People who tuck in before everyone is served - rude?

[SarahAndQuack]

Say you have family/friends over and you are cooking a meal for, say, 8 or 10 people - enough that it takes a bit of time to get on the table. Either you dish it up on plates and pass them out, or you serve everyone at table - you do guests first, of course. Guests tuck in straight away, while everyone else is still being served.

Is that rude?

I was brought up to think you wait for everyone to be served, if it's a sit-down meal.

What do you think?

I'd rather people started eating than potentially ended up with cold food.

Yes,rude unless the host says please start or the food will get cold.It takes a while to serve 8 people.

Not at all, always prefer folk tuck in before it gets cold!

Did you want to say Grace?

The correct etiquette is for someone to urge those waiting to dig in and then it’s fine to begin

I was brought up to wait until everyone was seated,served and the host was sitting before starting and nearly all my friends and family are the same.

Serving the guests first and expecting them to wait while their food go cold is awfully rude.

Hot plates and hot hot serving dishes solves this, people tucking in before everyone has been served are uncouth.

Iv always been taught the correct etiquette is to wait if it is a cold dish and start of it is a hot one. I just always wait.

Buy some serving dishes!

Rude to expect your guests to wait - I always tell them to start.

Not noticed food getting cold being an issue - I'd plate up anything likely to get cold, and no one concerned likes their food steaming hot (I remember the heated plates AIBU a while ago!).

It's not about saying grace at all - it's more just thought I find it really rude.

It's rude. Basic manners is to wait until everyone is served unless the host insists differently.

It would never occur to me to wait. We were always brought up to start eating straight away so you were eating the food at its best.

@Wingedharpy

Buy some serving dishes!

I have serving dishes ...

@Sapphire387

Rude to expect your guests to wait - I always tell them to start.

I would absolutely do that if it were something time-consuming.

@FinallyFluid

Hot plates and hot hot serving dishes solves this, people tucking in before everyone has been served are uncouth.

Nope, tried that. All I got was complaints the plates were hot.

Ooo I'd errr on the side of horribly rude! I was always told to wait until the hosts were seated and had a serving too, and eat once they'd taken their first bite. Obviously a horrendously formal household 😂

Don’t think I’d notice if they’d started. Deffo wouldn’t be offended.

I’m an incredibly slow eater so I always ask if anyone minds if I start eating straight away. They usually would much rather I did that, than they all feel the need to wait an extra half hour while I finish (another social conundrum-I’d rather people just left but there is the whole wait until everyone has finished. I hate it all.).

Why does it matter? I wouldn't even notice.
Just eat when you have got your food.

Not rude.

Wait until everyone is ready to eat here

Yes, it's rude, and that's a fairly standard etiquette rule. If it is going to be a wait than the host will normally ask people to start.

In a family setting it's a bit different in that each family will do things their own way.

Cuts of meat (we're not vegan, Greta) are put onto the plates while in the kitchen, then bring the plates into the dining room. Veggies are already on the table. The guests serve their own veg and tuck in once all plates are on the table which takes 3-4 minutes.