Friends promised a BBQ and delivered an Iceland beige buffet!

[Bbqdisaster]

As above really, myself, DH and 3 DC went to our friends’ house yesterday on the promise of some drinks in the garden and a BBQ.

They said they were having issues with their BBQ so would do an ‘indoor BBQ’. This consisted of beige food from Iceland!!

AIBU to find this a woeful alternative?

Exactly this. It's just so stuck up. If she brought out M&S "picky bits" (shudder) it would suddenly be the best thing ever.

Eat your FREE turkey dinosaurs and sausage rolls and shut up OP.

And pretentious with it.

Iceland is a supermarket.
Once upon a time it was called Begam.
Just a ordinary supermarket.

I know it's a typo but my God, "Hob Knobs" wins the thread.

I’m actually finding this quite nostalgic. I’ve suddenly got a craving for a Sara Lee frozen Black Forest gateau, like my Gran used to serve up every other Sunday. Do they still do them?

I would be kind of disappointed by a load of cheap party food from Iceland. Sure I would eat it, but it’s pretty lame. A nice barbecue with loads of salads can be a lovely meal, and slinging frozen food in the oven is hardly the same. ETA it’s not the money - it’s the lack of effort that would bug me.

You are coming across as an entitled snob, an ungrateful one at that.

I expect it cost a multiple of the food!)
There it is.
You think you should be given food 'worth' the same as the bottle of wine you so magnanimously took with you.
You're a snob and tight.

She learnt from her grandmother...

Original·Yesterday 22:30
Define 'hospitality'.
It's certainly normal here that people are expected to pretend that they are always delighted to eat whatever they are served even if it's inedible.
Non-UK people just don't understand this level of fakery.
I would be ashamed to serve UPPFs at my home if I specifically invited someone for dinner. It's OK if I randomly invite a school mum on the way home from school, because I might not have anything else at that moment than a pack of biscuits. For me 'hospitality' means 'making an effort' and feeding the guests. We show love with food. My grandma still expresses displeasure if she is served cake that is bakery-bought rather than freshly baked in the oven a day before at home. It's a cultural difference, and it's nothing to do with being snobbish.

They don't do Sara Lee but their Black Forest Gateau is really nice

Hilarious!

Honestly they hosted you for lunch - it's up to them what they provide not you! The idea that you'd have given them some suggestions if you'd known the bbq was broken is just gob smacking.

To complain that your posh wine wasn't opened is to not understand how hospitality works? They provided the food and drink and you gave them a gift. They were under no obligation to open the wine you brought - if this offends you then take plonk next time.

Really really gobsmacked that you say you consider these people friends.....

If it was a buffet why would it be frozen food?

Eh?
Why do you think a buffet can't be frozen food (or frozen food can't be a buffet)?

Unbelievable, isn't it. You'd wonder how the Grandma would get on at weddings, with all those bakery made wedding cakes!
Probably turn her nose up.

Yabu and quite snobby. One beige buffet won't cause you to put on weight or get dementia! Personally, I would prefer party food to buffet food (even though I largely avoid UPF in my day to day (vegan) diet). I am surprised they didn't do the BBQ food under the grill or in the oven though, especially if the issue with the BBQ was discovered last minute. I guess maybe space might be an issue if feeding a lot of people.

Grandmother never taught her manners it seems.

I agree. Plus I hate all that judgement on "British people's" food and hospitality.

Thank God for the local farm shop! Is it in the same class as my local Cheshire Smokehouse OP? They do some great 'emergency' ready meals, as well as sausages, burgers, pork pies, white baked goods, and a selection of expensive wines, with plenty of sulphates, to wow your hosts with. I shop there often, I also shop at Tesco, Aldi, Lidl, and dare I say it, Iceland, occasionally.

You sound like like the worst sort of Nouveau riche person - a smug snob with no class at all. I'm sure you'll be bitching to all and sundry about the Iceland beige buffet at the next football club gathering. I hope you get a similar response to your whining as you got here.

Irrelevant to the OP - but does anyone else think the Greggs stuff is bloody expensive in Iceland?

I can't think how buying Charlie Bingham Ready Meals is a statement of culinary superiority.

This. To even make a thread too.

Apparently the food culture in Poland is vastly superior.

@Bbqdisaster is being U for using the term 'beige'. I only ever hear that term here on MN.

I echo the responses regarding snobbery. Plan A didn't work out for them so they had a plan B. They still hosted for you.

Well it could have been but this is to do with the snobbish attitude that Iceland food is "all frozen crap".

Yeah but I don't have a Greggs in walking distance 😂😂