Pizza scales to a room full of nineteen-year-olds
The distinguishing fact about a graduation guest list is how much of it is young. The graduate's friends eat more than the relatives, they eat later, and they will eat pizza when they will not eat anything they have to think about.
Classic and premium pizza and halal beef pepperoni do that work without the party feeling like a compromise for the adults, who are eating lasagna, chicken parmesan and a proper antipasto at the same table. One order, two appetites, no negotiation.
The pepperoni is beef. It is pork almost everywhere it is sold, which is why it is normally the item quietly dropped from a shared menu.
- Classic, premium and halal beef pepperoni pizza — the volume item
- Lasagna, penne alfredo and spaghetti bolognese, which hold for hours
- Chicken parmesan and Italian meatballs for the adult plate
- Antipasto, bruschetta, caprese and garlic bread for the arrival window
Baked pasta forgives a ceremony that ran long
Graduation ceremonies overrun as a matter of routine — there is a list of names and it takes as long as it takes. A party timed to a printed end is timed to a guess.
Lasagna and baked pasta are as good in their second hour as their first, which makes them the safest main we can put on a graduation table. We would rather send a tray that tolerates a ninety-minute drift than a dish that punishes it and then explain why the food was disappointing.
Dessert, when there is no cake
Unlike a birthday or a wedding, a graduation often has no cake at all — or has a supermarket sheet cake that nobody planned around. That makes dessert a real decision rather than an afterthought.
Tiramisu and cannoli work as a proper course here in a way they do not at an event with a ceremonial cake. If there is a sheet cake, say so and we will send less; if there is not, this is where the meal ends and it should be worth ending on.
