Afternoon Tea - how can anyone eat it all?

I’m not a ‘competitive under eater’ but I can’t eat a full afternoon tea. I’m a little and often person. Surely it isn’t that hard to understand that some people just take home a box with the leftovers?

I have been to quite a few afternoon teas and myself and all the people I have been with managed to eat everything.

Bottomless brunch is great especially when cocktails are included

They will be so so disappointingly absolutely tiny in real life.

Also, skip lunch.

I can eat the lot without even thinking about it! But then, i don't really ever have the "full" feeling

Our local place does 2 cakes, a scone and a sandwich but they are all full size. Whatever you don’t eat they box up to take home. Sometimes we eat it all but more often we have the sandwich, one scone between us and then share some of the cake there then take the other scone and cakes home to eat in the evening with a glass of wine while watching TV. I have had ones where their 4 sandwiches equate to half of a normal one and their 6 cakes would be smaller than a single slice. That kind is nice too for trying lots of different bits

I went for afternoon tea last week. 3 fingers of sandwich (2 slices of bread with crusts off), one very small savoury (a tiny sausage roll), a large scone with jam and cream, a macaroon, slice of lemon drizzle cake, a slice of mango roulade and a chocolate cake. All the cakes were small. A couple of bites. I ate it all. It was a lovely treat. Not something to have too often but really enjoyable. Washed down with plentiful tea and took about 90 minutes over it. I had the tea between 3pm and 4.30pn, skipped dinner and had a bowl of porridge before bed.

If it’s anything like the cream tea we got at Angel’s near Torquay, the cakes were a generous full-size cake slice each, plus a doorstep toasted sandwich and 2 home made scones with jam and clotted cream. Unlimited tea and a jug of water.

Expensive (+/-£18 each) but delicious and what we brought home in boxes did us packed lunch the next day.

Easily. But I always have it as “lunch” or if it is late afternoon I don’t have dinner after.

I have never fancied afternoon tea because it looks too weighted towards sweet stuff like cakes and scones. I'd be happy with the sandwiches and maybe a few savoury things and one wee cake. I'm more of a cheese and crackers and crisps kinda gal, so I should probably stay away from anything a bit posh😆

Be hungry and ask for a box for any parts you can't manage/don't fancy at the time.

They're really not as big as you're imagining though - it's no more filling than a main meal and dessert.

I'm a brilliant eater but I can't get on with afternoon tea. I have to have a bit of lunch or I feel waffey and then I end up feeling sick with the tea. I can do the sandwiches but the cakes are too sweet and I always feel ugh and have to take the scone home. I must be going to the wrong places

I took DD to afternoon tea once when she was 3, I managed to eat most of hers and my own.
I can eat huge quantities of cake and sandwiches/savories.

Stealth competitive under-eating at it’s finest. Take a bow OP.

Go or don’t go. Nobody cares. Just spare us the orthorexia.

I don't have much of a sweet tooth so I eat the sandwiches (and extras if they are nice!), a scone, maybe one cake and then ALWAYS take the cakes home for the kids. Every place I have been to will provide a doggy bag.

I love afternoon tea. I really want a scone now.

I've never had a problem eating an afternoon tea. Give it a try, you might surpass expectations!

Damn - I was going to go with that one 🤣🤣

I had afternoon tea at Bettys recently and was not stuffed afterwards. There were either 3 or 4 cakes each. But each cake was not even a mouthful, they were French macaron size (one was a macaron). 3 mini sandwiches each - you could ask for more for free and a tiny mouth size mini quiche. I stopped in the shop for a Fat Rascal on the way out 😁

If you browse the pictures of afternoon teas on these sites like Groupon, Wowcher, it's clear that the cakes are teeny tiny. Couple of bites. They take them from weird close up angles or with nothing else in the background for scale to make it look like you get masses of cake, but don't.

No wonder we have an obesity crisis is the other catchphrase.

🤣

I'm not going to an afternoon tea that only serves the corner of the sandwich, I want the whole thing

I definitely couldn't eat it all as a snack but it makes a very filling lunch. I would ask for a box to take it home or wrap in a napkin and put in my bag. You've already paid for it and it will only go in the bin, it depends on how squishable the foods are, though!

Six sandwich corners? You mean… 3 slices of bread altogether? faint

AND cakes??

🙄

Easy. Shove over. Pass it all here.

We haven't had "lost sight of what a healthy afternoon tea looks like" for the win.

Surely it’s a joyful, indulgent experience that you only do once in a while? There’s no need for vapours over it! I take my young adult god-daughters out for tea in London occasionally and they love it! They always manage to scoff the lot and if I leave anything I get it boxed up and they take it back home with them to share with flat mates.