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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think party food is tacky and tasteless?

192 replies

Fudgeycake · 17/12/2023 21:15

Every Christmas the supermarkets really push all that sort of beige finger food (bung in the oven stuff) as if it's delicious and what everyone wants? M&S and Waitrose offerings this year look vile, eg. mini prawn toasts, feta popcorn, chicken doughnuts? Does anyone really love this food?

I think this type of food is really outdated, bit tacky, doesn't look very appealing and mostly pretty tasteless? Some of it is quite expensive too. I'd rather just do a cheese board and some nice breads, meats, chutneys, pickles etc. Aibu? What do you have for your Christmas buffet/party food?

OP posts:
ChristmasinBurrRidge · 18/12/2023 00:15

Womencanlift · 18/12/2023 00:12

It’s just simple middle class snobbery. A growing trend for MN recently

Show quote history

It signals to me that money is rather tight among the MN 'average middle' hence the increased sneering

Crikeyalmighty · 18/12/2023 00:15

Ooh I love this type of food as only really gave it at Xmas- I do a few nice salads though plus good cheeseboard and ham etc

Amybelle88 · 18/12/2023 00:16

Agreed! I'm not buying it - the kids aren't even into it- we all much prefer a good cheeseboard. That beige shite just looks like it's going to repeat on you til new year.

Moonshine5 · 18/12/2023 00:28

You do you and let others explore

Ilovetea33 · 18/12/2023 02:58

She calls food that other people enjoy tacky, vile and rank. Of course she's sneering.

Fern86 · 18/12/2023 03:01

I love party food. But I always eat too much when we have it :/

naughtynine · 18/12/2023 05:31

we all much prefer a good cheeseboard

On the occasions that call for party food I think it would be odd to turn up & only have a cheeseboard.

InfamousPartyAnimal · 18/12/2023 06:23

To those making 'home made' party food when do you get the time? I am working until Thursday this week. I need to finish off wrapping on Friday, get the turkey on Saturday and take a relative for some last minute bits on Sunday.
The kids still have their activities and I have a night out to attend as well.
The thought of starting making sausage rolls and tartlets doesn't appeal to me.

CasperGutman · 18/12/2023 06:37

YANBU about frozen beige supermarket party food. There are delicious things you can serve up as canapés/nibbles, but some of the best things I've had at weddings, conference receptions etc. must need lots of on-the-day preparation from fresh ingredients so I can see why people go for easy options.

I think a couple of pastry things can be part of an omay-ish spread, but just covering a table in stuff from the 'party food' ranges will give a monotonous result. You need a few good salads too, maybe a cheeseboard. If you want the food to look a bit more hearty/generous then something like a big joint of gammon for people to take slices off works well at home (or the equivalent pre-sliced), with a selection of bread rolls etc.

CasperGutman · 18/12/2023 06:39

Best wedding I went to had 'just a cheeseboard' as the evening buffet. The board must have been two metres long, and was packed with amazing cheeses. Plus there were breads, crackers, fruit, chutneys, a few cold cuts for non cheese-lovers....

pictoosh · 18/12/2023 06:45

Totally agree. Not appealing in the least. Little salty, fatty parcels of gack.
Bring out the oatcakes and cheese and give that crap to the kids.

Unescorted · 18/12/2023 06:57

I am so excited....can we have Boxing Day photos of the buffets so we can rate them on the tacky scale of beigeness?

FrillyGoatFluff · 18/12/2023 07:11

The problem is, it may be minging, but when it's there it's impossible not to eat 🤷🏻‍♀️

Myotherdogsanoodle · 18/12/2023 07:14

I don’t understand the word ‘beige’ when it’s applied to food….??

Riapia · 18/12/2023 07:39

@Greenpolkadot

Give me a decent three inches any day..
oooh matron.
😁😁😁

Frasers · 18/12/2023 07:43

Fudgeycake · 17/12/2023 23:39

Yeah some of it sounds alright, but 9 times out of 10 it's just rank. Just all tastes of oily beige pastry or breadcrumb. And I find it doesn't fill you up at all, just makes you feel a bit sick and like you have an uncomfortable solid ball in your stomach for hours after.

