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How ready-meal cheats spoil DIY dinner parties
Sri Carmichael, Consumer Affairs Reporter17 Nov 2009
It was touted as the perfect way to entertain in a time of tight finances - the bring-your-own dinner party where each guest provides a dish of wholesome, home-made food.
But research indicates that time-poor (or just slothful) guests are slyly swapping hand-crafted courses for supermarket substitutes.
People have been turning to DIY suppers as a way of sharing costs during the downturn, according to the study of 2,000.
It found nearly a third were sharing dinners with friends, with just over half saying they usually contributed a dish to the evening. However, a quarter of these bought ready-made starters, main course or puddings.
Rebecca Wilson, 30, a marketing manager from Islington, said: "My friends and I often play host to a DIY dinner party and I have to admit I'm often far too lazy to make something from scratch.
"I have nipped to my local delicatessen and picked up a flan or a cake then pretended I made it myself.
"It has only backfired once when I forgot to smudge the deli brand off the icing and my friend recognised it."
Social behaviour expert Dr Harry Witchel, of Sussex University, said more people were adopting a relaxed approach to dinner party etiquette - partly because of time constraints but also as a result of the recession.
He said he had studied media portrayals of dinner parties from the past 50 years and found a move away from multiple courses all made by the host: "We are seeing a shift from passive to active guests. We could see the emergence of a modern role of 'dinner party facilitator' to organise gatherings." Theresa Doyle, 26, from Twickenham, said the emphasis was on making life easy: "We used to always go to restaurants but since the recession we prefer to meet around a different friend's house each week."
A spokesman for GfK NOP, which conducted the study for Tesco, said: "We've heard of hostesses hiding supermarket packaging in the bin. Now guests appear to be doing the same."
At last: Vegetarian Fish and Chips'
A pub chain has introduced a vegetarian “fish supper” — using halloumi cheese as the “fish”.
Punch Taverns said it spent months testing different cheeses to mimic fish before settling on halloumi, because it did not melt even at extreme temperatures.
The cheese is marinated in lemon juice, parsley and black pepper for up to 12 hours before being covered in peppered flour and deep fried.
Reader views (2)
why bother creating a vegetarian 'fish supper' ? who in their right mind would order deep fried cheese purporting to be fish ?
- Squiz, Islington, 17/11/2009 16:54
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So what?! The idea is to meet people and have a fun time. One of the worst things to have happened in the last 20 years is the steadily in-grained belief that someone should work a full day (be it at work or raising a family) and still find time to cook a gourmet meal and look fabulous like Nigella Lawson. Tot up the time it takes to shop for the ingredients and then prepare them as well as tidy the house, clean the loo and bung some flowers on the table and - as Nigella and Delia prove - it becomes a full-time job in itself! In days of yore you did your 'thing' in the day time and ate some pretty basic offering of meat and two veg for dinner - and let's face it, that's all these dinner party guests are looking for . . . !
- Roz, France, 17/11/2009 14:12
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