Romanticising life’s small moments has never been truer than in Athena Calderone’s Thanksgiving table. Casually folded linens, rustic, earthy vegetables, and cascading fruits come together to form a tablescape worthy of a Grecian fresco. But what makes this food styling so sumptuous to look at?
In my opinion, this buffet table is a perfect example of storytelling and layered composition. When you think of food styling, you probably picture obnoxiously large tweezers placing micro herbs onto Michelin-starred plates. But these days it’s far from the truth. As a food stylist, most of my work revolves around storytelling and creating natural food scenes in rather unnatural circumstances — in other words, making the ‘right’ kind of mess. Athena’s buffet table is no exception.
Though on the surface it may look casually thrown together, this styling takes time and consideration. It’s all about combining the right layers, colors, and textures to achieve an effortless and inviting look. If you want to achieve Athena’s look at home for the holidays, perhaps for your Christmas table decor, take a look at my step-by-step guide to food styling a casual yet showstopping buffet table.
Layering Linens and Fabrics
Materials and base layers are the first port of call for achieving a beautiful holiday table like Athena’s.
First, look at the natural tone of your dining table. Dark woods always look great against food, especially in the evening when candlelight can pick up the food’s natural highlights. Lighter solid surfaces work well, too, but make sure the tone is neutral. If, like me, your dining table has seen better days, opt for a neutral or dark linen tablecloth. Linen’s natural slub and organic texture will make your table feel inviting and warm, rather than the formal feel of white tablecloths or busy patterns.
Though organic textures are desirable for a scene like Athena's, try to avoid anything too rustic, such as hessian. While it adds nice texture, too much can make the table setting feel staged and novel. Keep the linens approachable, practical, and washable.
If you have a long trestle-style table, a central linen runner is a great choice to frame your food selections. You can even use a small tablecloth and gather it into informal pleats to narrow it for your table. Try draping it around your dishes to form Grecian-style drapes similar to Athena’s design.
Curate Vegetable Centerpieces
Full of naturally diverse textures and colors, vegetables are, in my view, a hugely underrated Christmas table centerpiece.
I love their natural character and architectural qualities – a bunch of gnarly carrots with their naturally tufted tops will always put a smile on my face. But what I love in particular about Athena’s display is her use of the produce's natural tones and how it forms the base of a harvest-inspired palette. The rich dark purples, shaded greens, and golden yellow highlights all come together to form a cozy autumnal setting that complements the served food.
But choosing the right vegetables is crucial to making this design a success.
When curating your vegetable centerpiece collection, first ensure your picks will complement your harvest color scheme. Then, look for a combination of larger vegetables that can stand on their own, and smaller pieces that can be grouped. For dark greens, I'd suggest cavolo nero, Savoy cabbage, and romanesco cauliflower; purples can be covered with red cabbage and figs (both beautiful when cut in half); for golden yellows, look for courgette flowers and russet apples — bonus points if you can find apples with their stems and leaves still in place.
Designer Kelly Wearstler also created a beautiful holiday table with vegetable centerpieces, too, if you're after further inspiration.
Create Height and Narrative
Creating height in food is usually one of my trickiest tasks, but it’s essential in leading the audience’s eye around an image. You want to create a story and narrative for the audience to follow, and the same principle applies to your tablescape.
For buffet tables, height is far easier to achieve in comparison to traditional dining table set-ups, where you need to consider guests being able to see one another. Tiered plates, cake stands, and footed bowls are a great starting point. From here, you can experiment with creating taller, more abundant piles of food and draping the food over the edges to break the crockery lines — this will give you a more informal feel.
Bunches of grapes are ideal for draping over footed bowls — leave a few grapes scattered around the base of the bowl, as if they’ve just gracefully fallen, to achieve a true Renaissance style.
One of my favorite ways to style breadsticks is in a ceramic jug. It adds instant height to a table, makes it easy for the diner, and the spiral the breadsticks create when upright is unlike any other food. I’ve used ceramic beer jugs before, but even a textured ceramic vase or tall mottled glass would work.
Historically Inspired Lighting
If there’s one thing I know for certain, there’ll be no overhead dining room lighting on at my holiday gatherings.
We all know how important lighting is in influencing mood and atmosphere, and in Athena’s table setting, candlelight plays a crucial supporting role to the produce. Here, candles aren’t just for atmosphere; they’re used to frame the food and play on a historical feasting scene.
Rough cast-iron candlestick holders create a beautiful juxtaposition against the more elegant silver footed bowls and long tapered dinner candles. In an evening setting, matching the candlestick holders to the table color will give the impression that the candles are floating within the scene too, gently picking up the food’s highlights and leaving heavy Renaissance-style shadows. If opting for candlesticks, try to find wax colours that are darker than the classic ivory candles. Mid greys and browns will allow the food to be the real highlight.
Lighting is a great way to play with different heights on your buffet table as well. Go tall with tapered candles, or pick up low lights around the table with scattered tea lights. In my experience, the more informal you are with the lighting, the better. Pick tea light holders or candles in all different heights and materials, and scatter them along the table. Just be sure to keep them out of the line of reach for your guests; no one needs a burnt hand when they’re trying to pick up an olive.
Complementary Foliage
Though we want the food to be the focus, flowers and foliage can certainly support the scene — especially if they’re seasonally appropriate. Steer clear of bright blooms; they fight against the naturally wintry scene. But architectural branches, leaves and catkins can add texture that complements your food offerings.
Sticking to the same tonal palette as your produce is going to be your failsafe here. Just like in Athena’s kitchen island, the autumnal reds, oranges, and neutrals in the foliage are mirrored around the table in the cheese, bread, and even the golden honeycomb. The neutral stoneware vase blends into the lighter worktop, highlighting the saturated golden tones of the leaves and berries.
If you’re unsure where to start, look at your surroundings and what’s available in your garden and exterior. Orange Pyracantha is a wonderful hedge shrub adorned with orange berries this time of year. Silver Birch trees will have delicate catkins scattered along their branches, too. Placed in a large vase, they'll add great texture without pulling too much focus.
