Social media mock food served on anything but plates

A joke Twitter account has been set up poking fun at food that is served on anything but plates. The @WeWantPlates account was started by West Yorkshireman Ross McGinnes just over a week ago, and already has 10,000 followers. McGinnes captioned the account with the bio: “Crusading against serving food on bits of wood and roof tiles. Chips in little buckets, flowerpots and jam-jar drinks can do one too.”

Twitter users have tweeted the account with instances of food presented in a wide variety of ways, but crucially, not plates. Examples of plate substitutes include slates, a broken bathroom tile, small squares of decking, jam jars, a miniature picnic bench, a wooden box, a stone, a shoe, and even a “sharing” portion of pasta placed directly into the middle of a four-person table. Well-known food writers have also entered the fray: Jay Rayner and Times columnist Katie Glass discussed images including scrambled eggs served on a wooden board, and baked beans spooned on to an apparently gravity-defying stretch of greaseproof paper (from @elyeah_), while Guardian food critic Marina O’Loughlin submitted a photo of food presented in a flat cap. 

McGinnes has now taken to retweeting the many examples sent to him, often with a witty comment or despairing response. A photo of a fry up on a shovel was captioned with “Oh for the love of God”, while a mini supermarket trolley of chips was sarcastically commended as “textbook”.

Photos from users are still piling in, with the most recent selection including a dessert served on the top of an old soup can, a salad on a table tennis bat, sandwiches served on a mini “bookcase”, and peas presented in a small tin bucket. There were even “chips on a washing line”, from @EmerTheScreamer in Dublin. The account’s roaring success has also seen a new Facebook page set up alongside, with yet more photos of the “offending” dishes.