Independently owned food establishments catered Wednesday’s Female Factor meeting, providing a unique “Taste of Troy” for the holiday season.

Twelve different establishments provided appetizers, dishes, drinks and desserts for the occasion, and not a woman in the room left without a smile on her face.

“We don’t just sip on The Square,” joked Lindsay Taylor, owner of Sips on the Square. “And it’s not just pizza that we do. We also deliver and most people aren’t aware of that.”

The establishments that catered at Female Factor included Milky Moo’s with loaded baked potato soup, Crawdaddy Camps with pulled pork, The Pig Café with beef tips and rice, Olde Enzor Lane with pimento cheese and crackers, Sister’s Restaurant with banana pudding, Troy Regional Medical Center with dressing and cranberry sauce, Sips on the Square with pizza, Dolce with a variety of dessert tarts, Cakes by Joyce with sugar cookies, Cupcakes for Italy with a variety of mini cupcakes, Horn Beverage with bottled ICE drinks and water and a Shaklee representative with a taste of an energizing drink.

Other business owners showed off some items that they are not typically known for. Patti Davis, owner of Milky Moo’s, brought her loaded baked potato soup, Jamey McDaniel from Dolce brought dessert tarts and the TRMC dietary department brought casserole to tie in the holiday theme.

“Our food at Troy Regional is second to none,” said Karen Herring, marketing director at TRMC. “They do a fabulous job.”

Other owners are not seen in a store, but work from their home. Allyson Gramley, along with her daughter Meredith, bake cupcakes to raise money for their yearly mission trips to Italy.

“This started as an opportunity to bring home-cooked foods to university students,” Gramley said. Gramley is an athletic director at Troy University. “It spun into an opportunity to help us go to Italy.”

Each vendor not only is independently owned, but they all offer catering, and provided information on how to receive their services for the holidays.

Female Factor, sponsored by Troy Regional Medical Center, among other local sponsors, holds a meeting the second Wednesday of each month at noon at The Studio in Downtown Troy.