Plate up or self serve?

I’m a self serve person, and that’s what we do in my house. Then everyone gets what they want/ will eat.

My parents and wider family are mostly not self serve people- my Dad is particularly not keen on self serving but idk why as he’s fussy and difficult to please. But he’s ridiculous about food generally.

So true. As with so many things there's a class divide with this. Middle class pass serving dishes around at the table.
I'd never known anyone who plated up until I was in my twenties and had the misfortune to have to stay with my then boyfriend's father and his latest girlfriend. We went to this woman's house and she cooked a meal, dolloped everything on each person's plate and we had to eat it from our knees as they didn't have a dining table. We then had to go to a dreadful pub on the Scotland Road in Liverpool, I wondered why this woman had taken a holdall with her but it became clear when she filled it with dirty glasses and used ashtrays from the pub to take home. Apparently she'd never bought a glass because she always stole them from pubs.
So in my mind plating up at home is associated with the worst type of people, never experienced it in the 40 years since then.

I plate up but it's just me, DH and the kids.

Self-serve when I'm cooking.
DP loves plating up and invariably 'over-serves'. He's also a fan of 'we should finish what's on our plates and not waste'. It definitely leads to overeating as a PP suggested. Urgh.

And?

Dishes in the centre of the table, everything gets passed around and people take what they want. Turkey is carved and people say how much they want.
Plating up should only take place in a restaurant.

The phrase plate up is very council

And there’s the nub of it.

If you’ve got a kitchen island and a dishwasher and serving dishes and a big dining table and family who can be arsed with all that polite dish-passing while their dinner’s getting cold, you’ll not understand those of us who are happy with “give us a plateful while it’s hot”.

Serving dishes on the table so that everyone can take what they need.

Warm plates. Serving platters on the table and everyone can plate portion sizes to suit themselves. Works fine here but only a table of 6.

I wonder if it's a generational/regional thing.
Growing up, as PP, the turkey would be carved and plated and the trimmings were self serve.
My (in her 80s) MIL plates up. There are usually 9 of us for Christmas. Some only eat white meat, some prefer the red; some like bread sauce, others don't; some prefer roast potatoes, others mashed. She remembers it all.
I much prefer self serve.

Space?

Self serve,I don’t understand why anyone would portion out the meat unless it’s in short supply so the portions need to be controlled. My husband will carve the turkey at the table, we all just then help ourselves.

I Really dislike food being portioned for me unless in a restaurant, and I wish my guests ti eat as much or little as they please of each element.

Yes this, it is controlling and she even put the gravy on. Prefer self serve

Also my dps had a dishwasher and plenty of dishes/crockery and that makes a difference

Bit of both , I put the meat , a couple of roast potatoes ( apart from my plate , as I don’t like roast potatoes) and some gravy on the plates. , then the rest of the veg in serving dishes and more gravy in a gravy jug in the middle of the table
( unless it’s just DH and I , and we just dish up from the saucepans and go from there )

Your poor MIL.

Sounds like she was being thoughtful while a new mum was preoccupied with a baby!

Self-serve is the norm for us but I do plate up things like noodles/spaghetti that would be harder to distribute equitably otherwise.

We have a big table and Christmas dinner is 20+ people, everything goes in the middle of the table in serving dishes and everyone helps themselves. Dh and I don’t know who wants what or how much and we aren’t wasting time faffing about finding out after spending essentially 3 days prepping and cooking!

self serve. We do this for every meal. We have a big island and put the food out - in chafing dishes for a big crowd/big occasion. If having 4 or 6 for a dinner party I might put dishes in the centre of the table but I find serving yourself from the island way better. Even though we have a big enough table the "can you pass the potatoes/veg/meat" a bit of a pain. I usually put gravy and any sauces on the table

I don't get exercised about it (happily eat with friends who plate up - lovely food too) but really prefer for people not to decide what goes on my plate.

We have a small dining table so we plate up meat in the kitchen, and self serve everything else which we put on the table.

As an alternative view point, my mother thinks self serve is rude and inhospitable to guests, so plates up everything.

Self serve. I've got some of the heated buffet servers, so everything goes in those on the breakfast bar and people can help themselves. Makes it easier with regards to leftovers too.

i plate due to space but my guests eat everything and have big appetites so it works well
Extra pigs in blankets, stuffing, and the caulk cheese on the table

This exactly, stuff touches <shudder>

Most restaurants put food next to not on top of other things so I cope fine, plus I choose the food so I know what is going on the plate.
I COULD eat food pre plated with no other option but I really would rather not