A buffet can be either a
sideboard
A sideboard, also called a buffet, is an item of furniture traditionally used in the dining room for serving food, for displaying serving dishes, and for storage. It usually consists of a set of cabinets, or cupboards, and one or more drawers ...
(a flat-topped piece of furniture with cupboards and drawers, used for storing crockery, glasses, and table linen) or a system of serving meals in which food is placed in a public area where the diners serve themselves. A form of ''
service à la française
(; "service in the French style") is the practice of serving various dishes of meal at the same time, with the diners helping themselves from the serving dishes. That contrasts to (; "service in the Russian style") in which dishes are brought ...
'', buffets are offered at various places including
hotel
A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a ref ...
s,
restaurant
A restaurant is a business that prepares and serves food and drinks to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on the premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services. Restaurants vary greatly in appearan ...
s, and many social events. Buffet restaurants normally offer all-you-can-eat food for a set price, but some measure prices by weight or by number of dishes. Buffets usually have some hot dishes, so the term cold buffet (see
Smörgåsbord
Smörgåsbord () is a buffet-style meal of Swedish origin. It is served with various hot and cold dishes.
Smörgåsbord became internationally known at the 1939 New York World's Fair when it was offered at the Swedish Pavilion "Three Crowns R ...
) has been developed to describe formats lacking hot food. Hot or cold buffets usually involve dishware and utensils, but a finger buffet is an array of foods that are designed to be small and easily consumed only by hand, such as cupcakes, slices of pizza, foods on cocktail sticks, etc.
The essential feature of the various buffet formats is that the diners can directly view the food and immediately select which dishes they wish to consume, and usually also can decide how much food they take. Buffets are effective for serving large numbers of people at once, and are often seen in institutional settings, business conventions, or large parties.
Home entertaining
Since a buffet involves diners serving themselves, it has in the past been considered an informal form of dining, less formal than table service. In recent years, however, buffet meals are increasingly popular among hosts of home dinner
parties
A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will often feature fo ...
, especially in homes where limited space complicates the serving of individual table places.
Origins
In the 19th century,
supper
Supper was originally a secondary lighter evening meal. The main meal of the day, called dinner, used to be served closer to what is known as lunchtime, around the middle of the day, but crept later over the centuries, mostly over the course of ...
, a lighter meal some hours after the main
dinner
Dinner usually refers to what is in many Western cultures the largest and most formal meal of the day, which is eaten in the evening. Historically, the largest meal used to be eaten around midday, and called dinner. Especially among the elite, ...
, was sometimes served as a buffet (and so called), especially late at night at grand balls, where not everyone present eats at the same time, or in the same quantity. Even in a very large building, at a large ball there might not be enough space to seat all guests at the same time, or servants to serve them in the manner required by the prevailing customs. A large cooked
English breakfast
A full breakfast is a substantial cooked breakfast meal, often served in the United Kingdom and Ireland, that typically includes back bacon, sausages, eggs, black pudding, baked beans, some form of potato, tomatoes, mushrooms, toast, and a ...
with various choices was also very often routinely served this way, for similar reasons. Even when many servants were on hand, there might be an element of
self-service
Self-service is the practice of serving oneself, usually when making purchases. Aside from Automated Teller Machines, which are not limited to banks, and customer-operated supermarket check-out, labor-saving of which has been described as self- ...
. The term ''buffet'' originally referred to the French
sideboard
A sideboard, also called a buffet, is an item of furniture traditionally used in the dining room for serving food, for displaying serving dishes, and for storage. It usually consists of a set of cabinets, or cupboards, and one or more drawers ...
furniture where the food was placed, but eventually became applied to the serving format.
At balls, the "buffet" was also where drinks were obtained, either by circulating
footmen
A footman is a male domestic worker employed mainly to wait at table or attend a coach or carriage.
Etymology
Originally in the 14th century a footman denoted a soldier or any pedestrian, later it indicated a foot servant. A running footman deli ...
supplying orders from guests, but often by the male guests. During the Victorian period, it became usual for guests to have to eat standing up. In fact John Conrade Cooke's cookbook ''Cookery and Confectionery'', (London: 1824) says it was already "the present fashion". In a report on a ball in 1904, a departure from "the usual stand-up buffet supper", with parties being able to reserve tables, was praised.
