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.

Oh my. No, it’s not the norm. At large gatherings, people will often use paper plates. That doesn’t mean Americans always use paper plates. How ridiculous the stereotypes some on MN push onto the USA. Sometimes an elderly parent hosting 25 people for Christmas will use paper plates, for example. My mother has done this, and yes we all help clean up but she wanted to use them, not because she’s lazy but because she is unable to keep up with it all and she doesn’t want to put more on anyone else. She is free to do that and does not owe anyone an apology or jail time. The nosy neighborhood monitor who spies on the single mother idling her car engine to keep her toddler warm while waiting for older child and mulling whether she should call the police on her; the thermostat thugs lecturing everybody on the environmental edification of wearing four jumpers and wrapped in a wool duvet with hot water bottles strapped to their ankles at 15-17 degrees, and now the paper plates. A bit extreme.

Lol. And creep around country villages solving murders at the manor house, followed by pints at the pub with the local chimney sweep.

I’ve lived here for 20 years and the only time I’ve ever seen family and friends using paper plates is at big parties 30+ people.

Never seen paper plates in hotels and restaurants - maybe occasionally in small cafes and coffee shops.

In fact, for Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukah etc. the good china comes out.

True. Like any self-respecting Southern woman, I have a separate dedicated set of china for Thanksgiving and another for Christmas.

Yes. Same for me and that is actually the norm, to use china.

Is it even Christmas if you don't have to spend the time washing, prepping, using, re-washing, and storing the Christmas china??

@fifteenohfour

If you like the idea of southern USA foods they are very simple - corn bread etc works well using polenta, I buy it in the world foods aisle. The best sausage for sausage and biscuits is a 80% meat, fresh oregano brings country gravy to the next level, biscuits are basically savoury scones but lighter

Though not American, I used many years ago to have a dedicated Christmas dinner service. But it was so annoying when there were more people than plates (often 15+, occasionally 20) and when I downsized I was pleased to give it away.
Now I sensibly eat out on Christmas Eve, and have a long lie in on Christmas Day, followed by a walk if the weather is nice enough.

@gwenneh The Japanese rice china coming out of the cabinet is an EVENT of the highest order.

DH's grandfather shipped the whole set back after he was stationed in Japan. Its' a really family heirloom.

I live in an NYC apartment and even I have a tiny set of "good china" and special Christmas only plates. It actually caused a bit of a kerfuffle when I registered for our wedding and didn't have a full dinner service on there for special occasions.

@SenecaFallsRedux I'm eyeing up a couple of sets from Williams Sonoma even as a type this. I really, REALLY want the whole Honeycomb collection, but I just don't have anywhere to store it.

I've never served Thanksgiving dinner on paper plates, and I've only once been served it on paper plates by my SIL. I don't think anyone was impressed and when she hosted again this year, we ate off china and did the washing up. I think other family members may have grumbled!

I agree that the US is woefully behind on recycling, but it might be slowly catching up. We do have household recycling bins where I live that are collected on a different day to the rubbish and shops have stopped using plastic bags. You either pay for a paper bag or bring your own bags. Some shops don't have any bags available at all now, you have to carry your items if you forget your own bag.

So it's improving, and about time too.

A lot of people don't bring their own bags here, but it's not so unheard of that a cashier would actually not understand it. Walmart sells reusable bags, and have for a long time, she was certainly familiar with the practice.

That's pretty expensive for a Chico bag, I get 4 for $30 on Amazon. I love them!

@PumpkinPooSpice why would I be lying about the cashier being confused by reusable bags. I had to say three times that I didn’t want her to pack the plastic bags, I had my own. The tills are like the picture below, there isn’t the space for your own bags. I lived in America as a teenager and we still have our lake house there, it is in a rural area of the South. I appreciate things might be different in different areas however. I also know families that use disposable plates on a day to day basis (not influencers, in real life)!

Because you are lying. As evidenced by basically all other posters on this thread who have lived in America and by the fact they sell the bags themselves.

What's most likely happened (if there is any element of truth to this) is that she simply misunderstood your accent and was trying to be polite in not saying that.

Oof. I didn't notice that, maybe there are more than one when you click on it. They had a page of options, but that better be a damn good bag 😁

To be fair to @fyn in my experience Walmart staff don't much like trying to fit reusable bags on those turn tables because there is no where sensible to put them.
States without bag taxes seem to be much more reliant on cheap free bags than those with a tax so you do get variation.
That said I've been anywhere that has been that surprised by our reusable bags.

I was born and raised in, and still live near, a rural area of the south in the USA. (And no, the stereotypes some might be thinking are not true.)

The cashier at Walmart had never heard of reusable bags? Walmart has utilized reusable for ages. The poster slyly omitted picture of those bags.

And you can thank environmentalists for plastic bags. They wanted to ‘save the trees’ and stop using all paper bags. So they foisted plastic bags and the corporations that make them upon us. Same with plastic water bottles, they were complaining about the water. They created the problems they’re now claiming to solve.

My mother recycled, reused, and conserved long before it was ‘cool’. Everyone did. It is common sense.

They are the best! So lightweight but strong, and pack into a little built in pouch. I always have a couple in my handbag.

if you buy the honeycomb you should get these glasses

www.potterybarn.com/products/la-rochere-bee-glass-goblet/?cm_src=WSIShopRVI&recstrat=RVI%7CRVI

I would comment on my nearly 30 years of thanksgivings in the US and the dearth of paper plates in them but what's the point. If it is on insta/tiktok/youtube, it must be true.

Americans do not understand the word ‘recycle’, it’s a throwaway culture!

You can't click the link in the UK 😔 I love Pottery Barn

Americans have had deposits on bottles for decades. Why say silly things?

Recycling became required by law in my area in 1987. Pretty sure the UK was quite a bit later...

Hahaha keep lying, yeah 2 items per bag lol. FYI many states have implemented fees for bags so many people bring reusable bags but stop exaggerating.

Oh please don’t waste your time here, rush already have their narrative so let them get it out of their system. We need an American bashing thread on MN at least once every 3 days so about time for the next one lol.