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 you could definitely set one up on separate plates easily and cheaper.

[quote Wroxie]@GreyhoundG1rl no shit. It's literally just charcuterie and cheese and some fruit arranged to look pretty. People are acting like it's something completely new and insane and that people stand over it eating with their hands while bits of food drop out of their mouth back on the table or something. You use the utensils to take the bits you want and put them on your own plate. Just like any other self-serve food situation. People here are just desperate to shit on anything that isn't their own idea or isn't a frozen volauvent.[/quote]
Well, there we are. You think it looks pretty, I think it looks like the toddler accessed the food cupboards and ran amok.
We're all different 🤷🏻‍♀️

I thought the same when these became a thing a few years ago.
Why would I want to rummage through what several other people have rummaged through to find some food that has been aesthetically placed around the table? I want the same type of food in the same place and on it's own plate so I can find it and know that it has not been manhandled.

I would take into consideration the large amount of people that are particualr about food handling by others.

Some people may not wish to eat food, if they think someone else has touched it.

@Wroxie is obviously quite confused about the demographics of MN.

Just in case you didn’t know, it’s really not a beige foods from Iceland kind of place, on the whole...

It’s ok - if you like it, cool. But don’t try and claim it’s because of your superior tastes.

@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?

God yes. That Gillian McKeith programme.

I've seen a great option with individual grazing "cones" with a selection of what you'd find at a grazing table - the cones can be displayed nicely in a crate. Comes included salami, cheeses etc with bamboo fork.

How about a spread of delicious food, on some pretty plates, with serving tongs and some nice annotations of what we are eating.

I know it is left field, but thats how i roll

@fromdownwest

How about a spread of delicious food, on some pretty plates, with serving tongs and some nice annotations of what we are eating.

I know it is left field, but thats how i roll

RADICAL!

@allsorts1

I've seen a great option with individual grazing "cones" with a selection of what you'd find at a grazing table - the cones can be displayed nicely in a crate. Comes included salami, cheeses etc with bamboo fork.

Cones? In crates? Sweet Jesus... What is wrong with plates???

When did a buffet become a grazing table

There was a thread about these revolting grazing tables a while ago they look disgusting, unhygienic, unappetising, and as others have said totally unpractical for those with allergies or who are vegetarian or vegan.

One comment on that thread embedded itself in my brain and I think it sums the horror of these repulsive things up very well:

The ham is touching the party rings. Enough said.

Hmm. If you want the effect you could serve everything in dishes like a buffet, but just put them closer together and put greenery in between. Some of the images on Google look like that’s how they’ve been done anyway..

I know lots of people loathe a buffet, but I I’m generally not too fussed about germs. I would hate, however, picking up a biscuit and finding it’s gone all soggy because it was sitting too close to a slice of melon, or a piece of cake with blue cheese smeared on it! !

I’d also like plates provided so I can pile mine high!

[quote HollyandIvyandAllThingsYule]@Wroxie is obviously quite confused about the demographics of MN.

Just in case you didn’t know, it’s really not a beige foods from Iceland kind of place, on the whole...

It’s ok - if you like it, cool. But don’t try and claim it’s because of your superior tastes. [/quote]
Or sells the bloody things.

I wouldn't eat any of it.

First up, you have allergies. From personal experience, I can tell you that groups of people are utter monsters, especially if they've had anything to drink - but they're pretty awful even sober. Any attempt to have different serving spoons etc will fail, because people will pick things up with their hands and/or grab a nearby spoon to help themselves to a popular dish, and everything will end up mixed up.

Secondly, you have Covid. I'm not sharing food with anyone outside of my bubble. I'm just not.

If the food looked nice but I couldn't eat it because I was worried about the cross-contamination, I would be even crosser. I don't necessarily expect you to prepare something special for me, but if I'm not allergic to all of the food and I could have eaten some of it had people exercised basic hygiene, I'd be really hangry at the world.

If you must have a buffet, you need enough people to adequately serve it to your guests and ensure the grim, grim people do not stick their fingers in the food anyway through greedy impatience.

There's something about mountains of self-serve food that turns even normal-ish people into attacking seagulls who will do anything to get the best bits. Buffets bring out the worst in people.

@fromdownwest

How about a spread of delicious food, on some pretty plates, with serving tongs and some nice annotations of what we are eating.

I know it is left field, but thats how i roll

Because people turn into monsters when confronted with a buffet and the nice annotations will get knocked over/onto the floor, and the serving tongs mixed up. Plus, half the people will ignore the tongs anyway.

A perfectly set up buffet is a bit like beautiful wedding favours. The person who organises it thinks it looks pretty and will be such a good idea, but the reality is that it's never actually appreciated by anyone else. Mass events are really hard - they bring out the worst in people!

I just googled. There are lots of pictures.
I saw doughnuts next to boiled eggs and other such horrors.
Almost as grim as when I went out for a fancy pizza and found a massive pube in the last slice.
I'm not a fussy eater but I do have my limits.

@fashionSOS - True, but the lesser of two evils.

I would rather a misplaced tong than a clust f*ck of food dropped onto a table and let the masses ravage throught it!

@Wroxie

It's like the lot of you have never seen a cheese board in your lives. Or maybe you think that since you would roll about in the food like some kind of demented swine that everyone else will, as well.

Most of us are perfectly capable of taking a few grapes and a bit of cheese and putting it on a plate.

Again, you don't know what a grazing table is.

I would hate, however, picking up a biscuit and finding it’s gone all soggy because it was sitting too close to a slice of melon, or a piece of cake with blue cheese smeared on it!

Exactly!

This is why I'm laughing at the suggestion that those of us who don't like these things are the uncouth heathens. Anyone who properly appreciates food and how to serve it can't possibly be down with this chaos.

@LowlandLucky

When did a buffet become a grazing table

I thought they were different

Buffets have separate dishes

Grazing tables have meat, cheese, fruit, all touching each other

First time I saw one was a work do. There were quite a few vegetarians and the hotel ended up bringing separate plates.

We were just baffled when we walked in and saw it.

This would be okay at an adults-only wedding. If there are kids there, no thanks.

When did a buffet become a grazing table

It didn't.

Haha it is like You Are What You Eat with the big table of random foods. Just needs several pint glasses of coke to finish it off. Perhaps you could go along with the theme and have tuppperware boxes instead of toilets for poo inspections.

Or the party theme could be Supersize Vs Superskinny where all the food is chucked down a tube. Mmm appetising.

[quote fromdownwest]@fashionSOS - True, but the lesser of two evils.

I would rather a misplaced tong than a clust f*ck of food dropped onto a table and let the masses ravage throught it![/quote]
Well, quite. If the choice is between a grazing table and a mishandled buffet, one is less terrible than the other. But they're not good choices!

It's sad really. A well-labelled buffet with tongs and no serving staff should work, but it never does.