To not heat my dinner plate?

My mother did, she was very confused if she ever caught me eating hot food off a cold plate. I do if I'm using the oven, but I don't bother otherwise. I should do though as I'm a ridiculously slow eater so my food's always stone cold by the time I'm halfway through. I used to use the hob for 20 seconds or so, but I once forgot to take the plate off in time and it exploded. So I don't do that anymore! I'm not fussed enough to use boiling water or buy a special gadget, but I would love a warming drawer if I had room.

Yes sorry - roasts and fish and chips

this is just one of those mad things with no explanation

like the thread where someone didn’t have “their side of the bed” what!!! 🧟‍♀️

There might be steam but the food is already cooling down unevenly. Some parts wlll still be roasting hot (eg a roast potato, enough to burn your mouth), and the gravy and some part of the veg may be almost cold within a few minutes especially at the edges.

A restaurant wouldn't do that.

We have a whole part of our oven that is warming oven! , I had no idea what it was until mil came to stay and fired it up

never used it since

I heat for a roast

if she asked you the way you detail in your post she’d get it over her head!

Yep, I'd be really put off somewhere who brought me supposedly hot food on a totally cold plate which was already lukewarm by the time I was eating it.

I think it’s generational. My parents do it and comment on the food being cold if I don’t (even though you can see the steam coming off the food)

This thread has been such an eye opener! I had no idea people warmed plates at home, honestly not heard of it before. Parents or grandparents never did it.
Just thought it was a restaurant thing with their big lights that keep the plates warm because they are serving so many different items at a time.
Currently eating dinner and can’t stop looking at my cold plate 😂

My family were never plate heaters but mil converted me. It makes the food nicer for longer. I always heat my plates in microwave for a couple of minutes. You can really tell in restaurants where plates arnt heated, food goes cold so quickly

I don’t think it’s weird to heat or not to heat. It’s just a personal preference. For some reason DP and I warm plates for fish and chips but nothing else, no idea why!

Same here ! He is actually obsessed by this ! I just leave him to get on with it !

If I can put them on top of the Air Fryer or chuck them in the oven at the end then maybe. Wouldn’t consider starting up an appliance like boiling a kettle. Total waste of energy.

I always heat my plate, I can't stand cold food and my mum is the same so I must have inherited this habit 😅

If you're eating with others it doesn't matter if your food is put out a bit hot - you can just chat to your family/friends, surely? Or you're busy checking everyone has a drink or you're putting a couple of things in the sink/dishwasher?

I’m in my late thirties and a ridiculously fast eater. I heat my plates, always have done, even in my student days. I felt I’d really made it when I got a warming drawer installed about 7 years ago.

I hate cold plates and I really hate hot food going cold.

Oh god, the obsession with warming plates. My dad drives me and my sister up the wall. He once asked me, more than an hour before dinner, if I'd heated the plates.

I've heated my plate my whole adult life, so not sure if it's an age thing. Nothing worse that hot food on a cold plate. Restaurants mostly always serve on hot plates.

I don't bother. My mum does. My stepdad was very cross once after I served him and my mum a roast dinner on cold plates - no thanks for all the effort I'd gone to, just muttering about the plates.

I hate it when my food is too hot to eat.

Always heat my plates, in warming oven while cooking. Have always done so, mid 40’s now.
Hate eating off cold plates

It’s good for people who eat slowly (slows down the food cooling down so it’s still warm at the end) - and older people do tend to eat slower.

It’s also handy when you are serving lots of different things thar have been put in serving dishes etc so might not be “straight from the oven/pan” hot temperatures. When people didn’t have microwaves or large number of hobs etc, it was often the case something like your potatoes would be still cooking but your peas were in a serving dish etc. was a way of covering up some things having cooled a bit.

My parents heat up plates for everything, even toast. They’ve been known to microwave just cooked food on the hot plates to make it nuclear hot. This means food is always too hot and often overcooked. It’s an obsession which makes meals even more stressful. They can’t just plate up a takeaway without everything basically being recooked.

I hate it. I’d never heat up plates unless it’s arctic winter then I might pop the plate next to the cooker to take the edge off.

Cold plates are just so sad.

Aldi is literally the road to hell for making you buy things you never ever considered before in your life and didn't have a clue you needed.

<looks askance at new £4.99 hermetically sealing bath pillow>

I nearly always heat the plates, except if there is salad on it or a bread bun or something. Nothing worse than a pasta sauce or gravy quietly congealing and going cold at the edges. Or cold fried egg. DH sometimes doens't bother, and the young adults don't either, but they wolf their food down in 5 mins and are still blowing on it even during their last mouthful.

I eat at a normal speed and like my food to stay hot. I think for anyone who is a slow eater, like an older person, it's only nice to heat their plates, otherwise their food will be cold by the time they get to the end, especially in winter.