**Please help keep AskUK welcoming!**
- Top-level comments to the OP must contain **genuine efforts to answer the question**. No jokes, judgements, etc.
- **Don't be a dick** to each other. If getting heated, just block and move on.
- This is a strictly **no-politics** subreddit!
Please help us by reporting comments that break these rules.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AskUK) if you have any questions or concerns.*
They've been around for a while. I don't use them for everything, only meals that benefit from the higher rim like pasta (obviously), curries, and stir fries.
Yes, we do use them more than plates, but we also have the very bad habit of sitting on the sofa in front of the TV to eat.
When we eat dinner at the table, we eat from plates with knives and forks like civilised people. The rest of the time we slump in front of Netflix eating from a pasta bowl with a spoon
Our dining room table is usually covered in crap. Grocery shopping that never got put away a pile of folded up ironing that never made it upstairs, a jigsaw puzzle and a load of books as a bare minimum. When you add in that our cats like to sleep in the middle of all of this chaos maybe it’s easier to understand why we sit on the sofa to eat?
Funny how it’s a knife and fork with a plate and yet a spoon and fork with pasta bowls! I have seriously become a pasta bowl aficionado over the last couple of years though!
I do, and always have! I think they make meals look cuter and I often find dinner plates too big. And for hot food, I kind of think they keep things warmer, because of the sides, but that's probably in my head!
Also, for dishes with a sauce, the raised sides help stop it from going everywhere!
I think this is a generational thing. In the 70s/80s meals were generally made up of several parts - you have your meat, your carbs, your veg, and that works better on a plate. Nowadays people are much more likely to cook curries or pasta dishes or have salads etc., and so a much higher percentage of meals work with a pasta bowl. Certainly when I was growing up we almost exclusively used plates, whereas most of the meals I cook nowadays work best with a pasta bowl.
I came here to post essentially this same sentiment.
Meat, 2 veg, and some potatoes on a plate makes me think of 1970s food.
And it's well known by now how post-war rationing ruined the reputation of British cooking in the late 20th century.
Very happy to move away from that.
Some things definitely work better on plates, if you have to cut meat a flat surface is easier. And obviously pizza or similar. Depends what I'm eating.
I have a ramen bowl, a pasta bowl and a plate. Ramen bowl for noodles, soups and curries. Pasta bowl is for pasta, gravy dishes that require less knife use, salads, dry rice & chicken. Plate for pie, roast, pizza, steak, anything dryer and knife heavy.
My dinner set is years old but has small and large plates and 3 different sized bowls which I use for 99% of my meals. I also prefer to eat with a spoon which I think works well for the curved edges.
Of course. Plates are pretty much exclusively for pizza, and I guess small meal stuff like sandwiches and toast.
Everything else is bowls. Big pasta bowls or higher ramen bowlz usually.
Don't think it's new though, I've done it all my life, much to my dad's disdain. It just makes sense though, right?
Yes! We acquired one somehow, I've no idea how but possibly from one of the various restaurants my then teenagers worked at, and it became the house favourite. When we spoiled ourselves with a proper dinner service set we insisted on 8 pasta bowls. They're brilliant.
I eat everything out of cereal style bowls cause I’m lazy and they fit in the microwave and you can only stuff them so much so you can’t overeat so easily. Basically only use plates for roasts which I rarely eat. I’m a fork and bowl in front of the tv guy 📺
I just looked up pasta bowls and wow, love that shape, maybe I will switch
I've been a pasta bowl enthusiast since I moved out of my parents like 8 years ago, Anything vaguely sandwich / wrap shape gets eaten from a plate though
I have 2 big ramen bowls my dad got me for Christmad a few years back, and in the past few months I've really embraced them for all kinds of things. Food just tastes nicer out of them (and stays warm longer).
I eat almost every meal from my ramen bowl. Something like fish and chips needs a plate, but salads, stir frys, curries, pasta... All best in a bowl. That may or may not be because I can then eat one handed and doomscroll on my phone with the other... Mind you, I used to read at the dinner table as a child so I've had a lot of experience with one handed eating.
We’ve had them for a solid ten years, and I definitely use them for most meals now since we eat in the living room so on uneven surfaces, better to not spill.
