Does anyone not bother with first course - Shabbos day

amother

Thu, Oct 27 2022, 1:58 am

At some point, DH and I reached the conclusion that dividing up Shabbos lunch into "courses" served no useful purpose. We put everything out on the table at once - main course + sides, and the salads/dips/chopped liver that I might once have put out for a first course. Those who so wish can continue nibbling at the salads and dips throughout the meal.

Does anyone else do this, or are we the only slackers? Does it seem not shabbosdig to not break things up formally into "courses?"

We don't entertain much, except for an elderly relative and a couple of single/divorced friends who seem fine with this arrangement. I was wondering, though, if we were to start inviting other people over besides these regulars, if the guests would be scandalized ...

DrMom

Thu, Oct 27 2022, 2:06 am

amother OP wrote:

Seems community-dependent.

I can't imagine anybody in our community caring about this at all, let along being "scandalized."

amother

Dodgerblue

Thu, Oct 27 2022, 2:14 am

I know someone who does this. Seems like her kids were all a little adhd and couldn't sit too long. So this was the best solution for them.

I make two course.
1. Fish, salads, egg salad (sometimes)
2. Cholent, deli roll, grilled chicken (sometimes)

shabbatiscoming

Thu, Oct 27 2022, 3:11 am

We never do a first course. We go right to the food. We just put everything on the table at once.
And to be honest I dont think any guests we have ever had really cared one way or the other.

amother

Snow

Thu, Oct 27 2022, 3:13 am

Our first course is actually our main course - everything buy cholent - my kids enjoy fish. Then we just serve the cholent for second course - I very rarely serve anything with the cholent.

WitchKitty

Thu, Oct 27 2022, 3:27 am

Day meal we eat only cholent. If I have guests that I think won't be full enough from cholent I'll add eggs, potato kugel, or kishka into the cholent, and add dessert.
DH davens in a chassidish shul. By the time davening and kiddush is over there isn't any point in stuffing in so much extra food.

amother

Blue

Thu, Oct 27 2022, 3:30 am

I have little kids - we moved the fish from lunch to 3rd seuda and now just have one course. Not worth it to have a few bites and so many dishes to wash. If we have guests, I do the extra course.

imaima

Thu, Oct 27 2022, 3:36 am

My first course always contains fish of some sort so there is always a change.
If I had non-fish salads and meat, I would serve it all in one go.

Sometimes we forego either fish or meat for lunch, especially if we were at a lavish kiddush first

chanchy123

Thu, Oct 27 2022, 3:41 am

I only do a first course of salads/salatim when we have guests. But even then it’s only one plate, and I have the salads on the table when we wash and sit down so people don’t have to wait for food if they’re hungry and bring out the main course shorty afterwards.

amother

Bellflower

Thu, Oct 27 2022, 6:48 am

Day meal we only do 1 long course
Dips, Salads , Deli and Syrian Mazza on the table and then bring out chulent later during the meal without clearing out anything.
Only 1 large plate setting for each person

Bnei Berak 10

Thu, Oct 27 2022, 7:07 am

imaima wrote:

I dislike kiddush events, meager or lavish. It spoils the appetite. Only do kiddush for YT.

amother

Maple

Thu, Oct 27 2022, 7:35 am

We don't do a fish or dips course, but I always make a soup in the crockpot so we have a soup course and then a main course of chicken, kugel, and coleslaw.

amother

Blonde

Thu, Oct 27 2022, 7:54 am

Unless we have guests, we do no courses in our house.
No fish or soup Friday night, no fish shabbos day.
Shabbos day if my kids want dips we just bring it to the table with everything else.
This is how I grew up, which I know is not the norm. But I find it so silly to just have course upon course of food when noone needs to eat that much at one sitting

Rubber Ducky

Thu, Oct 27 2022, 8:34 am

We like our salmon here so fish and salad bar is our first course, and it is usually the bigger course. Then cholent — with or without kugel and/or deli depending whether we have deli-loving grandkids or kugel-loving guests.

Chayalle

Thu, Oct 27 2022, 8:40 am

It is a Halachic problem to serve a salad with raw vegetables on the same plate as hot chulent on Shabbos.

I serve a fish/salad/dips course on salad plate (sometimes two plates if I make a meat salad, or if I'm serving eggs/liver), then clear that and we serve chulent/kugel on dinner plate.

amother

Bellflower

Thu, Oct 27 2022, 8:47 am

Chayalle wrote:

Why would it be a problem never heard that b4
Also by the time chulent gets to your plate it’s already Kli Shlishi…