http://qs321.pair.com?node_id=1031535

Vote on this poll

Ceramics
[bar] 276/42%
Glass
[bar] 53/8%
Wood
[bar] 36/6%
Metal
[bar] 41/6%
Plastic
[bar] 32/5%
Paper
[bar] 22/3%
Banana leaves
[bar] 164/25%
Something else
[bar] 30/5%
654 total votes
Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: The best material for plates (tableware) is:
by marto (Cardinal) on May 01, 2013 at 09:54 UTC

    It has to be Graphene, light, thin therefore easier to carry/stack :P

      Given its great thermal conduction, your food may get cold, and possibly your knees warm, a bit too quickly.

      Cheers,
      R.

      Pereant, qui ante nos nostra dixerunt!

        But think of the cupboard space I'd save! This was a joke suggestion :P

        kneeware

Re: The best material for plates (tableware) is:
by planetscape (Chancellor) on May 07, 2013 at 08:47 UTC

    Plate mail, in which dinner often comes conveniently packaged!

    HTH,

    planetscape
Re: The best material for plates (tableware) is:
by jonadab (Parson) on May 08, 2013 at 10:04 UTC

    I vote for whatever they used to make Correlle-ware back in the mid twentieth century. I assume it's some kind of ceramic. Whatever it is, it's excellent.

    It is, as near as I can determine, completely impossible to scratch with any normal household material (though we've never tried it with a diamond wedding ring). You can cut anything you want on it with any kind of knife you have as many times as you like, no problem. Likewise, we've never encountered anything that can stain it. All the usual suspects (blueberries, turmeric, etc) come right off, even if you leave the dishes sitting unwashed for several days before you get around to them. They're about as easy to clean as glass.

    They don't bend or warp out of their original shape over time like stainless.

    It's possible to break the stuff, e.g. if it hits at exactly the wrong angle, but everyone in my family is pretty clumsy, and we've been dropping dishes left and right since the seventies, and we still have the majority of our dishes (except for the plastic ones, e.g., Rubbermaid; almost all of those have broken). We've lost a few of the Correlle-ware dishes, but they've survived frequent dropping much better than plastic -- better than steel if you care about retaining the original shape so they stack neatly.

      I love Corelle, and it definitely gets my vote. Corelle products are made from Vitrelle, a laminated tempered glass developed by Corning Glass Works (the same company that now makes Gorilla glass).

      It's awesome stuff. Lightweight, tough, chip resistant, easy to clean, and moderately priced. Nothing else comes close, IMO.

      Christopher Cashell
        Agreed on the awesomeness of Corelle.

        We even tried throwing some out of a 4th floor window in college to test its unbreakableness. It won.

        However, there's something about the way it feels in my fingers that I find so uncomfortable that I ended up giving all of my vintage 70's Corelle to my very grateful niece.
        No idea what the cause of it is, but it just sets my teeth on edge.

Re: The best material for plates (tableware) is:
by jmlynesjr (Deacon) on May 01, 2013 at 22:08 UTC

    Ceramics of course. What could be better to eat off of than baked dirt!

    James

    There's never enough time to do it right, but always enough time to do it over...

Re: The best material for plates (tableware) is:
by DrHyde (Prior) on May 02, 2013 at 09:54 UTC
    Bread!
      The 'best' plate/receptacle itself must be Edible, thereby obsoleting itself every time it is used. Zero cleanup or at worst composting means wasting no energy/clean water washing it.

      Bread is a subset of this group.



      Wait! This isn't a Parachute, this is a Backpack!
Re: The best material for plates (tableware) is:
by code-ninja (Scribe) on May 03, 2013 at 03:23 UTC
    down in southern India, if you go rural parts (and in family functions and rituals), you'll be served south Indian delicacies on a big banana leaf. Its a real awesome feeling eating on that but it does become quite messy for a newbie.
Re: The best material for plates (tableware) is:
by blue_cowdawg (Monsignor) on May 03, 2013 at 13:53 UTC

    I have fond memories from one of my visits to Singapore eating "Indian Food" off of a banana leaf using Nan bread as our "utensils." I quoted "Indian" as a generic term in this case as I'm not totally sure what culinary tradition the food was (some sort of spiced lamb, lentils, rice, raisins, pistachio nuts and other ingredients along with some spicy as all get out condiments) but it was damn good. My server did not speak much in the way of English and I certainly have no knowledge of their first language. Lots of pointing, gesturing and smiles all around.