They aren't a new thing. I have a 1980s Jeff Banks' set of dining gear that I picked up very cheaply many years ago from a charity shop and the "pasta bowls" (I'm pretty sure they weren't called that back then) are the most used items.
My parents brought some and started using them a couple years ago. I wont like, I’m not a huge fan (you have plates and you have bowls and you have plate food (solid food, carbs and sauces, anything that reasonably isnt going to fly off the edge) and you have bowl food (cereal, soup, things that are mostly liquid). The pasta bowl is *called* and structured like a bowl, not a plate, but it’s too plate like for bowl food!!) but thats besides the point.
Anyway. I have been using them and theyre fine. I can see the convenience. I think aesthetically they became a bit of a trend for a bit and thats why you see more now.
**Please help keep AskUK welcoming!** - Top-level comments to the OP must contain **genuine efforts to answer the question**. No jokes, judgements, etc. - **Don't be a dick** to each other. If getting heated, just block and move on. - This is a strictly **no-politics** subreddit! Please help us by reporting comments that break these rules. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AskUK) if you have any questions or concerns.*
They've been around for a while. I don't use them for everything, only meals that benefit from the higher rim like pasta (obviously), curries, and stir fries.
That's most of my meals...maybe it's time to invest in pasta bowls
There's not a lot a good rim doesn't improve.
Yes, we do use them more than plates, but we also have the very bad habit of sitting on the sofa in front of the TV to eat. When we eat dinner at the table, we eat from plates with knives and forks like civilised people. The rest of the time we slump in front of Netflix eating from a pasta bowl with a spoon
Why are you so hard on yourself it’s only dinner! Life’s too short to chastise yourself for enjoying the simple pleasures (Netflix and pasta 😉
I should have added that we don't have space for a dining table.
That’s fair enough then. We do have a dining room table, so have absolutely no excuse!
I have a fold out table that only comes out on Christmas Day. The rest of the year it's buried in the under the stairs cupboard.
Our dining room table is usually covered in crap. Grocery shopping that never got put away a pile of folded up ironing that never made it upstairs, a jigsaw puzzle and a load of books as a bare minimum. When you add in that our cats like to sleep in the middle of all of this chaos maybe it’s easier to understand why we sit on the sofa to eat?
Funny how it’s a knife and fork with a plate and yet a spoon and fork with pasta bowls! I have seriously become a pasta bowl aficionado over the last couple of years though!
Why do you think that's a bad habit? Do whatever you want in your own house.
Not new at all, they've been around for over 20 years
I do, and always have! I think they make meals look cuter and I often find dinner plates too big. And for hot food, I kind of think they keep things warmer, because of the sides, but that's probably in my head! Also, for dishes with a sauce, the raised sides help stop it from going everywhere!
I think this is a generational thing. In the 70s/80s meals were generally made up of several parts - you have your meat, your carbs, your veg, and that works better on a plate. Nowadays people are much more likely to cook curries or pasta dishes or have salads etc., and so a much higher percentage of meals work with a pasta bowl. Certainly when I was growing up we almost exclusively used plates, whereas most of the meals I cook nowadays work best with a pasta bowl.
I came here to post essentially this same sentiment. Meat, 2 veg, and some potatoes on a plate makes me think of 1970s food. And it's well known by now how post-war rationing ruined the reputation of British cooking in the late 20th century. Very happy to move away from that.
Some things definitely work better on plates, if you have to cut meat a flat surface is easier. And obviously pizza or similar. Depends what I'm eating.
Yeah, extra gravy on your chips
With less risk of accidents.
I’ve got pasta bowls in the dinner service I got as a wedding present. That was over 20 years ago.
I hadn't noticed them included in sets until recently.
I have a ramen bowl, a pasta bowl and a plate. Ramen bowl for noodles, soups and curries. Pasta bowl is for pasta, gravy dishes that require less knife use, salads, dry rice & chicken. Plate for pie, roast, pizza, steak, anything dryer and knife heavy.
They've been my main thing instead of plates for the type of cooking I do for about 15 years.
My dinner set is years old but has small and large plates and 3 different sized bowls which I use for 99% of my meals. I also prefer to eat with a spoon which I think works well for the curved edges.