Scandinavians like to claim that the buffet table originates from the ''
brännvin
Brännvin is a Swedish liquor distilled from potatoes, grain, or (formerly) wood cellulose. It can be plain and colourless, or flavoured with herbs and spices. Beverages labelled ''brännvin'' are usually plain and have an alcohol content between ...
sbord'' (Swedish
schnapps
Schnapps ( or ) or schnaps is a type of alcoholic beverage that may take several forms, including distilled fruit brandies, herbal liqueurs, infusions, and "flavored liqueurs" made by adding fruit syrups, spices, or artificial flavorings to neu ...
, or shot of alcoholic beverage) table from the middle of 16th century. This custom had its prime during the early 18th century. The ''
smörgåsbord
Smörgåsbord () is a buffet-style meal of Swedish origin. It is served with various hot and cold dishes.
Smörgåsbord became internationally known at the 1939 New York World's Fair when it was offered at the Swedish Pavilion "Three Crowns R ...
'' buffet did not increase in popularity until the expansion of the railroads throughout Europe.
The ''smörgåsbord'' table was originally a meal where guests gathered before dinner for a pre-dinner drink, and was not part of the formal dinner that followed. The ''smörgåsbord'' buffet was often held in separate rooms for men and women before the dinner was served.
''Smörgåsbord'' became internationally known as "smorgasbord" at the
1939 New York World's Fair
The 1939–40 New York World's Fair was a world's fair held at Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in Queens, New York, United States. It was the second-most expensive American world's fair of all time, exceeded only by St. Louis's Louisiana Purchas ...
exhibition, as the Swedes had to invent a new way of showcasing the best of Swedish food to large numbers of visitors.
As displays of wealth
While the possession of gold and silver has been a measure of
solvency
Solvency, in finance or business, is the degree to which the current assets of an individual or entity exceed the current liabilities of that individual or entity. Solvency can also be described as the ability of a corporation to meet its long-ter ...
of a regime, the display of it, in the form of plates and vessels, is more a political act and a gesture of
conspicuous consumption
In sociology and in economics, the term conspicuous consumption describes and explains the consumer practice of buying and using goods of a higher quality, price, or in greater quantity than practical. In 1899, the sociologist Thorstein Veblen co ...
. The 16th-century French term ''buffet'' applied both to the display itself and to the furniture on which it was mounted, often draped with rich textiles, but more often as the century advanced the word described an elaborately carved cupboard surmounted by tiers of shelves. In England, such a buffet was called a court cupboard. Prodigal displays of plate were probably first revived at the fashionable court of
Burgundy
Burgundy (; french: link=no, Bourgogne ) is a historical territory and former administrative region and province of east-central France. The province was once home to the Dukes of Burgundy from the early 11th until the late 15th century. The c ...
and adopted in France. The
Baroque
The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...
displays of silver and gold that were affected by
Louis XIV of France
, house = Bourbon
, father = Louis XIII
, mother = Anne of Austria
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France
, death_date =
, death_place = Palace of Versa ...
were immortalized in paintings by
Alexandre-François Desportes
Alexandre-François Desportes (24 February 1661 — 20 April 1743) was a French painter and decorative designer who specialised in animals.
Desportes was born in Champigneulle, Ardennes. He studied in Paris, in the studio of the Flemish painte ...
and others, before Louis' plate and his silver furniture had to be sent to the mint to pay for the wars at the end of his reign.
During the 18th century, more subtle demonstrations of wealth were preferred. The buffet was revived in England and France at the end of the century, when new ideals of privacy made a modicum of
self-service
Self-service is the practice of serving oneself, usually when making purchases. Aside from Automated Teller Machines, which are not limited to banks, and customer-operated supermarket check-out, labor-saving of which has been described as self- ...
at breakfast-time appealing, even among those who could have had a
footman
A footman is a male domestic worker employed mainly to wait at table or attend a coach or carriage.
Etymology
Originally in the 14th century a footman denoted a soldier or any pedestrian, later it indicated a foot servant. A running footman deli ...
servant behind each chair. In ''The Cabinet Dictionary'' of 1803,
Thomas Sheraton
Thomas Sheraton (1751 – 22 October 1806) was a furniture designer, one of the "big three" English furniture makers of the 18th century, along with Thomas Chippendale and George Hepplewhite. Sheraton gave his name to a style of furniture characte ...
presented a
neoclassical design and observed that "a buffet may, with some propriety, be restored to modern use, and prove ornamental to a modern breakfast-room, answering as the china cabinet/repository of a tea equipage."
