Peter Hadley delivered newspapers on horseback on weekends as a child. His family garden gave him an appreciation for fresh food and green, growing things at a young age.
Hadley’s food journey began in Amherst as a pastry chef and included stints in Boston and Cape Cod, adding experience as a restaurant owner and a pastry chef to the mix.
Today, Hadley is the chef and owner of Bash Catering in Greenfield. Hadley and his small, but efficient team produce events that range from small, intimate dinners to gatherings for 2,000 people. He also works as a personal chef. Bash Catering serves all of Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire and Connecticut, incorporating farm-fresh ingredients while accommodating his client’s vision for the event.
Rather than offer a slate of standard menus for weddings, life celebrations and holiday parties, Hadley collaborates with each client to craft menus that fit their occasion, venue and guest list. An event planner at heart, Hadley offers help with tent rental, flowers, DJs, bands — even linen colors to further support the client.
Fresh antipasto skewers sourced from local farms. Credit: Contributed / PETER HADLEY 
Vegan gluten-free lemon cake with strawberry rhubarb compote. Strawberries from Warner Farm. Credit: Contributed / PETER HADLEY 
Wild mushrooms from Livingstone Mycology for wild mushroom risotto. Credit: Contributed / PETER HADLEY
By shopping for ingredients himself, Hadley chooses the freshest ingredients while keeping to the budget. He says, “I don’t have any big trucks bringing in deliveries. Everything is hand-shopped, so I get the best deals. When fair trade ingredients are on sale at the co-op, I’ll buy those ingredients in bulk.” Hadley continues, “It’s actually cheaper that I go shopping by myself because when these big trucks are coming in with all this stuff, they’re charging an upcharge for delivery.”
Relationships with farmers, fishermen and small markets are the key to how Hadley is able to source according to the client’s wishes. “When I worked on the Cape, I started incorporating raw bars into events and people loved it. I had relationships with oyster farmers out there that made it easy, and this year we started offering raw bars out here too.”
While western Mass is a reach for getting a tuna or sea bass off the boat, Hadley now relishes access to pasture-raised meat from farms who treat animals humanely. When the customer prefers, the chef purchases from Bostrom Farm and Diemand Farm and others in the region for meats, poultry and eggs.
With a variety of menus and themes for events, Hadley finds supplies of fruits and vegetables at Just Roots, Clarkdale Fruit Farms and other farms in Franklin County and Vermont. A regular shopper, the chef can be found at the Franklin Community Co-op’s Green Field’s Market location, where he selects cheese from Chase Hill, Cabot and Thomas Farm. Hadley says, “Cabot just came out with a fabulous, new sharp cheddar. It’s unbelievable torched on apples.”
He is an enthusiastic supporter of the Greenfield Farmers’ Market, where he picks up mushrooms from Livingstone Mycology, maple syrup from Sunrise Farms, and meat from Meadowfed Lamb.
Hadley says, “I write menus based on what’s in season and also I recognize that people have clear ideas of what they want for a particular occasion.” On some occasions, the chef has cooked family recipes of clients for life events, allowing the hosts to be present and attend to family and friends while they still enjoy the comfort of beloved dishes.
On other occasions, clients adhere to dietary profiles for which the chef and his team bring vegan or gluten-free celebrations to new heights. As a pastry chef, Hadley is particularly skilled at baking for these guests.
Cultural celebrations are a chance for the Bash team to learn new recipes. Hadley recalls a mehndi party, which is a South Asian pre-wedding event. “I just did a mehndi celebration, and I made all this Indian food. At first, it was intimidating to step into a menu that was completely new to me, but the guests loved it and my team loved pulling it together.”
In the end, it is the people that bring Hadley joy about Bash Catering. He says, “I just love meeting people. I love my staff — I really love my staff — and I just love bringing it all together to make people smile around food.”
Hadley concludes, “Some people eat to live and others live to eat. People gather for Thanksgiving and other occasions that celebrate food. The Valley is just so full of rich beautiful foods, so we might as well put it all together to make every occasion special.”
Learn more about Bash Catering, so you can sit back and relax while someone else handles all the details for your next event. See their website at bash-catering.com or call 774-216-9309 to plan an event.
Lisa Goodrich is a Communications Coordinator with Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture (CISA). To find restaurants and caterers sourced from local farms, see CISA’s online guide at buylocalfood.org/find-it-locally.
