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?

It sounds delicious! I think the whole idea of fashions in food, and the sneering that goes with it, is ridiculous. You read and hear people say things like 'Prawn cocktail! That takes me back!" or 'Black Forest Gateau - a blast from the past!"

But if they're nice to eat, they're nice to eat, and hang whether they're chic in Islington at the moment. I don't give a damn.

Afternoon tea has made a massive comeback over the past 20 years. It would have been sneered at in my childhood. It's delish.

A meal I'd love to bring back to fashion is High Tea. That's a more substantial meal and we used to have it at my ILs, and also with my family, who are all either working class or lower middle. At my ILs it consisted of

nice bread rolls, ready buttered,
hard boiled eggs
cheeses
pork pies
cold meats - selection
sausage rolls
a simple salad (lettuce, tomato, cucumber)
crisps or similar
pickles
All washed down with a cup of tea and followed by a piece of home-made cake.

You sat around the table and took whatever you wanted on to your plate and then ate with a knife and fork.

This type of meal, very northern and working class (for special occasions, obvs) couldn't be more out of fashion but I honestly recommend it - it's scrumptious, easy to put together, there's something for everyone and it's just so relaxing. I know the modern equivalent is the dreaded (brace yourselves...) ;'picky bits', but you do have to sit at a table for my version and you do need a cup of tea with it.

I love a beige buffet. I get a bit jealous when other teams at work have them, or any buffet for that matter, for special occasions because every single other person in my own team turns their nose up at the mere concept. To the extent we’ve stopped being invited :(

We do, A poster on here the other day was describing how she made trifle with tinned clementines and orange jelly and hundreds and thousands. It made me long for the food of 1970s family get-togethers.

Sounds amazing. I love a vol a vent. Best funeral buffet I have ever been to? Pies. There were lots and lots of pies. It was fantastic.

When I was growing up it was smoked salmon, tuna, egg mayo and herring bridge rolls. Cold fish goujons, potato salad, coleslaw, pickled cucumber, a selection of danish, some crumbly kind of biscuit things, marble cake, apple strudel and a cup of tea always on a cup and saucer served from a tea pot.

I made a super fancy buffet for family who came to visit my new house. Lots of very expensive Parma ham and smoked fish and crudite type things and blinis with caviar and all that. Fruit skewers with a tahini dip. There were a couple of kids coming too so I heated up 100 mini frozen sausage rolls from Tesco and put out some Pringles and fondant fancies.
You know the punchline…

The dream, lived. Gala pies are what the angels in heaven put in their buffets.

Shooting is gross.

I love a beige buffet. We have a family buffet every Christmas and Easter (Jesus would have loved it). Whole dining table covered in fifty shades of beige food with a small plate of grapes, strawberries, tomatoes and cucumber for health. Everyone gets a paper plate and there's not enough seats so you have to try to juggle your plate and glass of wine. Eat till you feel a bit sick.

Mandarins, surely. Love trifle. My Mum's was made as follows
Open tin of fruit - mandarins or fruit cocktail
Place sieve over jug and pour fruit into sieve
Measure how much juice/syrup is now in jug
Boil water and top up jug to amount needed to melt jelly cubes
Melt jelly cubes
Put trifle sponges in base of trifle dish
Put drained fruit on top
Pour over jelly mixture
Leave to set
Add custard layer, either from a tin of Ambrosia or (less and less likely as time went on) made with Bird's custard powder and cooled
Whip cream and spread on top
Decorate with hundreds and thousands or cherries from fruit cocktail or glace cherries

Food of the gods.

It sounds lovely but I would eat none of it. I am vegetarian with issues with my bloods so sadly I’m looking for the hummus, bean salad. quinoa, cherry tomatoes, tabbouleh etc

Oh I think that was me! I'm still very 70s/80s in my catering. My sister laughs but it makes me happy.

One of my favourite things as a kid was if my mum had done a buffet tea with posh triangle sandwiches. Left over egg mayo sandwiches toasted the next day were the absolute best! (Plastic bread, not poncy sourdough)

That sounds just lovely! Both the food and everyone gathering together every Easter and Christmas to enjoy it!

My biggest issue with a beige buffet isn’t the fact that it’s beige but that it doesn’t tend to have much variety in texture or in many cases flavour. The worst though is when items that taste better warm are served cold, I.e pretty much any pastry, pizza or breaded chicken! I do however like a retro finger sandwich, egg, salad cream and cress, coronation chicken or tuna and cucumber are all sublime!

oooh yes breadsticks and dips… tempted to send ds to alsi…

Ay?! It’s clay pigeon 🤣🤣 I don’t think that’s gross!

Love a vol au vent, and all in the pastry family! And cold collation is the default term in this household thank you very much

Sounds like buffet heaven but then I’m a working class oik from South London

As a one off, I think this is kind of fun to do and enjoy the memories.

Sometimes, I throw a retro themed dinner party and people love it.

I love a Lancashire hot pot with red cabbage and brown sauce. There should also be a cheese pie available and both served in those huge metal trays in big slabs

My family have been MC for generations and I can't comprehend people so determined to prove their MC credentials that they never see a sausage roll or a scotch egg.

no, obviously when eaten out of doors or home cooked by ones housekeeper obtained from M&S in the 3 for £8 deli deal such food becomes 'picky bits' 🤮 which is eminently acceptable to the middle classes It's only when served indoors at a celebration with the majority purchased from iceland or asda can it be judged as déclassé . Come on, this is British101!

The faux naive misunderstanding at what constitutes a beige buffet might be one of the most MN things I've ever read 😂.

Bridge Rolls - oh yes. Why oh why aren't they available anymore?