What do you call this type of meal?

[tectonicplates]

I had never heard the term "picky tea" before joining MN.

I'm talking about the kind of meal where you have some slices of bread, a selection of vegetables and dips, cheese, and often some leftovers and things so it turns out a bit random. You put all the food in the middle of the table and everyone helps themselves.

What do you call this meal in your family?

I call it a buffet.

Buffet

Picnic dinner!

I too never came across the term before MN and don't use it myself. I would just call it a snack or light meal, I often have it.

Picky tea

Well... it’s a picky tea! I wonder if it’s a northern expression?

Picnic :)

Luckily when I first heard of a picky tea it was in a thread discussing what exactly you have, so I understood it through context. But if I'd just heard the phrase on its own, I would've have no idea what it meant.

That’s weird, when my children were little they used to call it a ‘pick tea’ but that was just their made up name for it! They’re obviously secretly northern!

If it includes sardines or a tortilla we call it tapas to posh it up a bit. Sometimes we shove the table over to the side so it looks like a buffet and play music; then DS calls it a party.

Pick n mix tea or when DD was little it was an 'itsa bitsa' tea

Picnic tea or buffet tea

If it includes sardines or a tortilla we call it tapas to posh it up a bit. Sometimes we shove the table over to the side so it looks like a buffet and play music; then DS calls it a party.

My favourite answer so far

Muck up tea in this house.

Round our house it's a 'Flatpack tea' or or 'Ikea'. Because of all the Self-assembly required.

Sometimes I'll do this but put tortillas out as a base and a pot of rice so we'll all make burritos - then (since the time I convinced my kids that Tortillas were from the Balkans) we'll be having "Bohemian wraps for tea".

I'll get my coat.

We just call it lunch as that is our normal lunch. We never do it in the evening.

I’m Northern and I’ve only ever heard it on here.
I would say free for all tea or buffet

A snack tea if it's regular bread and cheese and salad type stuff (although we usually call the evening meal dinner, not tea, If we've gone to a bit more effort with more fancy stuff I'd call it mezze. I've never heard 'picky tea' except on MN.

If we were having it in the evening it would just be called tea, as opposed to dinner which is a cooked meal. I've only ever heard the term picky tea on MN.

I suppose it could be called a buffet but to me that implies everyone walking along a serving table then sitting elsewhere, like at a party, as opposed to putting the food in the centre of the table and sitting round it.

We call it 'ifits' as in 'if it's there you can eat it' 😂

Sixes and sevens for toddlers. Put 6 or 7 bits on their plate and they 'get' to try a bite of each. I used to do it to try to get the bastards to eat a bigger variety of things at that age.
If for adults it's picky bits, which sounds awful now I think about it!

lunch! Kids call it DIY sandwiches.

We call it a tea party lunch here.

It's 'odds n sods' here if we are feeling posh and most of it is new, otherwise it's 'leftovers and bits' if it is mostly already in the fridge and mainly opened.