Anyone else obsessed with hot plates or is it just my mum?

[ditalini]

My mum is absolutely obsessed with keeping food hot and is convinced that hot food being put onto cold (or even warm) plates will make the food "freezing" in the time it takes for it to be brought to the table.

This caused much angst at Christmas when there was a constant juggle of needing space in the oven/microwave for cooking, and for endless piles of serving dishes and plates to heat up. (I am kind of with her on serving dishes although I wouldn't consider a meal ruined if they weren't red hot)

Both my brother and I have on separate occasions reassured her that no-one in our respective households is bothered by hot plates so if she needs the space she could just heat her and my dad's plates and we would be fine, but to no avail.

Obviously when she eats at my house I make sure her and my dad's plates are hot as this is her preference.

So, what is it with hot plates people? As I stood at a sink of very hot water on Christmas Day dunking plates I really was wondering.

(She also has a thing about pasta going cold and shrieks from the kitchen to eat up before it freezes as I'm carrying plates through)

@MountainAshley

I don't like eating a hot meal from a cold plate. I like my food to stay hot while I eat. I'm surprised by the replies so far!

I wholeheartedly agree, hot meals go on hot plates. (& in our house we put the side salad on a separate cold plate) I'm surprised when restaurants serve up on cold plates, or even worse slate or wooden platters.

I can't say I've ever thought my food was cold.

I like my plate hot as food cools down too quickly otherwise. But rest of my family not bothered either way.

I hate hot plates. They burn your have. Did stays sufficient hot on room temperature plates. I always think heating plates is a really old person thing. My grandparents used to do it but my parents (in their 80s) don't.

Have = hands

Did = food!

The veg doesn't go stone cold really - I mean, maybe not quite as hot as you would like but it's not hot to freezing in the few minutes it takes for people to start eating

But you want it to still be hot when you finish the last mouthful, not just until you start eating.

My DH thinks I’m obsessed with warming plates, but I find food does cool off too quickly for my liking if served up onto cold plates at this time of year. Cold food is unappetising IMO.

We usually warm our plates in the grill compartment of our oven (big old beast with grill compartment above the oven, and obviously insufficient insulation between them because this method works a treat). I did have a plate warmer but one day it short circuited and caught fire so that was the end of that!

Always warm plates. Never realised that people didn’t !?

I like to warm plates as the food cools quickly on a cold plate. so unless you Woolf the food, which I do - your food gets cold by the end.

Always warm my plates. I put them in the microwave.

I honestly can't say I've ever put a freshly served (i.e directly to the plate and then carried through to the table and then consumed during the duration of a normal, chatty meal) piece of veg in my mouth and thought "that's unpleasantly cool" in my unwarmed plate house.

I would heat up the serving dish for veg/potatoes etc though that would sit on the table so maybe I'm halfway there.

I think hot plates is nicer, but not enough so that I actually bother to warm our plates at home. But then I'm also serving a preschooler and a baby and I'm always actively trying to cool their food down faster, and have got used to the fact that the adults mostly eat cold food by the time we've stopped faffing with the little ones!

My mother. Also the owner of a hot plate thing for the table and an original (and large) 1970s hostess trolley with a rack for warming plates.

It is a bit of a faff at a Christmas when I'm juggling the main course and trying to find space in the oven for her plate. I then also hate the jiggling of the bloody boiling hot plate around the food offerings to the table. But I love my mum and I know it makes a big difference to her enjoyment of the food.

Nope. Never warmed a plate in my life.

I think it's a generational thing. In cold houses with no or limited central heating I think heating plates is essential or the food goes cold within minutes. But if you live in a warm modern house it isn't generally necessary.

My mum is too. Cue kids burning their fingers on the plates etc. I'm just not bothered about food not being hot enough. I take my time. I also don't care about cold coffee.

I have friends my age who are also batshit about hot plates

I put hot food on room temp plates my kids hate Vesuvius volcano lava hot food

I didn't do it, my mum didn't do it and agreed people get weird about it

I don't like cold plates.

Always warm plates here ....for all hot meals !

Cold plates are vile, but room temperature plates are fine IMO (assuming the room is nice and warm!).

I hate hot plates. Especially for things like soup and pasta where it’s burning hot anyway and needs time to cool down.

My MIL warms all plates, included toddler DD’s. I have to them switch her food to a cold plate to avoid giving a 2 year old 3rd degree burns

My mum always puts the plates in the oven to warm (heat them to the temperature of lava) up . And she always touches the plates in a restaurant to see if they're hot .

My MIL is obsessed. I don't know anyone my age (late 30s/early 40s) who warms plates though, so I think it's generational. My Nan had a huge plate warmer which lived in the dining room!

I really don't notice that food gets cold on cold plates. I just eat it.

I am , I hate hot food on cold plates , my daughter isn't bothered though .