About eco warrior friend.

[lastqueenofscotland]

Before I get accused of single handedly ruining the planet, I’m very conscious of environmental issues, went vegan, try to avoid single use plastics, no children etc.
Went for dinner last night with a friend who is quite militant about the environment. And their new huge thing is food waste.

There were 4 of us round, all adults with appetites. (I’d run 10k beforehand and had skipped my usual post run snack) when we got there he was cooking and I know I can be a glutton but it was literally fuck all
I think everyone got about 2 tablespoons of rice and a similar amount of curry. He wanted there to be no possibility that there would be any left and therefore thrown away.
It was delicious but literally took up a fifth of a plate. One of the other ladies there jokingly said “is there a war on, what’s with the rations” to which he got very offended and went off on one a bit about consumption and waste etc.
AIBU to think this is a bit weird/ott
(Waits for mumsnet to come on and say everything more than a teaspoon of rice is gluttony)

really? I would eat cereal with a pudding spoon. I wouldn't eat anything with a tablespoon, though I might lick it at the end of a meal (my right as the chef, obviously).

Having had a quick google I really do think that a tablespoon and serving spoon are the same thing, in this country at any rate. And that the technical meausrement is 15ml, pudding spoon is 10ml.

Ok tam for the sake of argument the meal was two pudding spoons of rice and curry

Your serving spoons must be pretty small then RiverTam :) As an example what I’d call a serving spoon would be able to lift a whole portion of say lasagne or similar in one go.

then that isn't much.

well, they're quite old and given that every kind of eating and serving utensil is now size gigantic (which is why I'm ignoring the size of the plates in the OP as most plates these days are huge and I would never expect my meal to cover the plate, I'd explode), maybe they are quite small.

No, serving spoons and tablespoons are different. A table spoon is a smallish spoon, usually 15 ml, that you get in a cutlery set. Two of these might feed a baby or toddler, but not an adult.

A serving spoon must be about 3 times bigger and is the type that comes in a set with a fish slice, potato masher etc. Two of these, heaped, might make up a meal, if you really pile it onto the spoon.

Tam are you vegan? Did you invite a few friends over for curry last night?

Here are pictures of what I think of as a table spoon and a serving spoon. Very different things.

no, not vegan and had risotto with DH last night

Apollo right, so what you've got there in metal is what I'd use as a serving spoon (mine might be slightly bigger). The plastic one I might use to transfer food from a cooking pot to serving dish, but not to dish up (though I probably wouldn't even do that - I do have one of those but can't remember the last time I used it).

To me, a serving/tablespoon is part of a cutlery set, rather than a kitchen utensil. Does that make sense? Still bigger than a pudding spoon and I'd still find 2 of my tablespoons of rice and curry to be a decent portion.

A 15 ml tablespoon (usual size) would give you about 15 grams of cooked rice, so that would 30 grams or just over an ounce as a portion in this case. Not exactly huge, — in fact a toddler portion at most.
A small portion of rice would be about 60 grams, medium 80-90.
(In fact I just weighed out a rounded to slightly-heaped tablespoon of cooked rice and it was 16 grams.)

one silver desert spoon, which seems to be a little larger than my non silver set and one silver serving spoon which is a touch smaller than my non silver set

RiverTam I reckon you have very, very tiny portion sizes then. I use my big serving spoon every time i serve up a meal. I would eat my pudding with the metal one.

The red handle is my serving spoon, the other just one of my standard spoons. Came in a set of knives, forks and spoons from ikea. I don’t own any dessert or soup spoons. Quite a big difference!

not at home so can't provide a photo.

I don't think our portions are very small! DH and DD aren't very interested in food, it's true. But for rice I would cook 2 ounces per person (less for DD), pasta 3 ounces. Maybe that would be more like 3 of my tablespoons.

Oh, I don't know. I still thing the bloke in the OP is bonkers, no eco-warrior worth their salt doesn't eat leftovers!

My mum has what she calls tablespoons, but they are much bigger than a tablespoon measurement.

I think that's where the confusion is coming from.

A tablespoon measurement is 3 level teaspoons.

Tam two ounces of uncooked rice would yield about 4 ounces of cooked rice, or about 110 grams, or about 5 tablespoons, by my reckoning.
(I don’t think there is a standard measure for kitchen serving spoons, unlike tablespoons. )
So your portions are a lot more generous that those given to the OP!

yes, I agree that my tablespoon is bigger than the 'tblsp 15ml' in my measuring spoon set - but still not as big as some of these here!

I can't believe folk are actually arguing the toss about the size of tablespoons! Talk about off the point.

Tarty well, I definitely don't dish up 5 spoonfuls! But we also always have some leftover. 2-3, I guess.

I sort of love that this thread has turned into a discussion about spoon sizes!

I know, it’s bonkers. But part of the glory that is Mumsnrt.

half not really, it changes what the OP is saying, don't you think? And I'm interested in the differing views of what constitutes a tablespoon and a portion.

sorry for not sticking like glue to the OP's point.

I think we all agreed Ecowarriors portion sizes were measly. Then we moved sideways into a lovely spoon discussion. What's wrong with that?

Could you eat soup (drink soup) with a spoon that wasn't a soup spoon? I find it feels all wrong. MIL doesn't have soup spoons (and my god, if you want small portions she is the queen. Even DD wonders where the rest of her soup is. MIL is absolutely lovely, I should say) and it feels so odd.

I don't have soup spoons. We eat soup with our general spoons which are quite rounded anyway.