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Plates or bowls for everyday eating?

(150 Posts)
lixy Sat 05-Nov-22 17:45:42

My DD uses shallow flattish bowls for most food and says they hardly ever use flat plates. I use plates for most things but bowls for pasta.
There's an article in the Telegraph today saying that the trend is away from plates and bowls are the 'in' thing. They are comforting apparently and can be held comfortably so feel the warmth through them as well as the food.
Which do you prefer?

Aldom Mon 07-Nov-22 16:32:16

grandtanteJE65

Usually, we sit a the table to eat and use a flat plate and a knife and fork for everything except (obviously) soup or rice pudding.

I can see that if you prefer to eat sitting in an armchair and only using a fork or spoon a bowl might be easier, and of course if eating with chopsticks a flat plate would be rather useless, wouldn't it?

My imagination boggles at the thought of eating Christmas dinner out of a bowl, though!

Eating from a pasta bowl, using a fork and spoon has nothing whatsoever to do with sitting on the sofa.
Some food dishes are more traditionally eaten this way. I certainly don't like to eat curry or pasta dishes from a plate and using a knife and fork. I also regularly enjoy a mixed salad, also eaten from a pasta dish and using a fork and spoon. Everything item of salad food and the protein is in small pieces, no need for a knife and fork. smile

jenpax Mon 07-Nov-22 16:30:16

And we do eat at a table and healthily’

jenpax Mon 07-Nov-22 16:28:52

We have switched to these bowls and I much prefer them. They are ideal for messier foods too as sauce etc is nicely contained and this works well for messy adult eaters as well as the kids! I do own a posh dinner service but that is unlikely ever to see the light of day again I suspect

Redhead56 Mon 07-Nov-22 16:25:20

Welbeck no I said I squirrel and bird watch while standing eating snacks in the kitchen.

Blondiescot Mon 07-Nov-22 16:16:41

Some people may not have much room in their homes for a conventional table and chairs, so they might not have much option other than to eat from their sofas. As Doodledog says, it doesn't have any effect on anyone else.

Bijou Mon 07-Nov-22 16:15:27

Because I cannot now sit up to the table and have to eat my meals on a tray sitting in my riser recliner chair I have my meals in wide bottom.bowls. (Bought in a Japanese store in LA many years ago) My oats or cereal in a soup bowl. Can no longer cook a roast unfortunately.

M0nica Mon 07-Nov-22 16:10:43

I quite agree with Pippa. these eating habits go with diets high in ultra-processed foods (UPF'S), lacking in fruit and veg, and generally poor for the health, which puts added burdens on the NHS. By eating in a slumped position the food is going to go down the throat etc more slowly and contribute to acid indigestion.

Eating on the settee, also means eyes and mind concentrated on a screen, instead of concentrating on everything the pleasures of eating can contribute to your life.

Doodledog Mon 07-Nov-22 16:04:23

Why does something that other people do in their own homes sadden you? I can think of far worse things to get upset about grin

Pippa22 Mon 07-Nov-22 15:48:32

Sadly many people sit on the sofa to eat with a bowl resting on their belly.
Gross but true.

Margiknot Mon 07-Nov-22 14:19:51

We probably use flat bowls about half the time and plates the rest. A roast dinner or other meal that requires a solid base for cutting up food - is better on a plate, whilst dishes such as cottage pie with peas, rice based meals or pasta are better in a wide based bowl. We are lucky that our everyday square dinner plates fit in our dishwasher easily - I have heard some large round plates are too tall to fit in some dishwashers, so dinner bowls having a smaller diameter fit more easily.

Hil1910 Mon 07-Nov-22 14:09:14

We serve our main meal on a plate and eat it at the table. Cereal, soup, pasta and fruit and are eaten from bowls in our home.

Riverwalk Mon 07-Nov-22 14:04:55

Today has been a bowl-y day.

A small soup plate for breakfast and a pasta bowl for lunch

Riggie Mon 07-Nov-22 14:02:43

We have some of the flattish pasta bowls. We use them for casseroles or things like risotto as well. But mostly we use plates.

Norah Mon 07-Nov-22 13:59:10

Plates if needed. Bigger flat rimmed bowls usually suit us all better and always have. No idea this was a 'new thing'. We've always had small, medium, and large plates, porridge bowls, soup/curry flat bowls.

MissAdventure Mon 07-Nov-22 13:49:56

I almost always sit at the table, even if I'm here alone, just because it's more comfortable.

My sofa looks comfy, but my feet don't reach the floor, then it only has one arm, which means twisting about like a contortionist.

SparklyGrandma Mon 07-Nov-22 13:49:30

Been using pasta bowls for ages. They look fuller sooner, nothing spills so safer to eat on the sofa, bed etc. Food is warmer for longer. A bowl is comforting too.

I didn’t know it had become a thing!

Blondiescot Mon 07-Nov-22 13:30:52

We always sit at the table and eat our dinner from plates, but I have to say that after reading this thread, I'm now actually contemplating buying a couple of the large bowl types, especially as we often have pasta dishes. I also love ramen style dishes, but you can't eat them from a plate.

razzmatazz Mon 07-Nov-22 13:25:39

A bowl every time. Usually a large one to take a meal.

Mamma66 Mon 07-Nov-22 13:13:09

We have plates, bowls and pasta bowls. We usually sit at the table to eat. I have started using pasta bowls for almost everything; pasta (obviously) but also curries and stews as well. So much easier 😁

MissAdventure Mon 07-Nov-22 13:01:30

I do like a deep plate.
Some are almost flat!

Theoddbird Mon 07-Nov-22 12:55:15

I have a 1930s shallow dish with wide flat rim that I use for all my meals except soup which goes in a small deeper dish. I have used the dish for years. I do have Christmas dinner on a plate though...

lovebeigecardigans1955 Mon 07-Nov-22 12:54:33

I prefer a plate, but I suspect that eating from a bowl is safer if you eat at your settee as opposed to the table, so less likely to spill its contents. Eating at a table seems to have gone by the board except for formal gatherings. I'm clumsy as well as old-fashioned.

Mamardoit Mon 07-Nov-22 12:54:04

We still like to eat at the table so it's a plate for, meat and two veg, fish and chips, salads, beans on toast, etc.. How would you eat things like that out of a bowl? We have started to eat pasta and rice dishes out of large flat bowls. We started to use the crockery the DS brought back from university, but now have some plain white ones to match our other crockery.

Yammy Mon 07-Nov-22 12:49:57

Soup bowls with a rim, pasta bowls for pasta and casseroles, and flat plates for everything else. We sit at the kitchen table where it is nice and warm. Very David Cameron come round for a "Kitchen Supper".

catladyuk Mon 07-Nov-22 12:46:24

i use bowls for most pasta and soup, dishes for anything with gravy or sauce and an ordinary plate for everything else.
who knew this could be such a controversial subject!