Opinion: Go back to traditional crockery

Recently on the website, I posted a feature about the widespread trend that allows restaurants to serve food on surfaces that are not plates. Wooden boards, flat caps, slates, buckets and the most outrageous of all, a dog bowl.

I have examined this trend in my head over and over and I have come up with probable excuses that these restaurants might have for accepting this sickening but hilarious trend.

First on my list of defences on behalf of restaurants is the aim to be distinct. Maybe plates have become too conventional and overused, so restaurant owners are exploring new ways of serving customers.

Secondly, maybe this is a ploy to help people manage their food portions. Serving Spaghetti Bolognese in a glass cup perfectly sums up this point.

Alternatively, restaurants are trying to cut portions for their own selfish gains. Serve food in weird crappy containers, make more money! This sounds like a business plan, not brilliant though.

At this point where I have run out of excuses, I’d like to say that none of the aforementioned is strong enough to justify the trend. I think we have a right to rise up against this queerness.

Journalist, Ross McGinnes, who spoke to me about his campaign is the only person, at the moment, who is dedicating some time and wits to calling out restaurants that are going overboard with the trend and he has gained thousands of followers who send in pictures detailing their experiences.

I remember having dinner with my friends at one of Brighton’s best restaurants in April. My meal was served so clumsily that I got really confused as to how to tackle the complications I had paid for in the name of a decent meal.

My order of whole cooked lobster with fries and broccoli on the side came like this: My lobster was on a wooden board, my broccoli came in a small bucket and my fries were struggling to join the party. Have these people ever heard anything about keeping things simple and “on plates”?

Taking photos of these platters and sharing such on social media may be fun for many people. But this is a reality that is slowly creeping in, food lovers and denizens of restaurants may not be ready for what is to come.

We have recently seen sea bass served in a tiny bowl placed on a log of wood. This is not the worst.

The only way to make sure we do not see the worst is by taking action.