Do you know what I’m seeing everywhere at the moment and really turns my stomach?

[TheChosenTwo]

Those revolting ‘grazing boards’, also ‘grazing boxes’.
Now I hate different types of food touching each other at the best of times but these things really make my stomach churn!
If you don’t know what they are, I’ll see if I can find a pic to attach.
Just an ugly mishmash of food which has no place being squished against something else, with everyone digging their fingers about it all to get the bits they want, are there plates involved or do people literally stand over these eating them?
I can’t be the only person who thinks these are vile! The waste must be ridiculous too.
The boxes remind me of kids packed lunch boxes, things all smooshed together crumbing up things with no crumbs
Bleurgh.
What turns your stomach? Humour me, make me feel like less of a weirdo

@Uramaki

How do you get a cracker and cheese without coming into contact with anything else? Is it like a food version of operation and you need tweezers?

I think it must be, no thanks I'm not playing that I'd rather go hungry.

@TheChosenTwo

Those revolting ‘grazing boards’, also ‘grazing boxes’. Now I hate different types of food touching each other at the best of times but these things really make my stomach churn! If you don’t know what they are, I’ll see if I can find a pic to attach. Just an ugly mishmash of food which has no place being squished against something else, with everyone digging their fingers about it all to get the bits they want, are there plates involved or do people literally stand over these eating them? I can’t be the only person who thinks these are vile! The waste must be ridiculous too. The boxes remind me of kids packed lunch boxes, things all smooshed together crumbing up things with no crumbs Bleurgh. What turns your stomach? Humour me, make me feel like less of a weirdo

Oh thank God I look at these and think “but stuff is TOUCHING” and when it’s sweet touching savoury or wet touching dry it’s even worse.

'The ham is touching the party rings' is my favourite sentence on mumsnet bar none.

They turn my stomach too. No amount of posters explaining that they can be OK can change that. YANBU OP.

I think it is the next step on from serving food in idiotic things like slippers and flat hats instead of plates.

Yuck not envy!

I've just realised what that photo reminds me of.

it looks like the bottom of the bin when you take out the bin bag but it had split and random crap fell out.

@GreyhoundG1rl

It's just randoms shit dumped on a table A neighbour of ours when I was a kid used to tell her children "We're having a buffet!!" when the cupboard was looking a bit bare. Said buffet consisted of every bit of food left in the house (one packet of crisps, the last two biscuits in a packet, two slices of ham, the end of a block of cheese, a wrinkly tomato, type stuff) unceremoniously dumped on the table and everyone told to "help yourselves". It was like feeding time at the fucking zoo. Got to hand it to you, Imelda, you were ahead of your time 😂

I used to do this with my kids when I finished work late and we just had odds and sods in!! They loved it!!

Hang on, I thought grazing was bad for you?! Is that what people are doing these days instead of three square meals?

I stayed at a hotel in Spain during the pandemic (long story) and for the breakfast buffet each person had their own individual set of bamboo tongs so they didn't have to touch anything that anyone else had touched. I thought it was such a good idea! Bamboo is very sustainable and it really helped make it feel more hygienic. *misses point of thread....

@BringMeTea

'The ham is touching the party rings' is my favourite sentence on mumsnet bar none.

🤣🤣🤣 I hate that sentence Although I’m pretty sure party rings aren’t suitable for vegetarians anyway, so I’ve always had them in my head as containing some kind of meat …

I’m fine with a graze board but I don’t like it when people put wet food with dried food. The dry food will go soggy! Also don’t like the idea of a random person touching stuff and shoving it all together in a box to deliver - why would you want a box with half a packet of crisps and a few sweets and other crap all shoved together?

Is that millionaire's shortbread the ham is laconically resting on in Op's picture? And half a peeled orange buttressing nicely against ham, cheese, crackers, maltesers and blackberries, the other half of the orange has to contend with cheese, olives, crackers and salami.

Plates and bowls have been invented, this food crash is not necessary.

I saw this “graze box” advertised near me. There are BUBBLES in with the food!

On a board so things are actually separated out is OK. In a box so everything is mixed in together is not. When I first read your post OP I actually thought you were a bit bat shit (sorry!), with the food not touching thing, but from the photos of the boxes I can completely see your point. Sweet stuff really shouldn't all be mixed in with savory stuff for starters. I do like a good restaurant quality sharing platter (preferably only shared with the OH, group sharing is a bit off putting), but some of the home delivery box stuff advertised since lockdown looks like ridiculously poor value. There's someone on a local Facebook group who does these, and it's all very obviously cheap crap from the supermarket. Does anyone actually order those? Why not just get a supermarket delivery of snacks and save a fortune? The box adds nothing.

ah, we all need to build up our immune systems again, a few of other peoples germs left behind from digging in are just the ticket.

Haha @ejhhhhh that’s okay, my family think I’m batshit crazy and they’re probably right but I can’t even see any of them thinking this is a pleasant way to eat food!

As a coeliac this is the stuff of nightmares. The cross contamination there 😱. Even a fully gluten free one would be a bit grim though. I prefer things plated. I bet this trend will be on the naff list in a couple of years.

It looks like the bin bag at the end of a party has been tipped out onto a table.

There's no phasing, everything goes out all at once. It is too much like a trough. It looks like the caterers have dumped the food and run.

They look delicious and my type of food.

The word grazing makes me feel like a feckin’ cow though.

I have a real aversion to soft/damp food touching anything supposed to be dry anyway, I am clearly not the target audience

I would happily have my snacks on one of those toddler plates with the separate compartments.

@SilverOak

I saw this “graze box” advertised near me. There are BUBBLES in with the food!

Graze box is quite a stretch for that. They should be advertising shit lunch box surely

It looks like the bin bag at the end of a party has been tipped out onto a table

Exactly this!

@SmugglersHaunt

Any homemade food that’s brought to a second location has the ability to make me want to projectile vomit. A picnic where people bring things they’ve made at home (or to a shudder ‘pot luck’) makes me want to hurl myself into a crevasse.

Eating peoples homemade food in their own home is fine for some reason. Homemade food brought to a second location cannot be tolerated and must be punished.

No post on MN has ever so closely described how I feel.

This!