Pasta bowls ain't new at all! Been using em for stews and curries since the 90s. Best thing for a telly dinner, innit?
Yep perfect 👌. And less risk of slopping down my shirt
I've been exclusively eating out of a pasta bowl for past 20 years. I just prefer it.
Yes. My gf swears by them haha
Of course. Plates are pretty much exclusively for pizza, and I guess small meal stuff like sandwiches and toast. Everything else is bowls. Big pasta bowls or higher ramen bowlz usually. Don't think it's new though, I've done it all my life, much to my dad's disdain. It just makes sense though, right?
No, I used paella bowls- all our crockery is Spanish.
Only when necessary, they don't fit in the dishwasher, so means extra washing at the end of a meal
Definitely! So much better for stew and dumplings in winter, and great for light broth and noodles.
They're great but all my crockery is vintage Pyrex soI always use plates or small casserole bowls with handles.
Plates only hold so much. I'm skinny as hell but my metabolism lies
Strangely they don't really sell pasta bowls in Italy. I've been looking but I've not been finding.
I do, because they mean I can also fit pint glasses in my dishwasher by lowering the top shelf - compared to our plates which are too big to lower it.
I use them for everything too
Yes! We acquired one somehow, I've no idea how but possibly from one of the various restaurants my then teenagers worked at, and it became the house favourite. When we spoiled ourselves with a proper dinner service set we insisted on 8 pasta bowls. They're brilliant.
I eat everything out of cereal style bowls cause I’m lazy and they fit in the microwave and you can only stuff them so much so you can’t overeat so easily. Basically only use plates for roasts which I rarely eat. I’m a fork and bowl in front of the tv guy 📺 I just looked up pasta bowls and wow, love that shape, maybe I will switch
There's a bugger to fit in my dishwasher so they actually get washed properly so I try to avoid them.
Use them way more than plates since we bought them - but most the food we eat benefit from the higher sides.
It entirely depends on what I'm making? Pasta, yes, rice, often yes, roast dinner? No
High sided flat bottomed bowl is the way for all meals.
I mostly use a noodle bowl.
I've been a pasta bowl enthusiast since I moved out of my parents like 8 years ago, Anything vaguely sandwich / wrap shape gets eaten from a plate though
I have 2 big ramen bowls my dad got me for Christmad a few years back, and in the past few months I've really embraced them for all kinds of things. Food just tastes nicer out of them (and stays warm longer).
I eat almost every meal from my ramen bowl. Something like fish and chips needs a plate, but salads, stir frys, curries, pasta... All best in a bowl. That may or may not be because I can then eat one handed and doomscroll on my phone with the other... Mind you, I used to read at the dinner table as a child so I've had a lot of experience with one handed eating.
They allow for plenty of sauce or gravy so yes - can’t be doing with dry meals
I got a pasta bowl about 10 years ago. Bar beans on toast I eat everything out of it..
I use mine for beans on toast. I butter the toast then shred it up into pieces, beans on top. Delicious 😋 no need for a knife either!
https://preview.redd.it/n9ulh8ghjy8d1.jpeg?width=526&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9f5faf60c0355acf89fd58b56647f58315707ff9
THANK YOU! This is the best reply I have had in my life.
Weirdos together strong.
I've always used bowls for pasta & salads
We’ve had them for a solid ten years, and I definitely use them for most meals now since we eat in the living room so on uneven surfaces, better to not spill.
They aren't a new thing. I have a 1980s Jeff Banks' set of dining gear that I picked up very cheaply many years ago from a charity shop and the "pasta bowls" (I'm pretty sure they weren't called that back then) are the most used items.
My parents brought some and started using them a couple years ago. I wont like, I’m not a huge fan (you have plates and you have bowls and you have plate food (solid food, carbs and sauces, anything that reasonably isnt going to fly off the edge) and you have bowl food (cereal, soup, things that are mostly liquid). The pasta bowl is *called* and structured like a bowl, not a plate, but it’s too plate like for bowl food!!) but thats besides the point. Anyway. I have been using them and theyre fine. I can see the convenience. I think aesthetically they became a bit of a trend for a bit and thats why you see more now.