    Peter L. Berghold -- Unix Professional
    Peter -at- Berghold -dot- Net; AOL IM redcowdawg Yahoo IM: blue_cowdawg
Re: The best material for plates (tableware) is:
by ChuckularOne (Prior) on May 01, 2013 at 12:31 UTC
    Adamantium!
      With vibranium forks, of course.
Re: The best material for plates (tableware) is:
by tobyink (Canon) on May 01, 2013 at 09:48 UTC

    w00t! First vote! Let's swing this for ceramics!

    package Cow { use Moo; has name => (is => 'lazy', default => sub { 'Mooington' }) } say Cow->new->name

      Please explain. You write "wood" (misspelled as "w00t") and vote for ceramics?

      ;-)


      s$$([},&%#}/&/]+}%&{})*;#$&&s&&$^X.($'^"%]=\&(|?*{%
      +.+=%;.#_}\&"^"-+%*).}%:##%}={~=~:.")&e&&s""`$''`"e
Re: The best material for plates (tableware) is:
by ambrus (Abbot) on May 01, 2013 at 14:29 UTC

    This one is a tradeoff. Plastic and metal are not fragile and lighter, but glass or ceramics are sometimes easier to clean. I use both.

Re: The best material for plates (tableware) is:
by FloydATC (Deacon) on May 04, 2013 at 11:59 UTC
    Tableware? You mean like an RDBM? *confused*

    -- Time flies when you don't know what you're doing
Re: The best material for plates (tableware) is:
by erix (Prior) on May 04, 2013 at 12:26 UTC

    The best material for tableware is PostgreSQL!

Re: The best material for plates (tableware) is:
by Random_Walk (Prior) on May 01, 2013 at 16:40 UTC

    It must be paper. I am just off for my fish and chips :)

    Cheers,
    R.

    Pereant, qui ante nos nostra dixerunt!
Re: The best material for plates (tableware) is:
by ChuckularOne (Prior) on May 20, 2013 at 12:35 UTC
    Lead! It adds sweetness to the food and doesn't hurt knives when you cut on it. There may be some downsides, but I can't remember them.
Re: The best material for plates (tableware) is:
by pvaldes (Chaplain) on May 15, 2013 at 18:53 UTC

    mmh... young naked women, probably

    But I agree that Postgresql should be in the list

Re: The best material for plates (tableware) is:
by igelkott (Priest) on May 01, 2013 at 11:00 UTC

    Neutronium!

Re: The best material for plates (tableware) is:
by Anonymous Monk on May 01, 2013 at 10:41 UTC
    I picked glass for superior smoothness and knappability :)
      Doh! I actually voted for wood!!
Re: The best material for plates (tableware) is:
by chexmix (Hermit) on May 29, 2013 at 14:46 UTC
    Do "my foemens' SKULLS" count as ceramics?
Re: The best material for plates (tableware) is:
by poulhs (Beadle) on May 20, 2013 at 08:50 UTC

    gold plated silver - you need class, cf: Louis XIV, le Roi Soleil

Re: The best material for plates (tableware) is:
by fisher (Priest) on May 03, 2013 at 16:14 UTC
    Kokonuts? A hemisphere of the one for a portion of a soup.
Re: The best material for plates (tableware) is:
by Anonymous Monk on May 15, 2013 at 08:47 UTC
    Clay would be the best I think..Gives bread to the artisans and also recyclable & biodegradable!!
Re: The best material for plates (tableware) is:
by space_monk (Chaplain) on May 12, 2013 at 07:54 UTC

    Missing Option: Nyotaimori or Nantaimori depending on which floats your boat. :-)

    If you spot any bugs in my solutions, it's because I've deliberately left them in as an exercise for the reader! :-)

View List Of Past Polls