Blates: The Bowl-Plate Hybrid Dinnerware That Twitter Is Obsessed With

If you were to ask us what Twitter's hottest new discourse is — second to #euphoriasundays, obviously — hands down, we'd say it’s the topic of blates. Remember in the early aughts when the once-sleepy hybrid concept of brunch became the single most expensive weekly event in millions of 20-something's lives? Well, blates — the dinnerware love child of unnecessarily deep bowls and pointlessly flat plates — are on a similar internet-fame trajectory. And alas, we have to admit that, in this house, we 100% believe in the supremacy of blates.

Call it silly or a yawn-inducing micro trend, but when thousands of Twitter users set aside their differences and actually agree on something, we must investigate. The internet has spoken, and these space-optimizing, expertly concave, and anti-spill plate/bowl babies are officially the only dinnerware worthy of a placemat at the table (or to be held in our laps while binge-watching the aforementioned high-school drama). Our very own affiliate director and resident home-goods aficionado, Elizabeth Buxton, sub-consciously participated in the trend with her "perfectly shaped pasta bowls" from Fable Home. So, while we're not trying to incite a therapeutic plate-smashing session, we do condone scrolling on and finding the perfect bowl-plate-combo for you — from prim and proper porcelain dishes to colorful ceramic dinnerware.

Short answer: a wide, shallow, rounded vessel for food that’s a combination of a bowl and a plate. Long answer: an up and coming anti-plate, pro-shallow bowl movement that is taking the internet — specifically Twitter — by storm. Some call them pasta bowls, others say low bowls, a few like the long-winded "bowl plate" — we say blate. Just like any other dinnerware, you can score them in sets at home goods retailers far and wide for as low as $20 to upwards of hundreds of dollars depending on preference. In Buxton's case, her $75 set of four Fable Home pasta bowls not only held the perfect amount of food with grace, they were "aesthetic" enough to "make Easy Mac look cooly refined." A thread recently unfurled following a Tweet boasting 330,000 likes, where countless users divulged their love for wide bowls, and unabashed disdain for those flat useless objects known as plates. Now that you know, the time has come for us to serve up some of the best trendy blate recommendations the internet has to offer.

Although artisan-crafted and creatively designed blates land at a higher price point, their upscale materials (tinted glass, speckled stoneware, etc.) and thoughtful production make them worth your while. When we're craving kooky, vibrant, or aesthetic-elevating dinnerware, you'll find us raiding the virtual aisles of Anthropologie, West Elm, Food52, and Fable Home.

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From our findings, blates' target audience are busy young professionals and tired millennials looking to take care of as little dishes as possible (and more importantly, save money). Why divvy up your yummy meal across multiple expensive plates and small side bowls when you can dump it all on one wonder dish?

So, if you're looking for the most affordable dinnerware solutions, may we suggest one of the most popular blate retailers on the market: Target. College freshman, new apartment owners, bargain hunters and the like know that where there is a Target, there are cheap stylish dishes to be had. Other great resources include Wayfair's never-ending inventory and Walmart's sale section — even CB2 is home to a few cost-effective hidden gems.

Blates are not endangered, but somewhat of a rare species within the Amazon jungle — but, we scavenged our way through and plucked out four affordable and top-reviewed sets that look great atop dinner tables, bed desks, and held in the hands of dedicated dinner-and-a-show lovers. Amazon reviewer and verified ONEMORE Pasta Bowl buyer, Mary Angell, loves her "Good, sturdy quality, dishwasher and microwave safe" blates and says, "the size is perfect for a good portion of pasta, salad or soup." From bright yellow colorways to cool shades of blue, these ceramic and porcelain dishes truly make a Prime subscription feel worthwhile.

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