Conundrums caused by etiquette

Last night, was the "social" event of RSA TechFest, at the headquarters of RSA. There was a tour of the RSA facilities, and I was on the last tour. The impact of that was, we were effectively the last people to arrive for dinner - by which time, there was 1 plate and 1 set of cutlery, for about 25 people. This led to a social conundrum - taking the plate would be rude to everyone else, while not taking the plate would mean that everyone looked stupid, staring at the food and the last plate. Ultimately, everyone decided to look stupid - and wait while new dishes and cutlery was cleaned and delivered; but it's one of those awkward social situations which are just very funny (at least to those who are there).