That a grazing table will end up looking a bit shit?

[Lollypollydolly]

Looking for catering for a party, will be children and adults and all I keep being offered are grazing tables/platters. Having not experienced one first hand I'm worried that though it will start looking beautiful once the guests start digging in it will look a mess and maybe bit unsanitary?

YABU - they look fab and stay looking fabulous (if a little disheveled by the end of the party)

YANBU - Wasteful fad crawling with germs, find an old style caterer.

I think they're disgusting. What happened to serving food properly on plates. Unless i was the first person up i wouldn't eat from one of these.

I attended a post-wedding party where there was one and at the start it looked magnificent. However, it very very quickly started looking a total mess.

Ie... Buffet food on plates. How can you prevent cross contamination of meat and other allergens if it's all just dumped on the table all together?

Set a separate one up for children with a few treats for them.

I think they are a very easy way to feed people.

Oh God no , the idea of everyone piling in would make me heave plus I could create the same myself for less
Old Style much better . Bowls and serving spoons all the way

Other than novelty I don’t really understand what’s wrong with a buffet.

I'd stick with an old-school buffet.

Definitely on plates, I am gluten free and for anyone with an allergy that could be dangerous as well as unhygienic. Apart from that I would feel very uncomfortable eating things that people had put their hands all over.

They do look a bit messy after a while. I also wonder whether som epeople might dislike the concept at present for covid reasons (others touching and breathing on all the food).

I went to a party recently which had a buffet-style table but with staff serving everyone the items they wanted from the buffet- you stood slightly further away and said what you wanted and they loaded your plate. It worked very well- the table stayed looking nice, there weren't millions of people touching everything and the staff were good at getting people through quickly.

So a grazing table is where the food is put straight on the table, no plates? Sounds disgusting.

I just googled ! That will look good until the first person helps themselves and then I imagine carnage. It's a meal not a work of abstract art FFS ! What happed to the buffet ?

Perfect in the aftermath of a pandemic! 😂🤣

Just googled too, what a mess.

Definitely not.

I thought it was a newer word for buffet!

Stick with a buffet.

I'm no germaphobe, but these look utterly revolting (and surely a high risk of cross-contamination for people with allergies or dietary issues?).

With covid around a grazing table is the very last thing i would want. Why not all
sit down to eat at the same
time with plates and cutlery etc

Agree with the others saying they aren’t very Covid friendly and they do end up looking a bit messy.
You can individual grazing boxes made up instead of all on one table which could be a nice idea ? I guess it depends how many people you having coming though

Sounds utterly rank!

COVID unfriendly
Allergy unfriendly
Neurodiversity unfriendly

Don't do it

Charcuterie and cheese boards with bits of other savoury things and fruit (AKA a "grazing board) have been around forever but I've found that British people just don't know what to do with them. They are either terrified of being served food that isn't pre-portioned and/or some variation of a sausage roll or vol-au-vent and they just sort of stand back looking bemused, or they just dive in like they were raised by wolves and take the whole point of a piece of cheese leaving the rind for everyone else or they take a whole baguette and half the butter leaving everyone else to eat their meat and cheese naked. More trouble than it's worth really.

Covid friendly even! I'd love it if they were unfriendly to Covid!

And also has everyone really not realised that covid isn't spread through surfaces it's spread through the air. So you're 100 times more likely to catch it sitting across from someone eating from the plate you've been served as you are from using the same cheese knife as the person before you.

Seems pretty much a no! We can't all sit down as there isn't the space, but will find a caterer who can do the traditional buffet style or order platters from Morrisons and provide hand sanitizer. I don't want any guests feeling uncomfortable and I had my own reservations, hence why I asked.

Never heard of it, so had to google.

What a bloody stupid idea.

I think they look a bit grim and most of the ones I've seen pictures of have the meat right up against other food, which I find really off-putting as a veggie. For me I guess that's maybe a bit fussy but surely it's a real issue if you have any allergies - everything is going to end up a bit cross-contaminated.

Also they make it harder to visually work out roughly how much of everything there is between the people there, and people need that - otherwise you end up with people either barely touching the food out a polite fear there isn't enough to go around, or people taking too much so that there actually isn't enough to go around.