Grazing tables...wtf?

That’s not a grazing table. That’s a cheese board. A grazing table is like a buffet but without plates/boards, etc.

We had a company do an entirely vegetarian one for us. It wasn’t for a large party, 30 people max, and I knew in advance that there weren’t any allergies or dietary requirements other than vegetarianism.

I agree it wouldn’t necessarily be suitable for something like a corporate event where you might not know about allergies and dietary requirements in advance, or for a private party where your guests had specific requirements - although the company we used could accommodate certain things (e.g. they could do a nut free table or a gluten free table etc).

We had one for a party a couple of years ago. It wasn’t straight onto the table; they lined the table with a long roll of extremely thick grease proof paper which all the food sat on. They also provided a large number of knives / scoops / obvs etc which people used to pick up the food. It really wasn’t any different to a buffet!

How do you know how clean your 'party goers' hands are? Hmm

^^

Ooh er missus

Scotch eggs pushed up against the pickled onions, salami underneath egg butties

^

Give me strength 😅

Food sitting for hours, no refrigeration, no sneeze guard, no protection against flies or fingers , flavours mingling ...no thanks

If you google and look at the images you’ll see what is meant.

I'm guessing there may be a large crossover between people who think these grazing tables are great and those who don't really believe in allergies and food intolerances, and think 'picky eaters' just need to get a grip of themselves or starve.

My query is because what I understand to be a grazing table can't possibly be suitable for the dietary restrictions mentioned. Well, I suppose you could do an entirely coeliac grazing table, for example, but that wouldn't make it vegetarian or kosher. It's not something that can cater for multiple dietary needs at once.

She doesn't mean that. Look at the pictures on the thread and google grazing tables for other examples. As far as I can make out (I've never been unfortunate enough to experience one of these myself) the person preparing the table covers it with plastic or foil and then covers every square millimetre with food. The whole point is that everything touches. It's a long way from the traditional buffet - something like the picture, everything on separate plates/trays.

Somehow, yes, to me they are - its that every square inch of table is covered in food I think.

Not saying I'm reasonable here, I might well be being a massive snob but it really pisses me off!

Are you sure you don't mean a buffet, with say a platter of cheese, another of ham, one of ordinary crackers, one of coeliac bread, etc? Ie the stuff on the platters is touching each other but it's the same so wouldn't contaminate?

How are all dietary requirements catered for when all the food is cross-contaminated?

It's not enough to just claim they are.

No Muslims, Jews, Hindus, coeliacs or vegans could eat anything on a table like that.

We are a pretty diverse team of Muslims, Jews, vegetarians and others so dietary restrictions are catered for.

I think they only exist on social media.

How does that address the issues of cross-contamination which is obviously happening even before anyone touches it?

Presume you have no colleagues with dietary requirements or food allergies, no Muslims, Hindus, Jews, vegetarians, vegans, coeliacs, etc. Or do they just go hungry?

We've had platters like these for work events. Everyone's really careful and uses provided cutlery, no one is touching food with their hands.

Not at all, and I can’t see where you are getting that from in my post - I wasn’t the person who mentioned cost originally. But it does seem very obvious to me that there will be much more wastage from the outset than with a buffet on plates, where things can be replenished from fresh stock as needed, or put away quickly if they aren’t popular, so they aren’t spoiled or wasted if not eaten immediately. So even if the intention isn’t to show wealth, presenting food in this way does show you are willing to throw away at least a proportion of the money you have spent, simply by muddling it all up together like this.

So you think they are deliberately set up to spoil food and make it inedible for guests, in order to show off how much food the hosts can waste?

I think because it’s obvious how much of it will be wasted, because nobody can eat wet crackers or wants melon-flavoured pork pies or salami-tainted Stilton, so a lot of the touching stuff will be scraped straight into a bin at the end.

I appreciate the presentation isn't very appealing, but how are they any more an ostentatious show of wealth than a buffet or sit down meal for any event?

AND... people present them like they're some AMAZING feat of culinary fucking genius... when in fact all that has been done is the opening of some fucking packets. Have a fucking Chufty Badge and lets go back to proper buffets with things on plates and platters and ideally, labels so we all know whats what!

I realllllllllllllllly dislike them and have for ages - to me they scream:

'LOOK AT THE HUGE PILES OF FOOD I CAN BUY WITH ALL OF MY MONEY'

Grossly excessive, and one step up from a pig-trough. Ditto all the comments about touching, allergies, food preferences etc etc. Nightmare and probably a shitload is wasted.

I often think that they might look nice for 5 mins, but if you're not at the front of the queue you'll just end up with the dregs looking like scrapings off plates. And so unhygienic. Yuck!

I have to admit the ones I’ve seen look absolutely amazing. Wouldn’t want to share with a bunch of strangers that I don’t know what their hygiene habits are like though.