When dining-out becomes repugnant or not!!!
- Toluwalope Omoyeni
- Aug 7, 2015
- 2 min read
Chips, sausage and beans in a dog bowl, toast in a flast cap, salad on a piece of plank and breakfast in a shovel!!!
These and many others are the ways that some restaurants across the UK serve meals to their customers now.
As part of keeping in touch with trend, these restaurants are swerving dangerously off the conventional lane of presenting meals on white serving plates and fine china.
In a world that has been overrun by social media, customers at restaurants are swift to take snapshots of the outlandish platters before them which they then post on social media for friends to share.
While most of those who have come face to face with their barbeque served on a wooden board have laughed it off, one man has risen against this craze and he has gained almost 90000 online supporters.
Photographer and digital content manager, Ross McGinnes told Brighton Foodstyle: 'I set the account up in March after a friend posted a picture of an average-sized steak on Facebook, which had been served to him on a large chopping board.'
'It was captioned, unironically, "That is a big meal!" It wasn't a big meal. He had fallen for this style-over-content nonsense.'
Ross's friend like thousands of others, are drawn to the hilarious side of eating on a piece of wood.
There's room for a bit of levity but the level of support and publicity that Ross's campaign has garnered proves that maybe this one just has to go.
The crusade is appropriately called "We Want Plates" and Ross lets people share their quirky dining experiences on Twitter and Facebook, with pictures as proof.
Is Ross's online campaign any effective in causing the trend to dwindle?
He says: "A few restaurants have refrained from serving food like this after some of their pictures were tweeted to me."
"The landmark moment was when one stopped serving ice cream on a slate"
Some of these restaurants are in a race to stay relevant in the industry but without giving thought to the health implications that this might have on customers.
On Ross's webpage, wewantplates.com, a food microbiologist, Dr Helen Martin was featured analysing the attendant issues that trail eating from slates, caps, shovels, planks and the likes. Watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pB3JuDcGCq8
The group of people who are loyal to this trend have not failed to call out the We Want Plates campaign claiming that it is "pathetic to be obssessed with how food is served when millions of people are starving."
True to their claims, how food is served may not matter when all we want to do is eat.
Whether it's a simple, unexpensive meal of fish and chips or it's a quality fine dining cuisine, presenting food like this may upset any one who is a strong believer in the traditional crockery.
Owner of Dina's Kitchen, a new Portuguese restaurant in Brighton, Dina says: 'There's nothing wrong with serving food on other surfaces apart from plates. For me, it depends on what my customers want.'
In their attempt to be unique, restaurants seem to be putting off those people who still want plates.
Brighton Foodstyle was out on the streets of Brighton to hear what diners think about this trend.
