The Royal Wedding Did NOT Invent a Trend Known as "Bowl Food" — And Twitter Has Jokes

The Brits get so many things so right — the delightful accent, the skillful wearing of fascinators, the royal wedding. But one thing they did not do is invent a hot food trend known as "bowl food." And that's why many people were more than a bit confused when the BBC reported that “the 600 guests joining Prince Harry and Meghan Markle for their wedding reception will be enjoying a selection of savory and sweet canapés, champagne, and bowl food.” That is to say... putting food in bowls, and then eating it.

Social media was not OK with the Brits suggesting that the use of a newfangled term did anything more than simply describe a very old-fangled approach to getting food from the table into one's mouth. So the masses offered some feedback using the hashtag "#bowlfood."

The posts are all literally food in a bowl. They are pretty though. 

"It's like regular food... but for your posh overlords."

The BBC goes on to describe “bowl food” as “larger than a canapé and around a quarter of the size of a main course.”

“It is served in miniature or hand-sized bowls and comes ready to eat with a small fork.”

Bowl food (food in a bowl) was designed to be eaten by the guests at the standing-only lunch reception. The bowl food selected was “fricassee of free range chicken with morel mushrooms and young leeks; pea and mint risotto with pea shoots, truffle oil and parmesan crisps; 10-hour slow roasted Windsor pork belly with apple compote and crackling.”

My God. And we thought just cereal went in a bowl. Oh, the thought of the Queen strolling around with a bowl in hand is just mind blowing. Or did someone hold her bowl? So many questions.

“The idea behind a bowl food menu is so guests can stay standing up and mingle while they eat. It has been described by caterers as an option which allows guests to ‘keep on talking.’” With mouths full, the horror.

There's even a "bowl food" cookbook for sale, which shows "people on the move" how to cook food then put it in a bowl. "Take the tedium out of salad and pasta without all the mess. All that remains is to lift your spoon and eat with pleasure," says the description. 

According to The Guardian, the rise of bowl eating "was widely noted circa 2016, propelled by a new focus on healthy dishes — often layers of grains, pulses, vegetables, protein, dips, and sauces that only work together when compacted in this appropriate vessel."

And bowls show us how much to eat, according to The Guardian. And that's useful!

According to The Guardian, "In fact, there is some academic support for the intuitive feeling that food in bowls is good for us. According to Charles Spence, who studies the psychology of food  at the University of Oxford, a warm bowl in your hand encourages you to feel content, while its weight and the way we perceive rimless bowls to contain bigger portions than they actually do, may encourage us to eat less."

OK, so bowls are great! Yes, bowls are great. But the Brits — not even Prince Harry for his wedding to American Meghan Markle — did not invent them.