When did Dinner plates become so big?!

I have an older style of Denby dinner service. The main plates are still quite large, the salad ones a bit too small. However, I do like leaving lots of space around the food as I think it looks nice and more presentable. You don't always need to fill the whole plate up.

If I put out a meal in serving dishes I tend to eat too much as I go back and refill. A set meal on the plate seems to "feel" just right for me.

Im finding it better to put veggies and / or salad in a serving bowl to be the best combo for us. That way I can return until my appetite is satisfied with lower calorie nutritious foods and still have nicely presented protein and a small portion of carbs on the big dinner plate. It's okay to fill up on the greens!

Making the meal presentable whatever it is (that also includes frugal ones) makes it satisfying, plus the option for extra fresh veggies or salad makes for a fulfilling meal.

Hence I'm ok with any plate! It's the foods that count...

patricia50 wrote: »

I watch a lot of cookery programmes like Masterchef Australia and it seems to be the fashion to have a big plate with a small amount of food on. I wonder if that is why there is this trend for large plates, not because people are filling them and eating more

Yes, it's not about piling it on now. It's about arranging it artistically.

glasgowdan wrote: »

Is there nobody here with a bloody good appetite? You all seem to be saying you hardly eat anything, how do you survive?!

It doesn't matter about appetite. It's what you put on your plate. We eat a lot of broccoli and it takes up a lot of space so I struggle to fit it all on a 30" plate with everything else.

When I moved into this area and had access to so much more fresh veggies (local farmers often invite neighbours to glean after a crop is harvested) I had to seek out much larger plates and it was only then that I realised how much space adult portions of, say, four or five vegetables take up.

At one time we were using restaurant style steak platters to fit it all on because otherwise we would have needed two plates - one for the meat, gravy and potatoes and one for the vegetables.

It's surprising how much space a knuckle of cauliflower, eight sprouts, a generous spoonful of carrot, a chunk of parsnip and some sauteed onion can take up unless you are of the ilk that piles the whole lot up into one unappealing slag heap.

paddy's_mum wrote: »

When I moved into this area and had access to so much more fresh veggies (local farmers often invite neighbours to glean after a crop is harvested) I had to seek out much larger plates and it was only then that I realised how much space adult portions of, say, four or five vegetables take up.

At one time we were using restaurant style steak platters to fit it all on because otherwise we would have needed two plates - one for the meat, gravy and potatoes and one for the vegetables.

It's surprising how much space a knuckle of cauliflower, eight sprouts, a generous spoonful of carrot, a chunk of parsnip and some sauteed onion can take up unless you are of the ilk that piles the whole lot up into one unappealing slag heap.

Exactly and it is even worse if you don't eat meat and potatoes like us as they are much more filling and so take up less space on a plate than non-meat alternatives.