Slate or plate?

Plates every time for me - I don't like slate or slabs of wood as I generally make a mess with these lol

Omg this has been my pet hate fir years .I have a background as a chef and did years teaining in catering hygeine.How can a slate or horrbley stained board be germ free.I have ME/CFS, and 5 other seris immune diseases, so i cant run the risk of getting anything else ie food poisning on top of the suffering im going through every day This majes my blood boil.

Those cloths can be really manky! They wipe the pipe with a dodgy looking cloth then shove the pipe into a jug of milk that ends up in your coffee! Yuk!

Slates and boards are a pet hate of mine but I've never been brave enough to ask for a plate. I think I will next time... loud music is another thing, hard to have a quiet conversation with your companion when some rock music is playing loudly in the background.

Yes - not keen. You should have seen my SIL's face when he was presented with a huge grey slate with a teeny tiny dessert in the middle! He's a big lad and was a bit pissed off!

Deeda, apparently it is only beech that is "self-disinfecting", any other wood is, I suppose, "self-infecting"!

Just googled about food being served on slates etc and it's obviously been going on for years, and yet I was unaware of it. Must get out more! Sounds horrific though. Yuck!

Re the other hygiene concerns, plastic chopping boards give me the creeps. I use wooden ones all the time – a small one for chopping and a larger one mainly as a stand for hot dishes that I take out of the oven. But every few days I put the smaller board in the dishwasher, together with any wooden spoons I've used and sometimes even my wooden salad bowl. Probably not at all necessary hygiene-wise, but works fine.

I remember the other thread on this, it was quite a funny one. I said ' they will be serving fish and chips in a flat cap next' and another poster said 'they already are doing!'

We went to a new restaurant last night and I was horrified to be served steak etc on a plank of wood. Everything kept falling off!

We ended up telling our waitress all the things we'd noticed as it was a soft opening, actual opening tomorrow night. I thought we were being really constructive and helpful and she took it all in then told us she was the owner and her husband was the chef! I was very embarrassed obviously. But at least she's had some feedback!

Anyone been watching Creme de la Creme? The latest idea is live plating - it is a show, they make an artistic display straight on to the table (no plates involved at all).

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0539qt3

My OH has sent food back which came on a plank of wood. No problem, they just re-plated it.

We took my 85 year old mother out for lunch.Her fish and chips were served in a mini wooden crate on a piece of laminated newspaper.Wish I had taken a picture to show you all?

Of her face not the meal?

Mollie, we were out for a mel with some friends yesterday, one of whom is in the mid-stages of dementia. When I booked, I asked the restaurant if the music volume could be turned down and they were most obliging.

So thank you to Carluccio's, who also serve their food on plates - that was very helpful!

*meal, not mel.

I think TV food shows are making food presentation more and more pretentious, its getting to be quite silly at times. I dislike slates etc and especially jars for drinks. Nothing shows food to a better advantage than a plain white plate IMHO.

Hate things being served up on slate or wood, or anything else that can't be washed properly. So unhygenic, Ghastly!! And as for jars etc for my drinks!!! Enough said!!!

I think this was aired on an earlier thread but yes, it is really off putting - at least I find it so. A friend stayed in a Cotswold town for a week and her food was served on trays most evenings - this in several different restaurants too - and one night the tray was metal, stone cold, and consequently so was her dinner. We had a meal in a restaurant in Portugal and our food was on wooden platters which made me think about the scratches and grooves, but one of our party had his chicken served in a piece of terracotta guttering! I do agree - plain white plates make a meal look appetising and colourful. Assuming it's not rice pudding or just mashed potato!

Aren't we all a bit too clean these days though, hence the arrival of superbugs. I quite like the "slate" look.

We don't all have dishwashers

I have a dishwasher - its me!

I remember everything being served in a basket, doubt if it was,, or even could, be cleaned without falling to bits. Yuk!

Ha, so do I Kitty.

My mum always used to say "a little bit of dirt don't hurt". I'm still here and very rarely have I asked for or needed antibiotics. I believe my body has built up a great immune system

How is wood hygenic?
Yes, it is apparently and I think other posters have said that too - W11girl for one

I use wooden or bamboo boards in the kitchen and give them a scrub afterwards in hot soapy water. Ceramic or glass boards blunt knives very quickly.

However - I would prefer my dinner to be served on a plate!! And not a large bowl either as it is more difficult to eat from one of those very large bowls.

Susan we've had fish and chips served with the fish on 'newspaper' and the chips in a mini frying basket.

I think you can buy the chip basket server even in Wilko's these days

Wooden boards are just as un-hygenic as plastic. I use a fortified glass one to chop stuff up on and sharpen my knives when blunt. I don't really care to be honest. I also like the slate thing that's going on at the moment and am not bug phobic. It's innovative and very hip

I agree, I hate food served on a slate or board, I prefer a plate. I like a lot of gravy so that would be impossible! I also hate mason jars. Stupid idea. You can only use them if you have a straw because the thread on it makes you dribble! I do not like straws because I do not want to get loads of lines round my mouth which is what it can cause, just like sucking on a fag! When I received a drink in a jar I asked for it to be transferred to a proper glass. I also hate pies/lasagne in oval dishes as you have to have your cutlery virtually vertical to eat it which makes it difficult, so I always have to take it out.