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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

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

258 replies

Lollypollydolly · 12/10/2021 11:08

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.

OP posts:
Thread gallery
6
EmKayEm · 12/10/2021 12:52

Yes.
Please let me eat food that has been pawed at by by a bunch of mouth-breathing randoms with their shit-covered fingers.
Get to bollocks with a grazing table...

QueenBee52 · 12/10/2021 12:53

🤢

Fifthtimelucky · 12/10/2021 12:53

I agree with everyone else. Awful. They would be a nightmare for vegetarians, vegans or anyone with a food allergy of any kind.

I'm not in any of those categories myself but I would still much rather have a traditional buffet.

Apart from the anything else, I can imagine it's very difficult to tell after a while whether certain items of food on a grazing table are untouched or have been taken and then discarded.

Cissyandflora · 12/10/2021 12:54

@TumtumTree

I like grazing platters! Seems I'm in the minority though!
This ain’t a platter. This is slapped straight onto an old table.
Wiredforsound · 12/10/2021 12:54

Just the thought of getting an unexpected bit of Stilton in your profiterole…

SingleMumOnlyChild · 12/10/2021 12:58

Grazing tables only work in Instagram.

I’d make up individual «picnics» for each child (sandwich, drink, etc in a bag / box) then an old school buffet with plates and cutlery for the adults.

One thing I’ve noticed with buffets is people like to try everything, and the host likes to look generous, so halve your menu ideas and double the quantities, eg, 2x sausage rolls at each end,
2x cheese platters with max 3 types of cheese etc.

NoviceNewMN · 12/10/2021 12:59

@Wroxie

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.
Yeah well you might want to read this.

www.standard.co.uk/hp/front/hidden-germs-in-our-snacks-7294288.html

Bar snacks are frequently found to have faecal matter urine and ecoli in them because lots of people don't wash their hands properly or at all after going to the toilet. Loads of men don't at all after urinating.

Forget Covid (even if as others said people pick their nose or cough into their hands or over the food). It's just a very unsanitary practice to have food that people are just digging their hands into. Most cases hands will brush and tough other food items nearby.

Then add in Covid and even if the Covid risks are low it has just made people more aware of hygene - I think this would put many people off a grazing table.

Personally, I think they are filthy things and wouldn't go near them unless I was literally the first there and it was untouched.

LizzieSiddal · 12/10/2021 13:00

I wouldn’t touch one with a barge pole.

All that “arranging” means lots of touching of the food by the arranger.

No thanks.

RedScarletPoppy · 12/10/2021 13:02

I made this for our party. Whilst I think it looks amazing, I didn't eat any and it looked like we'd had a good fight by the end of the night!

That a grazing table will end up looking a bit shit?
RedScarletPoppy · 12/10/2021 13:04

Ps plates were also provided.

pussycatlickinglollyices · 12/10/2021 13:04

It's just a giant petri dish of germs with some food.
Also, I eat a meal, I don't graze like a cow...🐄

kwiksavenofrillsusername · 12/10/2021 13:05

I can see how this would be nice in photos, or for a small gathering, but a big one would look bloody awful in seconds. I feel that a lot of the food would go soggy and flavours would mix after being left out a while.

I once went to a posh wedding where they did bowl food and that was awesome. Looks pretty and instagrammable, yet avoids you accidentally eating a cracker that has been in the hands of a person with norovirus.

SoosanCarter · 12/10/2021 13:07

My ever-hungry Labrador would love a grazing table, because I can imagine half of it ends up on the floor.

GreyhoundG1rl · 12/10/2021 13:08

@RedScarletPoppy

I made this for our party. Whilst I think it looks amazing, I didn't eat any and it looked like we'd had a good fight by the end of the night!
They really don't look amazing, honestly.
2bazookas · 12/10/2021 13:12

Have you ever been to a buffet service meal with Americans?

Well, don't.

BrightYellowDaffodil · 12/10/2021 13:12

Christ, no.

I mean, done well, they can look good, in the manner of a medieval banquet or similar but the reality is people picking over the food to find the biggest piece of pork pie, or rummaging about to get to the grapes at the bottom. I don't want my food to be pawed over, and that's before we get to the issue of food touching (I don't want the flavour of a bhaji all over my charcuterie), vegetarian food up against meat and cross-contamination for allergens.

Buffets are a similar concept but the food is separated and tends to have serving implements. Even if implements are offered with one of these grazing horrors, people will probably just use their grubby fingers.

IdLoveToButCantBeArsed · 12/10/2021 13:13

Ooh, just had to google too, how odd.

Do they remind anyone else of the tv programmes that pile all the food a person has eaten in a week onto a table to show them how horrific their diet is?

Clymene · 12/10/2021 13:13

How are you supposed to cut the cheese? What is the point of the cashew nuts being under the cheese? Confused

GreyhoundG1rl · 12/10/2021 13:15

@IdLoveToButCantBeArsed

Ooh, just had to google too, how odd.

Do they remind anyone else of the tv programmes that pile all the food a person has eaten in a week onto a table to show them how horrific their diet is?

Yes! Exactly that.
lockdownmadnessdotcom · 12/10/2021 13:18

@EmKayEm

Yes. Please let me eat food that has been pawed at by by a bunch of mouth-breathing randoms with their shit-covered fingers. Get to bollocks with a grazing table...
You do realise that some people can't breathe through their noses?

And breathing through your mouth does not mean you don't wash your hands after going to the loo. Completely nasty comment for no reason.

However, I don't grazing tables sound a very good idea if you have anyone attending the event with allergies.

EishetChayil · 12/10/2021 13:18

Grazing tables are for chav Instagram influencers, along with rose-gold balloon arches.

TrollsAreSaddos · 12/10/2021 13:19

Ugh, no thanks!

Although I’m not a fan of buffets when there are kids around.

CatJumperTwat · 12/10/2021 13:19

@TumtumTree

I like grazing platters! Seems I'm in the minority though!
What do you like about them?
ScrambledSmegs · 12/10/2021 13:20

I went to a party with one recently and while it did look spectacular at the start, it looked pretty awful after a while. And this was a nice staid afternoon garden party.

Also there wasn't a separate table for the vegans/vegetarians/people with allergies, resulting in a fair bit of cross-contamination Shock

StoppinBy · 12/10/2021 13:20

Yuck, I had to google it too as I thought you meant a standard buffet. I hate food mixing like that, meats with fruit, with dessert, with vegies, etc and on a huge table for heaps of people............

No thank you.