet guests to Latin America with a themed event that included an authentic menu, colorful décor and lighting, costumed chefs performing live cooking demonstrations, strolling Spanish guitarists, Rio de Janeiron dancers, and a salsa band. Guacamole, tortillas, and a variety of salsas were made to order at action stations, and the menu featured “tabletop buffets” of tapas, such as Guatemalan chojin (fried pork skins tossed with radish, lime, and jalapeño peppers served with romaine lettuce and avocado); Costa Rican vuelve a la vida (poached octopus, shrimp, and sea bass tossed in cilantro, onion, and lime compote); and Mexican tamales de muerto (wrapped and deep-fried corn tamales with ancho pepper sauce and Monterey jack cheese).

“The tapas were served on lazy susans placed on every table, which created a residential style environment,” says Swann. “Centerpieces were loaves of bread fashioned into bowls, handpainted in original Mexican mosaics, and filled with different types of breads. As the guests tasted each of the tapas, I and several other chefs gave live on-stage cooking demonstrations of each dish.”

Other courses on the themed menu included Spanish gazpacho served in coconut shells and Cuban mariquitas salad (deep-fried plantain bananas mixed with romaine lettuce, tomato, olives, mango, and jalapeño peppers). Instead of manning action stations, servers dressed as Brazilian gauchos carried skewers of meat to be carved at each tabletop buffet, clearing the lazy susans in order to circulate accompanying sauces from Argentina, Mexico City, and Venezuela.

For dessert, long platters were filled with treats like a Mexican basquet (caramelized fresh figs, cocada, and pressed and dried peaches from Mexico and Peru); a scoop of margarita sorbet, served in a fresh cactus pear; and a Venezuelan chocolate flan. The grand finale was enacted by the gauchos, who replaced the bread centerpieces with a sugar plate decorated with Pralus chocolates from Ecuador, Jamaica, and Venezuela and explained the origin of each chocolate variety. “Then,” adds Swann, “it was salsa time!”