To think beige buffets get a raw deal and have their place?

[Iceplater]

I recently went to the funeral of an elderly relative and the wake was in a working mens club. The buffet came out and it was a sea of beige - sausage rolls, quiche, open sandwiches, vol a vents (which I have seen for years), jam tarts, Mr Kipling. And it was glorious.

I moved away from my home town and I’ve become a terrible middle-class fanny. This took me right back to the 80s and Sundays at my Grandparents when they put on a “spread”.

I wouldn’t want it every day but it was amazing (despite it being a funeral). AIBU?

I went to a wedding which had one of those table top things where everything is put on an attractive pile together and within around 30 seconds of people tucking in it just looked horrendous, a total stomach churning embarrassment.

Well that escalated fast!

I love a beige buffet. But I'm obviously very working class because I don't even know what other buffet options there would be.

terrible middle-class fanny

Love a buffet like this every now and then. We have one in the run up to Christmas but I go even lower.... I spread it all out on a picnic blanket next to the Christmas tree and we have a picnic in the sitting room!

Thing is, many elderly people at a typical wake can’t eat rich, spicy foods or lots of uncooked veg. Soft sandwiches, quiche, cake and similar foods can be easier for somebody with dentures or chewing difficulties than raw carrot, cabbage, nuts, seeds or a very crunchy salad. Older people are also more likely to experience chewing or swallowing problems, so sandwiches and quiche are good options. Even NHS dietetics advice for elderly people advocates what many might think is the ‘beige buffet’.

You think sandwiches and quiche are revolting?

It also tastes a lot better.

You're right to point this out because it's something that people might not think about when catering for different age groups.

They definitely have their place, especially if people are drinking it will keep stomachs lined.

Grapefruit?! Who do you think you are?

It’s traditionally always been a potato covered in cheap tinfoil 😆.

No one was posh enough to have a grapefruit knocking around in the 80’s when this hedgehog creation began, it’s always been a potato.

It's been over 20 years now and everyone still talks about how good the ribs were at granddad's funeral.

Funerals are all about looking back fondly on the past and remembering the good times together. It's only right that the food is nostalgic too.

It’s the same stuff but it’s bought from Waitrose and packaged as ‘hand-finished pork sausage roulades in all-butter puff pastry’ or something like that. 😂

I love a good beige buffet. Defo needs pizza slices and those chicken kebab things on sticks though.

I love a beige buffet.

As said in Gavin and Stacey 'I'm not bringing a salad, no-one eats it' 😆

Now I love that sort of thing. But I'd also happily throw myself into a beige buffet. I'm ecumenical on these matters.

It’s a mixture of snobbery and obsession with the horrors of UPFs
my view is the healthiest approach to food is to not take it quite so seriously, and have an 80/20 balance

as an aside, how nice are vol-au-vents

The thing is the supermarket beige food generally isn't very good. A homemade quiche with proper crisp shortcrust pastry is delicious. A flaky sausage roll too. But supermarket pastry is just sort of lumpen. Vol au vents are better because they are naturally baked blind before the filling goes in.

Yes, I'm a food snob. If I'm going to eat all that pastry I want the joy from it.

I do love those types of buffets and some funeral sandwiches.

I actually really like soggy pastry. Very comforting.

Why TF was Sara Lee even cancelled? What did she do wrong except bring joy and diabetes to the world?

Totally agree. There's nothing like a pork pie buffet to knock any middle class fannyfication out of you and get the salt of the earth back in. Unfortunately I've become a terrible vegan fanny and can't avail myself as I'd like. Its my one regret.

I love a beige buffet, or British tapas as we call it in our house. I do think there is a lot of snobbery about food on here and most normal people do eat chicken nuggets/Coco pops/sausage rolls or whatever on a semi regular basis without dying 😂

I love a posh buffet and I love a beige buffet as long as neither of them have potato salad, which has to be the most revolting food on the planet.

Any buffet without sausage rolls is an abomination.

DDs first birthday in a few weeks and we are going fully beige...finger food only and the only thing I intend on cooking are the sausage and cheese and onion rolls..can't wait!