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?

As I don't think anyone else has said this yet I thought I'd wade into this cutting edge discussion .... we call it a 'platter' in this house. Always involves cheese.

Picky tea! Has been ever since we were children.

Snack Plate! DCs favourite

That's a "cold collation" in our family...

A ‘bitsa’. Because it’s bitsa this and bitsa that 😂

No idea where it came from!

We had one last night:
half a chicken Kiev each
some cold beef
left over brocolli and sweet corn from dinner the night before
A bowl of raw carrots
some frozen tomato pasta from last week
the end of the coleslaw
Last 4 pieces of an uncut loaf

I hate waste and we freeze all leftovers even when it’s not enough on its own for a full meal - so we have a bitsa about once a week with a random variety!

Bitty tea

Nibbly Bits or Nibbles

A neighbour, years ago, used to call it a buffet (to rhyme with Little Miss Muffet).

The buffets tended to happen on the days before doing her weekly shop, and consisted of trawling through the cupboards and dumping whatever was about to run out on the table.
Packets of biscuits with 2 left, packet of ham with 1 slice left, 1/2 tin of baked beans that had been left in a Tupperware container since last week, the end of a block of cheese, 2 pickled onions in a jar, etc; a glorious mish mash of total shit with the triumphant cry of "There you go kids, we're having a buffet!"
😄
Chaos then ensued, with everyone desperate to elbow their way to the least shit of the leftovers.
That, folks, is the way to do a buffet
Great days...

When my kids were young their favourite tea was ‘fish’ which meant fish in the cupboard and fridge for what you fancy as long as you prepare it yourself!

A spread
Would also call it a Vesper or Jause, but that’s after years spent in Austria and then south Germany. Brotzeit would be standard German - bread time!

We call it a 'Nicpic' Tea as one of the DC always called it that as it's her favourite dinner.

Or we have 'Freezer Surprise' if it's random leftovers from the freezer.

North east, we call it dive in.

I'd call it "leftovers". If it was just bread and cheese and stuff and didn't involve any actual leftovers, I'd call it "sandwiches".

It’s a table picnic in our house and is a favourite treat dinner

Is picky short for picnic? 🤢.
Picky and snacky... Why??

A bits and pieces tea here!

Bits and bobs in our house.

My mum called it Grandma tea because it's what we had at Grandma's!

Growing up : bits and bobs
In this house : Eat up lunch

A bit against the grain but I would call it a deli lunch

Dib dabs or party tea.

Bloody love a party tea.

Pizza, chicken goujons, quiche or sausage rolls, bread, dips, salad.

Not keen on picky bits, makes it sound like it might involve bogies.

I call it Fridge Surprise

The random contents of the fridge plus bread / crackers / breadsticks etc. Could be leftovers, cheese, ham, hummus, salad stuff, or all the above.

Picky bits just makes me think of loads of hands grabbing at the food, pulling bits off etc the very reason I hate buffets!

Sgtmajormummy

Yes, smorgasbord was the 80s version of the 70s buffet.

"Smorgasbord" was always the meal after Christmas lunch.

Then we'd have Boxing Day brunch (gigantic cooked breakfast) after that.

Then "smorgasbord" for that evening and the next day or two afterwards.

Then back to cooking normal meals.

I'd have actually called the "smorgasbord" a "buffet" but elder DD had come across the word so it stuck.

Wouldn't occur to me to serve that as an evening meal otherwise unless in an emergency.

Oh, yuk - forgot to say "picky bits": yuk!

Notso

Picky bits just makes me think of loads of hands grabbing at the food, pulling bits off etc the very reason I hate buffets!

Yes.