Newbee, do you subsist on bread and water? I know I don’t. I enjoy my blintzes and cheesecake on Shavuos, aside from the fact that I’ll (gasp – oy vey -) have pizza or chicken or hamburgers and even cake and ice cream during the week. I am aware of the fact that it’s not ideal, but it’s the level I’m on.
I think your objection to the halachic dinner is that it’s a more extreme form of redifas hataavah than we’re used to, and cloaked as a religious experience.