Grazing tables...wtf?

[BiffChipsandKippers]

Anyone seen this craze for just dumping a load of food in a table as the catering at a party? AIBU that this is unhygienic and gross?

to look good they have to include different levels. The levels also serve to separate certain foods. I did a couple some years back, long before covid. Mine were on a 50cm x 80cm butcher block board though, I’ve never even heard of them being directly on a table.

The other day I saw a YouTube video, aimlessly scrolling so hadnt taken in the description. I was absolutely absorbed by the whole thing, in a horrified way. I cant find it now, but it started with a bare table, no covering that I could see.
A large pan of Tomato sauce liberally spread down the middle , some other random splashes of sauce in the tomato mix, add various quantities of nuts, cheese, fruit, salamis, breads, on and on, then some artistic splashes of pesto, some (might have been) pickle juice and other things that I dont remember.

I felt slightly sick watching, but unable to look away. The finished product looked beautiful, but I remember thinking, I wouldnt touch any of it, not even if I was the first one.

This looks even worse. It's as if the guests have all vomited over the table. Apparently it's nachos.

I’ve just googled them. Some look nicely arranged (while untouched) but I can imagine they’d soon become a horrible mess. If I had allergies I wouldn’t go anywhere near them though due to lack of segregation. A bit of style over substance really.

Definitely time for an updated version 😂

@Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g that is truly a thing of horror.

It may have been part of a series of videos created by a professional troll. I've forgotten his name, but he made a number of videos showing food being displayed and set out in all number of weird ways, including in a toilet, and spread directly all over a huge counter top to create an eye-popping mess. I say troll, because he wasn't serious about it - he is also a professional magician and it was really an exercise in something that was engaging and went viral and caused lots of interaction for no real reason, which he succeeded in doing. A sort of psychological exercise. Nobody was harmed or anything.

It was interesting.

I voted YABU because I misunderstood what you meant by a grazing table.

I would like to exchange this one vote for ten YANBU votes please.

Humans are grim honestly, you'd be quite stunned by how many people don't wash their hands after using the toilet

I think the good ones looks beautiful from a stylistic angle. So tempting and colourful.
The reality is completely different, so many clashing foodstuffs. The picture up thread with all the fruit. It’ll be awful within minutes. Brown apple all over the table.

I’m a veggie. There’s very little on this that isn’t touching pork.

Grazing tables just irrationally annoy me. They are so try hard. The word that coems to mind is naff. And also disgusting. Same as those butter boards that seem to tbe the latest trend.

Ive always found them gross. I've actually stopped eating at a local restaurant which I previously enjoyed a while ago as they started serving all the food on wooden butchers blocks. I think it's so unhygienic - plus the fact all the food falls off the side.

I was not prepared for the number of Mumsnetters who apparently don't bother washing their hands after a wee at home (there was a thread a year or so ago). I thought in the land of daily sterilised bedsheets and towels, where I am regularly subjected to vomiting emojis because I have a basket of machine washable guest slippers, where many people don't ever go to the pool because they'd be "swimming in vaginal juices"....that handwashing after the toilet would be extremely standard. But apparently not.

Strange place.

Buffets are messy bacteria parties but this is a new level of boak

Oh good Lord! I’ve just googled images of grazing tables, trust me people, this is not a buffet! That’s rank OP! It looks like someone has just scrapped leftovers onto a table, all smushed together , I wouldn’t go near that! YANBU to say that’s bloody awful! 🤮

Grazing table on big party- nooooo. It looks messy and how can I know if people wash their hands properly.
For two, three, four people I know- yes.

So do guests get their own plates or do they have to stand around the table eating things one by one?

Why not just put the food into industrial smoothie makers and pulp it, then you could serve it in individual artisan kilner jars with reusable straws. So easy to cater for fussy bastards your guest’s food preferences, meat, vegan, dairy or gluten free jars can all easily identified by biodegradable labels.

The jars are lidded for those who want “doggie jars” to take home for after party snacks or for latecomers to the feast. Your delighted guests can take their jars and straws home as party/ wedding favours, so saving washing up and the planet!

[ note to caterers and event venues, no need for expensive catering staff to prep , serve and clear away, no need for anxiety over maintaining hot food at a safe temperature, no requirement for cutlery ,serving dishes or plates, simply confirm the numbers for each party and our friendly delivery drivers will unload your requirements from our temperature controlled vans and deliver them to your venue where all you need to do is to store the jars in a suitably sized ice bath until it is time for your guests to enjoy their meal. Ice can be provided at a small additional cost]

For anyone with allergies I imagine they are less grazing tables and more like tables of death.

As a mum of a coeliac daughter who gets extremely ill when she eats gluten and it also damages her intestines', this is the stuff nightmares. Cross contamination risk is huge, I thought buffets were bad but what's wrong with a plate and a bit of food separation?

Mmm love juice...

That sounds like an actual fucktonne more work than just putting things on plates and individual platters. So you are essentially doing more work in order to gross out about 2/3s of people. While the other 1/3 would not really be put out by everything being on plates. Smart!

Gross

No-one with a weakened immune system would be advised to go anywhere near one of these bacteriological theme parks.