Bored Panda reached out to the team running the r/WeWantPlates subreddit with a few follow-up questions. We had a quick chat about the food-serving trends we’re seeing at the moment.

One trend, in particular, has been standing out above the rest, at the time of writing.

“In real life, I am seeing the ‘serve it in the pan it was cooked in’ trend more and more around here,” one of the moderators told us. “I don't like it,” they were very straightforward about it.

We were interested to get the ‘We Want Plates’ moderator team’s opinion about whether there will ever come a time when restaurants do the right thing and fully embrace plates and glasses.

“Let's hope so!” the subreddit’s representative told Bored Panda that they’re pretty optimistic, however this would only happen "once it starts hurting them [the restaurants] in the money."

“It's nice to be creative, I suppose, but there's a reason dinnerware exists,” they pointed out. And we couldn’t agree more: creativity, imagination, and thinking outside the box ought to be celebrated. On the flip side, we’re talking about food. And at the end of the day, a large part of the entire experience is the act of putting food into your mouth, tasting, chewing, and then swallowing it.

Perception really does matter. When you see that your food has been resting on some random objects, your mind automatically considers how hygienic all of it is. Has someone else eaten their dessert from this flip-flop today? How well did the kitchen staff wash it? Why is there a friggin’ flip-flop on my table at all? Why am I here? You know the standard philosophical debates.

Lastly, the redditor whom we got in touch with praised their colleagues working in the moderator team for helping keep the entire online community healthy and on-point. 

“We have some very excellent and dedicated moderators who keep a vigilant eye out!” they said. It’s an ongoing team effort to provide a great experience for all members of r/WeWantPlates.

How much time each mod spends looking after the community depends on the individual and how busy it is that week. "It's impossible to say. In general, Reddit is a hobby and not a job. We do what we can, within reason," the mod told Bored Panda.

The entire idea for r/WeWantPlates actually started way back in 2015, on Twitter. Photographer Ross told Bored Panda a few years ago that the inspiration for the internet project came after a friend fo his shared a photo on Facebook. The pic in question? A steak that was served on a chopping board. (At the tail-end of 2022, that actually feels pretty tame after everything that we’ve seen in recent years.)

“It [the photo] was captioned, unironically, ‘That is a big meal!’ It wasn't a big meal—he'd fallen for all this style-over-content hipster gastropub nonsense. I searched Twitter for an account which would allow me to vent my spleen with like-minded people, but found nothing. We Want Plates was born,” Ross told us earlier how everything fell into place.

“My local pub used to do a great Sunday roast: twelve quid, piled high, tasted great and yes, it came on a plate. One weekend they added a quirky offering to the menu: little sandwiches, pies, dainty cakes, and mini milkshakes served on a miniature picnic bench. The benches, painted bright pink and yellow, sat on top of tables seating actual grown adults. And what was the first thing these infantilized diners did? It wasn’t try the food—it was whip out their phones and take a picture,” he said.

“Over the following months the picnic benches became increasingly popular, coinciding with the specials board becoming progressively smaller, before it eventually disappeared altogether. I sat there one Sunday, watching bench after garish bench emerge from the kitchen like a technicolor carnival of idiocy, before my usual roast arrived,” the founder told us.

“The meat was cold and the potatoes were burnt. It was once their main Sunday trade, but the traditional roast had died an unpalatable death. But that’s OK because they were doing a roaring trade with the benches, right? Sure, until the pub down the road started doing them too. Then the one around the corner. Before you know it, everyone’s doing the same ‘quirky’ thing, except it’s not ‘quirky’ anymore because you can’t move for mini picnic benches and now all their roast dinners are rubbish to boot,” Ross shared with us during a previous interview.

A while ago, Bored Panda had gotten in touch with world-renowned pie artist and food expert Jessica Leigh Clark-Bojin to get her opinion on food presentation. She noted that it’s true that ‘we do eat with our eyes’ first. However, this doesn’t mean artful plating is the same as randomness. Creativity, fanciness, and quality is fine when it’s done right. 

"The presentation of a dish—both the food and the serving vessels—can have a huge impact on the impression we have of the food we are about to consume. The most delicious-looking slice of beef wellington you’ve ever seen, plated on a chipped plate with a dirty thumbprint in the corner is just not going to be the taste sensation that it ought to be because you will be preoccupied with the grody presentation. Likewise, a fairly pedestrian mini cupcake, presented on a charming little gold carousel that you must hand crank to reveal your treat, is suddenly elevated by whimsical association,” pie artist Jessica explained to us during a previous interview.

"When chefs go above and beyond in the consideration of the presentation of their food, it is because they are looking to craft a little narrative and add meaning to the experience of consuming their food. When done well, this added meaning enhances the guest’s experience and leaves a lasting pleasant impression. When done poorly, it detracts from the experience of eating the food and leaves guests frustrated, grossed out, or simply bemused," she said.

"Artful plating is not a competition to see who can inject the most randomness and absurdity onto a table! Unless of course, the meaning you want to impart has to do with conveying a sense of absurdity as a critical commentary on societal excess… but that’s a little meta for most chefs!"

The food expert shared her opinion as to why some restaurants have a very different service than most other establishments. She noted that they have a holistic approach to it all.

"They consider the experience of sitting down for a meal at their establishment to be a form of sensory engagement designed to delight and harmonize taste, texture, fragrance, appearance (of the food, plating, and larger room ambience), sounds, and general mood,” she explained. However, not everyone is successful. Copycats abound!

"In an attempt to emulate the success and sophistication of these rarified venues, on occasion newcomers to the restaurant game will copy certain aspects of what is meant to be an integrated holistic experience and in doing so, really miss the mark. This is where you’ll encounter the mediocre establishments presenting mediocre fare on objectively ridiculous serving objects, devoid of any context or meaning."