20th century
In a 1922 housekeeping book entitled ''How to Prepare and Serve a Meal,'' Lillian B. Lansdown wrote:
The informal luncheon at small tables calls for service by a number of maids, hence the "buffet" plan is preferable.
Variations
There are many different ways of offering diners a selection of foods that are called "buffet" style meals. Some buffets are "single pass only", but most buffets allow a diner to first take small samples of unfamiliar foods, and then to return for more servings if desired. To avoid misunderstandings in commercial eating establishments, the rules and charges are often posted on signs near the buffet serving tables.
* One form of buffet is to have a display counter or table filled with plates containing fixed portions of food; customers select plates containing whichever dishes they want as they walk along. The food display may either be staffed, or the customers may pick up the food plates themselves. This form is most commonly seen in
cafeteria
A cafeteria, sometimes called a canteen outside the U.S., is a type of food service location in which there is little or no waiting staff table service, whether a restaurant or within an institution such as a large office building or school ...
s. Another derivative of this type of buffet occurs where patrons choose food from a buffet style layout and then pay based on what was chosen (sometimes based on the weight of the food, or color-coded plates).
* A variation occurs in a
dim sum
Dim sum () is a large range of small Chinese dishes that are traditionally enjoyed in restaurants for brunch. Most modern dim sum dishes are commonly associated with Cantonese cuisine, although dim sum dishes also exist in other Chinese cuis ...
house, where seated patrons make their selections from wheeled carts containing different plates of food which the staff circulate through the restaurant. Another variation is a
conveyor belt sushi
, also called rotation sushi, is a type of sushi restaurant common in Japan. In Australasia, it is also known as a sushi train.
Plates serving the sushi are placed on a rotating conveyor belt that winds through the restaurant and moves past eve ...
restaurant, where seated patrons select dishes from a continuously moving conveyor belt carrying a variety of foods. In another variation, Brazilian ''
rodízio
''Rodízio'' (pronounced in Brazil) is an all-you-can-eat style of restaurant service in Brazilian restaurants.
Description
In most areas of the world outside of Brazil, a ''rodízio'' restaurant refers to a Brazilian-style steakhouse restaur ...
'' style buffets feature roving waiters serving ''
churrascaria
A ''churrascaria'' () is a place where meat is cooked in ''churrasco'' style, which translates roughly from the Portuguese word for "barbecue".
''Churrascaria'' cuisine is typically (but not always) served ''rodízio'' style, where roving wa ...
'' barbecued meats from large skewers directly onto the seated diners' plates.
* The "all-you-can-eat" buffet is more free-form; customers pay a fixed fee and then can help themselves to as much food as they wish to eat in a single meal. This form is found often in restaurants, especially in
hotel
A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a ref ...
s. In some countries, this format is popular for "Sunday
brunch
Brunch is a meal eaten between 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m., sometimes accompanied by alcoholic drinks (typically champagne or a cocktail). The meal originated in the British hunt breakfast. The word ''brunch'' is a portmanteau of ''breakfast'' a ...
" buffets.
* A so-called
Mongolian barbecue
Mongolian barbecue () is a stir fried dish that was developed by Wu Zhaonan in Taiwan in 1951. Meat and vegetables are cooked on large, round, solid iron griddles at temperatures of up to 300 °C (572 °F). Despite its name, the dis ...
buffet format allows diners to collect various thinly-sliced raw foods and add flavorings, which are then
stir-fried
Stir frying () is a cooking technique in which ingredients are fried in a small amount of very hot oil while being stirred or tossed in a wok. The technique originated in China and in recent centuries has spread into other parts of Asia and th ...
on a large griddle by a restaurant cook.
* Some
hot pot
Hot pot or hotpot (), also known as soup-food or steamboat, is a cooking method that originated in China. A heat source on the dining table keeps a pot of soup stock simmering, and a variety of Chinese foodstuffs and ingredients are served b ...
restaurants offer all-you-can-eat buffets, in which diners order plates of thinly-sliced raw foods and flavorings, and cook them in boiling pots of soup at their tables.
