Do you eat your food communally (off one plate) or on individual dishes?

Question

We usually eat it off one plate (saves dishes!!! and brings closeness too) but it depends what we are eating and if we are actually eating together at the same time. The branch of my dh's family here in America is getting so big masha'allah that we can't hardly do that anymore. There is no dining table large enough for us either so we have to clear the furniture and put a large tablecloth on the floor and set up all the dishes, masha'allah! I know sooooo many ppl would think we are crazy, but I love that we aren't uptight like that! LOL

YA wanted to put this in the etiquette section. I would have loved to seen what they thought of what I wrote in there! rothfl

rotfl..

so true about the size of the plate - I have some very pretty ones that I absolutely love. thanks for answering

Toota that's right. When you eat that way you cannot talk because you won't get any food then! lol

Answer 1

yeah we eat in one plate with my family , there are efw things who u dont eat in one plate with ur family , any way , i dont live with my family now , so i eat in my own plate , and it s not so good , u fell alone and there is no sharing , eating in one plate make u feel the human love , and loves family , and human generosity. u feel even while eating that u are not alone any more.

Answer 2

We usually share a plate unless we are having sandwiches. I can't think of anything else we don't share a plate over.
One evening after having hung out with my husbands mother, aunts and sisters all the day we were eating treed. There were so many of us we also laid the tablecloth out on the floor. We were actually sitting like a train.....front to back to each other with right arms towards the center of the tablecloth LOL. It was the only way we could fit everyone around. It was a good laugh too :)

Answer 3

The first time I saw people, may be three or four, eating off from one big flat dish during my three days stay with a Tabligue Jamaat back in 1960s when I was in Karachi, they were not using spoons/forks. We never eat from single plate like commune, in our house as it was considered unhygienic (no offence please).

When I went to Iran in 1977 I found that in some big occasions they would eat off from a big plate with spoon & forks for items like Pillaw or Biryani (Rice cooked with oil and meat and other spices). They would avoid using dining table, rather very costly carpets are placed in almost all the rooms where they would double it is living room, bed-room and also as dining space. This saves space and also helpful as you need to wash a few dishes after the meal.

Very recently I was invited to attend an Islamic congregation where they served dinner after the lectures. The eating was done in the same fashion as mentioned by you. I was feeling a bit uneasy (for the commune type of eating) since we are not used to it, but found that most of the people did not care much and had heart-full of their meal.

I think it is more for the way you are used to rather than this is good or bad than eating from individual plates.

Have a nice meal!

<>

We do eat foods with our right hand too after washing our hands with soap or any cleansing detergents, no matter how unhygienic they would be viewed by 'westerners' since our religion Islam teaches us to use right hand while taking food.

We seldom use spoon and/fork in our home-settings, except for any formal occasion when some 'foreigners' are invited (very rare) who may feel out of place if we do not join them with spoon & fork etc.

In hotels and restaurants spoon and/fork are used here, though our people are not very much accustomed to the proper use of these utensils at the formal dining tables (lol).

We also use bread to scoop the curry up from plates and eat.

Answer 4

In Morocco we all ate from the same plate, UNLESS it was couscous. In that case I am limited in how much I can eat, so my husband's mother always made extra meat and veggies for me. In the US, people are NOT very appreciative of this practice and we all have our own plates.

Answer 5

Well I eat my food on individual dishes....But I have relatives that used to eat together...And I really loved it when I visited them....But the disadvantage of this is you can't control the amount of food you are eating!!!! Delicious food, close relatives, nice talk and non-stop eating!! I felt I that I am gonna explode!!! lol

Answer 6

hi, i do both. i enjoy eating pasta from my own plate and couscous from a shared bowl! it really depends on the food.

that being said, the shared plates are huge, its not like you have a reg. dinner plate, they are about the size of a small serving try. maybe even bigger.

Answer 7

My hustband and I always share plates at home. We often catch ourselves eating off each other's plates when we eat out.

Answer 8

i dont normally share plates becuz my e.g. my brotheres eating habits r disgusting, and i like putting teh plate on my lap... dunno brought up that way.
hell we dont dont even eat to gether, my mom will eat at like 5pm and then ill come at half 8 to have my dinner my day will probably have it at 7,etc were not to big on the closeness in eating... teh only time we sit and even eat together is when we open our fasts.

Answer 9

As Salaamu Alaikum

It depends on what we're eating and how many people are there.