Afternoon Tea - how can anyone eat it all?

[wasntlikethisinthegoodolddays]

I've been looking at things to do next weekend. Looked on Wowcher, Groupon etc. A regular offer is Afternoon Tea for two. Whilst it looks lovely, they regularly feature about 6 sandwich corners each, a few savoury items and FOUR cakes each. I love my food, and I like cake, but there's no way I could eat all of that in one sitting. Can anyone eat four cakes in a row? Are we meant to take a doggy bag?

Easily. But I always have it as “lunch” or if it is late afternoon I don’t have dinner after.

If it’s anything like the cream tea we got at Angel’s near Torquay, the cakes were a generous full-size cake slice each, plus a doorstep toasted sandwich and 2 home made scones with jam and clotted cream. Unlimited tea and a jug of water.

Expensive (+/-£18 each) but delicious and what we brought home in boxes did us packed lunch the next day.

I went for afternoon tea last week. 3 fingers of sandwich (2 slices of bread with crusts off), one very small savoury (a tiny sausage roll), a large scone with jam and cream, a macaroon, slice of lemon drizzle cake, a slice of mango roulade and a chocolate cake. All the cakes were small. A couple of bites. I ate it all. It was a lovely treat. Not something to have too often but really enjoyable. Washed down with plentiful tea and took about 90 minutes over it. I had the tea between 3pm and 4.30pn, skipped dinner and had a bowl of porridge before bed.

Our local place does 2 cakes, a scone and a sandwich but they are all full size. Whatever you don’t eat they box up to take home. Sometimes we eat it all but more often we have the sandwich, one scone between us and then share some of the cake there then take the other scone and cakes home to eat in the evening with a glass of wine while watching TV. I have had ones where their 4 sandwiches equate to half of a normal one and their 6 cakes would be smaller than a single slice. That kind is nice too for trying lots of different bits

I can eat the lot without even thinking about it! But then, i don't really ever have the "full" feeling

They will be so so disappointingly absolutely tiny in real life.

Also, skip lunch.

I have been to quite a few afternoon teas and myself and all the people I have been with managed to eat everything.

Bottomless brunch is great especially when cocktails are included

I’m not a ‘competitive under eater’ but I can’t eat a full afternoon tea. I’m a little and often person. Surely it isn’t that hard to understand that some people just take home a box with the leftovers?

Skip lunch?

I hate afternoon tea. It's at the wrong time of day and I'm just not hungry.

That’s why they give you a box. Personally I’ve never been able to finish an Afternoon tea while at the venue but what you receive varies hugely. Some are very generous but others are much less so.

People have varying appetites(Mine certainly certainly isn’t small) but I don’t see why some couldn’t and shouldn’t finish theirs especially if you can take your time.

This is the last Afternoon tea I had.(Not my pic but exactly what we received for 2) and we took about a quarter of it back and ate it later that evening. Others are much less generous with portions.

I have eaten most of the big London afternoon teas and some of the smaller ones. It’s all about the prep.

If you replace a meal and don’t eat before, you can eat it over a couple of hours. Because I hate missing meals I don’t manage to starve myself before completely. At the most I leave one tiny cake or half of one scone.

I am a small person, low bmi with a healthy appetite. Afternoon tea is my desert island meal.

Why question what others can eat? How dull.

We've lost sight of normal-sized food portions. And obviously a restaurant is going to want to ensure you don't leave still hungry so will over-feed rather than under. If I was going I'd not eat beforehand and obviously wouldn't need an evening meal later on in the day. Take your Tupperware or let them bag it up if it's too overwhelming to work your way through

I've been to loads of afternoon teas and have never known anyone to finish it. We all take a few things home with us. The staff will be prepared with boxes.

It probably works out to be a little over one sandwich and a large piece of cake each (maybe a bit more) if you put it all together in a normal size portion.

it seems like more than it actually is I think but yes as others have said you can take home what you can’t manage, just take along a little bag to pop the box in if you’re not going straight home.

Don't forget that all the six foot rugby teens have 'hollow legs'

BINGO

YANBU, I was thinking the same thing yesterday. Even though portion sizes are smaller than a full meal, it's still a huge amount of carbs to be eating in one sitting. Eg for breakfast you would never eat 5 rolls in one sitting but all the sandwiches, scones and cakes would easily add up to that.

Saw a random Tiktok for the Dinosaur Afternoon Tea at the Amsterdam Hotel yesterday, which seems designed with children in mind (??). It looks delightful but the sugar content seems off the charts. After the cakes & scones, you get a tin of chocolate cake crumbs and you have to dig through that to find chocolate dinosaurs.

Tbh afternoon tea seems like a fancy way to justify wild over-indulgence. Totally fine in moderation or special occasions but it's definitely not normal to normalise the amount of calories served (or judging by the replies here, expected to be consumed) in one sitting. That's why half the country is obese.

@sprigatito thank you! I wanted to get in there first.

I cant decide if some of these posts are real or satire 😂😂😂

They are not full size cakes unless you are doing afternoon tea right!!!

Tbh afternoon tea seems like a fancy way to justify wild over-indulgence. Totally fine in moderation or special occasions

It usually is a special occasion or treat for people. If I’m going out for a treat I’m not looking to get my five a day and daily requirement of potassium. I want to eat whatever I wish. I’ll worry about what I’m eating another time.

I don’t think most people are getting fat on Afternoon teas considering that they aren’t a daily event for the majority.

@CharityShopFinds for how many people is that afternoon tea designed?

I must be a fat bastard because I've never struggled finishing anything haha. But most places let you take things home - any restaurant/cafe really!

Well, this thread hasn't disappointed so far. If it were a bit later in the day, we could make it a drinking game. Take a drink every time someone mentions too many carbs, the obesity crisis, we've lost sight of what a normal [fill in the blank] is, scoffing, guzzling, etc.

@CharityShopFinds for how many people is that afternoon tea designed?

2 people.

Also I just remembered that we didn’t eat the scones. Apologies to the scone maker because they looked lovely but we had no room.