Why do Americans use paper plates?

[fifteenohfour]

Any Americans here? or people who have been there enough to know why?

I love looking at the thanksgiving hashtag on instagram, the food they have is always immense and looks amazing to me. Especially their mac and cheese and pumpkin pie.

What I don't get is that nearly 90% of these videos they are all eating off paper plates? In the UK I eat off paper plates at a picnic or at a venue birthday like when you hire a hall out and have a party. None of my friends or family throughout my whole life have ever eaten off paper plates at home and if you go deeper into American food posts on instagram it's actually an everyday thing for them?? They eat off paper plates for every meal it blows my mind.

I grew up on a council estate and myself and my friends/family we are all working class so it's not like I have a warped sense of food and drink serving. i just never see it over here?

It's bugging me! Do they have amazing recycling facilities that allow them to use so much single use items? One family said they went through 40 paper plates EVERY DAY!!! Because of their 6 kids having one for every single snack they ate.

No, they really they fucking aren't.

When I lived in a place with great weather, I drove a tiny car. Then I moved back to a hilly area with snow and couldn’t get my car to my own house the first time it stormed.

we own two cars. One giant suv that can handle safely traversing snowy, icy roads and one small car that I would never consider driving in bad weather.

we also take the larger car on trips instead of flying.

I'm just using my actual lived knowledge of the hundreds of Americans and the decades that I lived in America though. Not Instagram. So it's probably not as valid.

My ex-MIL (american) used to serve everything on paper plates, even if it was just 2 or 3 of us. And drinks in red plastic cups.

Unless you're a content creator on YouTube your experience just can't be reflective of reality. Sorry.

@PumpkinPooSpice is there any need to be so rude? You don't even have a clue who I'm talking about, so don't even know how you know what meal they are having. I'm no eco warrior BTW, was just wondering why this seems a thing. I've never seen a UK YouTuber use paper plates.

God damn it. There's always a loophole

I'm not being rude I just genuinely don't know a polite way to say someone is being stupid when they're being stupid.

It 'seems a thing' because you're looking at a narrow self-selected set of people (content creators) being served specifically to you via your own self-selected algorithm.

Homewares are broadly more expensive in the US than the UK. I remember being in Meijer (large supermarket chain) a couple of years back and noticing that there was no real equivalent to the “Value” or “Basics” homeware ranges stocked in UK supermarkets where you can kit out your kitchen with a set of basic tinny but usable saucepans, and a couple of oven dishes and baking trays for about £15 in total, which is within the range of most people. Whereas if you’re poor (or young and starting out, as many YouTubers are) in the US, those things are much less affordable to buy upfront - so you’d probably buy disposable, even if it works out more expensive in the long run.

I noticed this on My 600LB life. I asked the same question in the Facebook group and was astonished to find out that Yes, a lot of Americans use paper plates. I cannot imagine eating a proper meal off a paper plate, without it totally ruining the experience. What if there's gravy or sauce, doesn't the plate get compromised and floppy? Weird.

The British all eat off China plates with the queen's head on them. I have seen this happen on one occasion in person and in the DM so I can state that this unequivocally true for all British people. You also all wear bowler hats and carry umbrellas and a copy of the Times under your arm at all times.

They also drink gravy by the bucket full

*source:My husband and is his personal gravy boat which admittedly could never be contained by any sort of paper dish.

It was the same when I last went in 2019, the lady at Walmart couldn’t understand why I’d bought my own bags.

I don't think you'd go to a supermarket for that kind of thing in America though. The supermarket would be more expensive than Dollar General or Wal Mart.

The problem with this thread is it says "Americans do x". I'm not going to Google it for you, but as i understand it there's quite a number of them, from across all the cultures of the world, and i feel confident in saying that they probably don't all do "x". So then it's just a culture bashing thread.

I have been using reusable shopping bags for 15 years. Nobody in any shop has ever had problems understanding it.

She couldn't understand? Do you really believe you were the first person to ever bring a reusable bag to Walmart and that she couldn't even comprehend the concept, despite the fact they sell them there?

I really wonder why these threads are always allowed to stand. It would never happen about any other country.

I think it must just be the people on Instagram you are seeing. I have relatives there who definitely wouldn’t use paper plates for something as special as Thanksgiving.

Is this thread meant to be a joke? It is not normal in the USA to use paper plates for every meal, or for Thanksgiving (unless maybe someone is hosting Thanksgiving for 30 people, which actually could be a thing considering Thanksgiving is typically a time when families come together for a family-wide reunions). Also I've stayed at many hotels when we travel to visit family, and the plates and cutlery are always ceramic and stainless steel. Fast food joints (McDonalds, Burger King, etc) generally do use paper plates and cups, and plastic knives and forks (however, most people eat things like burgers when at these places, so often no fork is needed). Americans travel a lot because it's a big country and it's common to have family living in distant places, so you have to drive long distances if you want to see your family. The country is set up to accommodate people driving frequently and for long distances (again, USA, big place, if you understand that, you'll understand a lot about it), and needing to eat "on the road."

Very amused to see what people in UK think is normal for us.

That’s funny because the concept is common in multiple US shops. They even have, shock horror, Lidl and Aldi where reusable bags are practically necessary.

I've visited a friend in the states many times and never once seen a paper plate. And they recycled like mad, with dedicated wheelie bins just as we have here.

I think this is just more generalizing and American-bashing.

This thread is mad. I live in NYC and no one uses paper plates on a regular basis. Maybe for a kids party, or if you're having loads of people over for pizza, but otherwise everyone just uses normal plates.

In fact, for Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukah etc. the good china comes out. Many families will have a fancy holiday china that comes out for special occasions. DH is from a normal, suburban American family and they have a much loved set of fancy china and getting it out for the Holidays is a bit of an event.

We also get fined if we don't recycle properly. Our apartment building gets inspected and you get a $250 fine if they find your cardboard in with the normal rubbish.

Sounds like you follow some pretty trashy people on Instagram TBH...

I was horrified, normal family meals were served on paper plates in many households I knew.