We Want Plates

For some reason I tend to gravitate towards internet memes that get me thinking. Let’s face it they tend to be great conversation pieces in an often humdrum world that takes itself too seriously. One such meme that caught my eye originated from twitter and it’s “activists”. This band of merry makers have a thing for plates. Yes plates, what Wikipedia describes aptly as “a broad, concave, but mainly flat vessel on which food can be served.”

This particular meme is associated with the hash tag #WeWantPlates. #WeWantPlates is a little zone on twitter where folks post photos of food on all sorts of things, most of which could only questionably pass off as plates as we know them. I presume the objective is to get people to go back to conventional plates. As I gazed in amazement at some of the photos, I wondered if they had a point. Are plates really being misused or quite frankly what exactly qualifies to be called a plate?

In 600AD the Chinese came up with the concept of plates as we know it today. They used porcelain which eventually found its way into Europe in 1708 and gave birth to traditional pottery and plate making companies like Royal Saxon, Wedgewood and Royal Copenhagen. Disposable plates only came onto the scene in 1904, a mere baby. I recall having the Ghanaian street food Waakye, in banana leaves as a child and for me that was my plate of sorts for that dish. Along with shells, leaves were what our forefathers used as plates until of course the Chinese stepped in with porcelain – modern plates. Could it be that we are now a little bored with porcelain and want our food and drinks served and displayed on “plates” a little bit more post-modern?

Anyway, my contribution to this meme is a glass of strawberry with blood orange smoothie served on a clock my father bought for me as a gift about 5 years ago.

it’s strawberry and blood orange smoothie time

Below are a few of the creative and amusing photos from #WeWantPlates. Enjoy

J******* @Uliefay Follow @WeWantPlates Screws in Sweetcorn – vegetable salvage, London 1:54 PM – 10 Mar 2015

Rhodri Marsden ✔ @rhodri Follow Of all the things mentioned in that piece, this is surely the most ludicrous: Salad Under A Wine Glass pic.twitter.com/swyeCuGo6i @WeWantPlates 1:45 PM – 10 Mar 2015

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We Want Plates @WeWantPlates Follow Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. http://dianepernet.typepad.com/diane/food_and_drink/ … #wewantplates 9:02 AM – 7 Mar 2015

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We Want Plates @WeWantPlates Follow Confirmation of the Bread Slippers of Switzerland. You’re welcome. #wewantplates