Rate the Plate: Set Catering Edition

This game may be familiar to you. Rate my plate!

In the wonderful world of entertainment, food is a central focus point for most of us. Getting the lunch call always means it's break time! Often after many hours of repeated motion, sometimes after being in extreme heat, cold or rain. The food isn't really the selling point, the chance to relax is.

However, we all tend to remark on it and we remember the good, bad and just downright ugly. This is always the topic of conversation starting when we arrive (the running joke is that we are mainly there for the food & discussion about the food) & of course it goes on about an hour up to lunch, what else would strangers at work bond over? We tell scary stories about the bad ones & pray like starved orphans to see the more legendary company logos.

As requested, I dedicate this one to rating my catered film set plates (ones I could at least remember to photograph when I had time). Bon appetit & enjoy this idiotic read from a middle of the night think session back in July!

A typical lunch spread

My "later plate" lunch+ dinner combo since I eat like a bird

This spread had a sandwich and fruit bar for lunch (chicken salad croissant, vegan wrap on my plate with grspes) lunch was 7/10. Fresh, light & nicely presented.

Dinner that day included various temps of steak, mixed grilled veggies and potatoes or the salmon

(I don't recall the vegan option for this one).

Dinner for this set was 9/10, perfectly seasoned, perfect portion sizes, very freshly made on set then served. I really enjoyed it hence the takeout box to enjoy it over longer than our 30 minute break time.

This was really good but being in a trailer with a hundred other people farting had us fighting for our lives. Who approved this menu? Someone who hates peace.

Dinner only for this one. (The Christmas scene) Dinner was pulled pork BBQ, collard greens, beans, (rice I skipped), dinner roll & mashed potatoes. There were salad options and desserts as well but I didn't partake. 7/10 flavor was great, presentation and service was somewhat alright, options and temp/texture were so so.

Probably the most "big back" menu for actors and crew I've witnessed to date. Nothing low calorie or lean over here.

This was the scene from hell (the set building had black mold, terrible conditions for all of the staff, uncoordinated in lots of ways and many people simply left without telling anyone because they were fed up with production. This catering had incredible homemade flavor that I'm pretty sure a relative of the staff made homemade and catered in. It was unfortunately super heavy, super carb heavy and the only vegetable option was a salad. The spaghetti sauce was amazing though. Presentation and the rushing us through for no reason with rough conditions made it tough to enjoy anything about this one so 6/10 on that but 7/10 on food flavor and effort from the chef.

When this company rolls up & gets their grills set up everyone applauds. It's entirely too good, super healthy usually. I hope they make millions of dollars.

This entire day was catered by a very well known heavy hitter in the film catering industry. Breakfast was burritos, of course a waffle bar, cereal bar, grab and go, fruit and yogurt bar, fresh juice and smoothies, biscuits and gravy, breakfast meats and all types of eggs.

Lunch/dinner was freshly made to order grilled meats and veggies, corn salad, black bean salad, entire salad bar, fresh to order seafood, vegan tacos, made to order quesadillas, bacon wrapped jalapenos, dessert and ice cream bar, fresh juice and smoothies, coffee bar. 10/10 if you see their trucks on set you know it's going to be a better day.

I got to eat maybe 4 bites of this and came back from camera to find all of us had our stuff thrown away by a new staff member who didn't know better. It was pretty sad for everyone.

Grilled meats & grilled peppers are always top of my list. Topped with carne asada sauce on a bed of romaine. I don't do dressings, love sauces and citrus though!

This set also had the Rockstar lineup company mentioned above. Breakfast was the same but I switched it up for French toast, bacon, burrito, biscuit and gravy topped with hash and a cold brew from the coffee bar.

Dinner was the same but this time I switched to grilled steak with steamed veggies instead of grilled and some jalapenos and a bed of romaine. Again, 10/10 for them.

This one was tragic but I ate it anyway because I forgot to pack my own things this day. My first glimpse at what different levels looks like from a catering company. This is their medium, feed an army package I think.

This one was my first experience with the company I raved about above, seeing what their basic, lower level package included. This was for one of the biggest scenes I've been in with around 600 people so the options were limited and straight to the point. Lunch included a salad bar with pasta salads and potato salad options, a cookie bar, tea, coffee, juice, lemonade or water, fruit bar, mixed peas and carrots, rice (skipped), garlic bread rolls halved (dry), bone in or bone out chicken, garlic mashed potatoes and veggie burgers for the vegan option. Most of the meal premade, pretty dry but presented well and the salad not pictured and potatoes in all forms were star of that show flavor and texture wise. Still 7/10 that day but not my favorite.

Throughout each day we do have a table from Craft Services set up that offers us fresh uncut fruit options (apples, bananas & oranges), bottled water, sometimes coffee with the fixins, single serving bags of chips, cracker sandwich packages, animal cookies, gum/candy (weird), Rice Krispies and gold fish crackers, packages of oreos etc. all from the bulk stores most people shop from. It isn't glamorous, but it isn't torment. Lot's of carbs and sweets on sets though, a pitfall I'm still trying to avoid. I aim for lighter options, one carb perhaps, lots of coffee and water, maybe one snack. This is generally for a 8-12 hour day but I've had a couple of 16 hour ones where a carb came in handy.

Hope you enjoyed the rate my film plate game, let me know!

The less glamorous side of showgirl life but can't go wrong with a classic.

Xoxo

Your big back, food loving, film catering critic, girlfriend in Atlanta