Afternoon Tea - how can anyone eat it all?

@YourPinkDogYes a piece of cake is a treat. You’re talking. 3 or 4!

If you have to ask why maybe you should overhaul your diet.

It is a treat.

Why? Will I combust?!
Unclench. It’s not meant to be a daily meal, a few times a year is absolutely fine.
Nothing bad will happen if you only eat cake for 24hrs. I’ve done it.

Really not a good idea to eat more than one cake in one sitting. A few sandwiches and one cake is lunch. Several sandwiches and several cakes is excessive.

Actually I don’t want any scones, either. Just lots of little savoury sandwiches with the crusts cut off. No fancy open sandwiches, thanks - just proper triangular ones, like I used to make for dds’ parties - mostly scoffed by the parents, and dh would be exceedingly miffed if he found none left when he got home!

I would never have a go at someone for eating only a little, and sometimes my DDs don't have a big appetite, and I have never said "finish your plate" or anything like that. But I do hate it when people say it in such a way, when eating as a group, that no-one feels they can order what they want, according to their appetite, or is food shamed into ordering less than they had wanted to eat. Particularly as, since I am watching my weight, when I am going to have a nice meal out I will probably have not eaten very much beforehand and could eat a scabby horse through a gate at that point.

With certain groups of women it is all "Oh I could only eat half a bagel!" The scene in Julie & Julia when they are all having tiny salads with no dressing perfectly illustrates it. I'm so glad my oldest group of friends are not like that and all have good appetites and are not silly or judgy about food. And are all slim- I'm not quite as slim as they are but I'm not massive either.

6 corners are basically 1 sandwich and a half with NO crust! So probably more like 1 sandwich, and 4 bite sized cakes (it's not like 4 massive slices of cake) and a couple of bite size sausage rolls. I can definitely finish that! 😂

I want to go to afternoon tea with these dainty eaters. I will eat their leftovers quite happily.

Another 'Dainty' eater who wonders who these strange people are, the ones that 'hoover' up loads of grub. These are the worst people to eat out with, picking at their food.
Most afternoon teas are small sandwiches (no crust), small cakes and a couple of medium scones. I just have a small cereal in the morning and after the Tea, I have a small meal in the evening. Or large, depending how my body can Hoover up.

This roughly is what I shared with my mum at The Savoy for her 80th a few years ago (not the smoked salmon which I think is part of high tea). Plus delicate sandwiches. Definitely several small cakes and a scone each and a very extensive choice of tea. We took our time and perhaps struggled slightly after the scones but had no problem finishing the lot. Then we stayed a bit longer and had cocktails in the bar.

And gullible! I get very worried about the alleged performance undereaters when there's a strong wind or they walk over a grate. Keep safe.

The obesity problem is not down to people having afternoon tea once in a blue moon. Of course it's a "fancy way to justify wild over-indulgence". Nothing at all is wrong with wild over-indulgence every now and then, it doesn't need justification anyway. It is supposed to be a treat, like attending a banquet or a wedding feast or a fancy dinner out, or having a multiple course tasting menu with paired wine. It's not meant to be something people have regularly and I would guess most people have it once in a while.

If you don't enjoy it, don't do it, no-one is forcing you, but don't put the kibosh on other people's fun or start threads about how awful it is that women could possibly enjoy spending the afternoon eating lots of cake and drinking champagne, or boggle at how possibly someone could eat so many carbs at once.

I went to one in London a few years ago where it was sweet shop themed. Not only did we have a decent amount at the table plus our doggy bag to go home, but as an extra you get to fill a bag of pic n mix sweets as you left.

I can eat almost any number of the little sandwiches. You can keep the cakes, though.

On the way back from the West Country a few years ago we stopped off in a little town and had a 'Savoury Cream Tea' . . . two cheese scones with cream cheese and sweet chilli jam. It was lovely. Just the right amount

A long time ago, when my DN was a student in Plymouth, I visited her for a weekend. We went to an antiques centre and there was a cafe serving Chocolate Cream Teas. What's not to like, we thought! 😂We were given a chocolate chip scone with clotted cream (it was massive), a slice of chocolate gateau and a mug of hot chocolate with cream, marshmallows and a chocolate flake. Now I really like chocolate but this completely defeated me and I would never, ever choose this type of afternoon tea again!

@Yerroblemom1923 it was so good, that’s about the size of the afternoon teas we’ve had here (Australia)

@MaitlandGirl now that I could probably cope with!

You mean the Ampersand?
Don't worry about it when we went my son ate bugger all because it was too overwhelming and the vast majority came back in a box

I haven't done it much but I treat it as the whole day's food, especially if you take some of it home.

*have dinner in the evening 😆

We love afternoon tea - we got married in a chocolate cafe with an afternoon tea so have one every anniversary.

The portions really aren’t that big - this is one we had last year at The Langham in Sydney.

Due to food allergies we had a separate cake stand each, and the scones were wrapped up in the tea towel on the bottom plate.

I can see off an entire afternoon tea with no trouble, but I wouldn't have lunch or dinner that day. On the rare occasion I have been bested by one, they've been happy to give a takeaway box.

Puts me in mind of a friend of mine who says 'I can never eat a whole McDonald's cheeseburger,it's just TOO much'. 😳

Yes because I'm fat