It’s not supposed to fill you up? I think you’ve made some erroneous assumptions as you’ve obviously never been served canapés or served them. And a few others on the thread the same, someone is posting about full on meals with pasta salad etc.

as said earlier. They are effectively a pre starter you serve with drinks when people arrive, before being seated for a meal. For Xmas, most people buy markies ones instead of a starter, to have a couple of hours before the meal, on Xmas day .

at other times of the year it’s with drinks before the meal. Most people will have experienced it at a wedding, prior to the wedding breakfast (the sit down meal) there is often a drinks reception and canapés are served. Every individual one is supposed to be one mouth full. And generally people would have say a max of 5, over a couple of hours, before being seated for the main meal.

also the Marks and Sparks ones are really nice to be fair, the coquille st jacques, fhe beef in Yorkshire pudding, the salmon blinis etc.

If you were trying to fill yourself up and make a full meal out of canapés, then you would cost your host an absolute fortune.

Benibidibici · 18/12/2023 09:04

We don't really buy any of that stuff, its usually quite heavily processed & its an expensive way to provide poor quality food.

We don't do a lot of buffets but if we were it would be more:

  • freshly cooked sausages
  • charcuterie
  • freshly made bread
  • platters of vegetables & hummus
  • cheese boards
  • fruit
  • we've got a few tried and tested recipes for tabbouleh/hot lentil salads etc that also go down well

We might have prawns or the like but they'd have just been cooked at home with garlic/butter/lemon.

ArsenicInTheAppleTart · 18/12/2023 09:12

Why are people talking about buffets?

Crikeyalmighty · 18/12/2023 10:23

@UnNiddeRides we do this on Boxing Day- there's an awful lot of the we on here. I've rarely met a bloke that doesn't wolf this kind of stuff down ' it's rarely just served as 'that's all'

Frasers · 18/12/2023 10:39

Benibidibici · 18/12/2023 09:04

We don't really buy any of that stuff, its usually quite heavily processed & its an expensive way to provide poor quality food.

We don't do a lot of buffets but if we were it would be more:

  • freshly cooked sausages
  • charcuterie
  • freshly made bread
  • platters of vegetables & hummus
  • cheese boards
  • fruit
  • we've got a few tried and tested recipes for tabbouleh/hot lentil salads etc that also go down well

We might have prawns or the like but they'd have just been cooked at home with garlic/butter/lemon.

The thread is about canapés. You know the little pre starter foods to be served with drinks? Not buffets or meals.

AhBiscuits · 18/12/2023 10:46

Frasers · 18/12/2023 10:39

The thread is about canapés. You know the little pre starter foods to be served with drinks? Not buffets or meals.

Show quote history

The OP literally says

What do you have for your Christmas buffet/party food?

DenyDenyLieTillYouDie · 18/12/2023 10:53

I'd share a grazing/cheese/charcuterie board with DH as a meal but as party food? No.

Frasers · 18/12/2023 11:02

AhBiscuits · 18/12/2023 10:46

The OP literally says

What do you have for your Christmas buffet/party food?

Show quote history

Fair point, I think that’s as she doesn’t know what they are for, she compares them to buffets and talks about filling up on them.

baileybrosbuildingandloan · 18/12/2023 15:16

So many whiny threads this year about things people don't like. From movies to music and now food.
News flash- we're all different! I neither know nor care what people do or don't like!

Let's start an "I really love..." thread instead of being so flipping negative.

Merry Christmas!!

Frasers · 18/12/2023 15:21

baileybrosbuildingandloan · 18/12/2023 15:16

So many whiny threads this year about things people don't like. From movies to music and now food.
News flash- we're all different! I neither know nor care what people do or don't like!

Let's start an "I really love..." thread instead of being so flipping negative.

Merry Christmas!!

I know right, and to call canapés vile and tacky is just odd. Just as the op doesn’t know what they are for, and maybe can’t afford them , isn’t some personal insult to her, she can eat bread meat and cheese all she likes.

its like starting a thread saying god, champagne is so vile and tacky, gives me heartburn, properly prefer a glass of scrumpy jacks cider.