I hadn't noticed that since we rarely eat out. It seems to me a gimmick of this sort might attract customers out of curiosity about it, but I would think it would be a deterrent to repeat customers. But with my limited experience with restaurants I really don't know.
Rest assured that normal people will continue to eat from plates. I have heard of Mason jar salads.... http://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-pac...-a-jar-cooking-lessons-from-the-kitchn-192174 ...but they are eaten from a plate!
We just started to get some restaurants that are serving food in cast iron pots, but for the most part the majority of foods are served on glass plates. Drinks on the other hand could be in glass, plastic or even a mason jar. The cast iron pots and the small fry pans are mostly gimmicks designed to make people think they are getting something special. I get that... as less and less people are going out there has to be something to entice them in. I often ponder why we have so many restaurants in this region and I have come to the conclusion that it has to be about the snow we get. I think because of the cold weather months there is short time for people to actually cook because of the weather, and it is an excellent way to get people to still go to the various stores. I had a crazy thought when i went to a restaurant not that long ago. How come people do not just carry their own silverware? I think the biggest pet peeve I have is when you go out and the forks and knives are dirty. I used to work in a restaurant and know full well even when they do put these through the machine they do not always come out clean. Overall these are rather small utensils, I wonder why people just don't supply there own? Just one of those random thoughts I get.
That must probably depend on where you live. For example, in Europe, any restaurant that isn't a fast food joint still serves dishes on plates and only on plates. In fact, even some fast food joints have plates if you ask them!
I'm with Jenn. Not only are some silverware dirty they can be so worn they should be thrown away. Also I been to several restaurants where the plates can even be thrown away. I couldn't sit down to my meal served on anything but a plate. Like the woman in the video stated there are all kinds of germs and other particles nestled in the crevices.
I rarely eat out, but the only time I can think of when my dinner wasn't served on a plate was when I got fajitas, and they are almost always served on a comal, or presentation pan. I'm not interested in eating off a shovel, especially if I have to pay for them meal. I think restaurants should skip the gimmicks and focus on the food and service.
This is kind of funny but I guess its true. In some restaurants this does seem to be a new trend serviing food on something other then a plate. I guess its either something to do with trying to add some different appeal to the dish or maybe the theme of the restaurant itself. In any case when I have eaten out in the past year when it wasn't fast food I am glad to say that the places I ate at did put their food on plates. Maybe not the most convetional of plates, but at least these were plates.
Here in Alabama,the only places I see not serving food on plates is hamburger places or some barbq places. Even our Captain D's has started serving there meals on actual plates with regular eating utensils,, not plastic. It is really nice. I do not mind getting a burger and fries wrapped in paper instead of on a plate or my barbq served on sheets of brown paper. But when I go into a nice place to eat, I want regular plates and silverware.
Anytime I order a fajita plate here in New England, it comes in a sizzling pan, although when I was in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas, they came on plates. They were far better in the Valley too, but I don't think it had anything to do with the way that it was served. Fajita plates here are mostly onions, peppers and other stuff, with barely enough meat to taste, whereas in the Valley, the fajitas were cooked with onions and peppers, but the food consisted mostly of fajitas. The presentation might be better here, but the food is better in the Valley. I still try it every now and then, but have pretty much given up ordering Mexican food, although I love Mexican food. Fortunately, my wife is part Mexican so she cooks some of it at home, although differently than in the Rio Grande Valley.
I am not a Twitter user but a friend sent me this link mocking food served on anything but plates. This is causing quite a stir in the catering world. https://www.thecaterer.com/articles...ount-mocks-food-served-on-anything-but-plates
We used emesis basins for salad during our EMS banquet one year, although I had to assure the non-EMS people who were there that they had never been used for their intended purpose. Someone had ordered a box of plastic emesis basins and, as you can imagine, they were not particularly useful in an ambulance.