Amanda Monsen was just browsing Instagram when the algorithm served up her next obsession: chrome plates. These shiny, reflective, impossibly sleek steel plates from IKEA hijacked her feed, so she decided to buy them on her next shopping trip. The Austin-based content creator also filmed the moment and shared it on Instagram. She bought what she described as “really cool style and design” chrome plates. The video blew up, but some from other parts of the world didn’t see it the way she did. Indians recognised those $15 ‘chrome plates’, which she called ‘chic’, and wondered how this staple in their households suddenly became a thing!
Chic chrome plates
Amanda opened her video talking about finding the chrome plates on her ‘For You’ page. “I thought that they were so chic,” she said. She fell in love with the aesthetic immediately. “I’ve been obsessed with chrome for honestly like two years now, and when I found out that she got them from IKEA, I was like, we need to go,” Monsen said.Her excitement was genuine when she reached the store. “We’re here on the hunt for these chrome plates, and honestly just anything else chrome because I love it.”Once she found them, she was thrilled. “Here it is. These are them. $7.99,” she said, showing the camera the steel plates. She was fascinated by how big the plates were.Monsen immediately thought the plates could be used in more than one way. “This could be like a really cute perfume tray. I don’t know if you have a coffee area and you have coffee syrups or something on here. Like, it’s definitely multi-purpose. I think it would be cute to like serve food on this.”When she found a slightly heavier one, she was even more exhilarated. “Yay. Okay, this was the other one that I really wanted to come here for. Like, a really cool style and design. Kind of like indented. These ones are $14.99. I’m really excited about these ones. I’m getting four of these bad boys. And those ones could also, like, be multi-purpose for kind of like a catch-all tray or like perfume, whatever.”
Internet’s reaction
Sure, those ‘chrome plates’ were nice. They are minimal and have an industrial aesthetic. Of late, stainless steel minimalism has become trendy in Western home décor. Things are supposed to look expensive, bare and functional. And this one fits.But for Indians, that’s a kitchen staple. Those are basic dinner plates called the ‘thali’. The video was quickly flooded with comments from Indians telling Monsen those are regular plates. “Who’s gonna tell her it’s a basic steel thali of every Indian household?” one asked. Another quipped, “First in my bloodline to see westernisation of THAALI.” Some even questioned the price point of those plates. “Girl, Indian grandmas buy the whole set for a dollar.” The Indian netizens weren’t being mean so much as incredulous. They were wondering how this staple in their households became something worth buying at a 10x markup. One commenter criticised the westernisation: “First they make Indians feel ashamed of what we grew up using, then rebrand the same things as a ‘luxury aesthetic’ and sell them back at 10x the price.” One Instagram user quipped, “I’m gonna ask my amma to serve my chapathi on my chrome plate!” Another said, “We got LOTS of chrome plates at home.”