To ask how you serve food to guests?

[sweeneytoddsrazor]

Do you put the main part of the meal on the plate, then all the accompaniments in serving plates for people to help themselves? Do you put things in separate dishes so each person has their portion of peas in a ramekin or somesuch.? Or do you put it all on their plate?

I put everything on the table and let people help themselves.

We usually plate up, but then that can turn in to a bit of a fuss.
Tried putting everything in to dishes but it took a while and then the food wasn’t hot when it came to eating.

I put everything down the middle of the table and let people help themselves.

Roast everyone dishes up their own plate from the hostess.

Other meals dished up as i will have made a specific amount of meat/potato/veg

Mainly all on table, today I served up the chicken on the plates and rest on table

Depends on what’s being served.

Helpful!

Everything on the table/work tops, they plate themselves :)

Mostly I put it all in serving dishes. It depends what it is though, eg if I have roast meat, I would tend to serve that on the plates because I wouldn't carve it at the table.

Everything on the table and people can help themselves.

Depends what kind of meal.

We cook almost all meat or fish on the barbecue and then put in the middle of the table with a large bowl of salad, bowl of potatoes, etc in the middle.

Something that is individual we plate up and serve plated. Soups and so on are served plated because a big pot on the table and people serving themselves can get messy.

Usually mains on plates and accompanying sides on table to help themselves.

Depends on the food. I recently served an Indonesian curry to friends. I put the rice in small bowls and turned them out on the plates so it was shaped. I put the curry in a small bowl on the plate with the rice and a mango salad in iceberg lettuce leaves so each salad was in a lettuce leaf bowl. So everything plated up for that. Then anyone that wanted more helped themselves from the saucepans. I did fajitas recently too. Everything was in bowls on the table for that.

Serving dishes. Usually do it for family too, but especially for guests as it’s a bit of an assumption to judge how much of something they might prefer.

Everything goes on serving dishes in the middle of the table, and people take what they want.

The first time I stayed with someone who plated everything up, I was really confused. It was like school dinners, but without the opportunity to say "no carrots, please".
I think it's pretty rude not to let people take the amount they want. People won't take more than their share, but they might like less potato than you give yourself, or even none of something.

Even when I plated up for my children, I'd ask them how much they wanted of each item.
It's weird not to acknowledge different appetites, so let grown up guests serve themselves.

I put everything out in big dishes on the island and then guests go around with a plate and serve themselves.

Totally depends on the meal but on the whole, the food gets put on Serving dishes on the island where we all sit (or sometimes we just put the pots and pans on if we cba) and people help themselves.
For something like pasta and a ragu sauce or a carbonara, because it’s all a one pot thing I’ll just ask how hungry everyone is and serve them approximately when they think they’ll eat. There’s usually leftovers so they can have more if they want it.

Oh sorry, I was just talking about how we serve family meals!
For guests it’s always put on the table if there’s more than 8 of us (the island only seats 8) but guests serve themselves what they want.

Sometimes its a matter of space as to how meals are plated up. Growing up we would never have had a serve yourself type situation, because there literally was nowhere to put extra dishes of food, so it was plated up and then you just eat what you want. No-one is putting a gun to your head if you leave something on the plate!
Now I tend to plate up the main meat etc but put side bowls of veg etc out on the table, because I have a dining table and the room to do it. Plenty of people do not have dining rooms or dining tables, and they have no option but to plate up. Either is fine in my opinion.

Although I once put all the roast chicken in a serving dish and one of DD’s friends helped herself to all of it. Then left it all.

The dog was happy.

It surely depends who the guests are and what the occasion is?

For a kitchen supper, it’s going to be far less formally served than for a dinner, no?

It depends which guests

My brother and his family, I plate up as his children touch food with their hands and lift it all and leave none for anyone else.

Everyone else I put the meat on the plate and let them help themselves to potatoes and veg and sides.

It's a gamble letting teens self serve as some of them lack that gene that means they don't think 'anothet five people need to be fed from this' and pile their own plates high

For guests everything on the table in serving dishes.

Usually plate up for close family, guetss serve themselves.

I think it depends on the formality, tend to serve up but sometimes not also depends on type of meal/ how many ect.