* A
salad bar
A salad bar is a buffet-style table or counter at a restaurant or food market on which salad components are provided for customers to assemble their own salad plates. Most salad bars provide lettuce, chopped tomatoes, assorted raw, sliced vegeta ...
is commonly offered in
delicatessen
Traditionally, a delicatessen or deli is a retail establishment that sells a selection of fine, exotic, or foreign prepared foods. Delicatessen originated in Germany (original: ) during the 18th century and spread to the United States in the m ...
s and
supermarket
A supermarket is a self-service Retail#Types of outlets, shop offering a wide variety of food, Drink, beverages and Household goods, household products, organized into sections. This kind of store is larger and has a wider selection than earli ...
s, in which customers help themselves to
lettuce
Lettuce (''Lactuca sativa'') is an annual plant of the family Asteraceae. It is most often grown as a leaf vegetable, but sometimes for its stem and seeds. Lettuce is most often used for salads, although it is also seen in other kinds of food, ...
and other
salad
A salad is a dish consisting of mixed, mostly natural ingredients with at least one raw ingredient. They are typically served at room temperature or chilled, though some can be served warm. Condiments and salad dressings, which exist in a va ...
ingredients, then pay by weight. Sometimes only cold foods are offered, but often warmed or hot foods are available at a "hot foods bar", possibly at a different price by weight.
* Open buffets are often associated with a celebration of some sort, and there may be no explicit charge or the cost may be included in an admission fee to the entire event.
Art show
An art exhibition is traditionally the space in which art objects (in the most general sense) meet an audience. The exhibit is universally understood to be for some temporary period unless, as is rarely true, it is stated to be a "permanent exhib ...
openings at galleries and museums are often accompanied by a modest buffet for invited guests.
As a compromise between self-service and full table service, a staffed buffet may be offered: diners carry their own plate or tray along the buffet line and are given a portion by a server at each station, which may be selected or skipped by the diner. This method is prevalent at catered meetings where diners are not paying specifically for their meal.
Alternatively, diners may serve themselves for most prepared selections, but a
carvery
A carvery is a pub or a restaurant where cooked meat is freshly sliced to order for customers, sometimes offering unlimited servings in a buffet style for a fixed price. The term is most commonly used in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Cyprus, and ...
station for roasted meats is staffed. Some buffet formats also feature staffed stations where
crepes,
omelette
In cuisine, an omelette (also spelled omelet) is a dish made from beaten eggs, fried with butter or oil in a frying pan (without stirring as in scrambled egg). It is quite common for the omelette to be folded around fillings such as chives, ve ...
s,
noodle soup
Noodle soup refers to a variety of soups with noodles and other ingredients served in a light broth. Noodle soup is a common dish across East Asia, Southeast Asia and the Himalayan states of South Asia. Various types of noodles are used, such as ...
s,
barbecued meats
Barbecue or barbeque (informally BBQ in the UK, US, and Canada, barbie in Australia and braai in South Africa) is a term used with significant regional and national variations to describe various cooking methods that use live fire and smoke t ...
, or
sushi
is a Japanese cuisine, Japanese dish of prepared , usually with some sugar and salt, accompanied by a variety of , such as seafood, often raw, and vegetables. Styles of sushi and its presentation vary widely, but the one key ingredient is " ...
are custom prepared at the request of individual diners.
All-you-can-eat
The
all-you-can-eat restaurant
An all-you-can-eat restaurant (AYCE) is a type of restaurant in which a fixed price is charged for entry, after which diners may consume as much food as they wish. All-you-can-eat establishments are frequently buffets.
Buffets
The all-you-can-e ...
was introduced in
Las Vegas
Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...
by Herbert "Herb" Cobb McDonald in 1946.
The buffet was advertised in flyers for only one dollar, and a patron could eat "every possible variety of hot and cold entrees to appease the howling coyote in your innards".
Many
boarding school
A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. As they have existed for many centuries, and now exten ...
s, colleges, and universities offer optional or mandatory "meal plans", especially in connection with
dormitories
A dormitory (originated from the Latin word ''dormitorium'', often abbreviated to dorm) is a building primarily providing sleeping and residential quarters for large numbers of people such as boarding school, high school, college or university s ...
for students. These are often in an "all-you-can-eat" buffet format, sometimes called "all-you-care-to-eat" to encourage
dietary moderation.
The format may also be used in other institutional settings, such as
military base
A military base is a facility directly owned and operated by or for the military or one of its branches that shelters military equipment and personnel, and facilitates training and operations. A military base always provides accommodations for ...
s, large factories,
cruise ships
Cruise ships are large passenger ships used mainly for vacationing. Unlike ocean liners, which are used for transport, cruise ships typically embark on round-trip voyages to various ports-of-call, where passengers may go on tours known as "s ...
, or
medium-security
A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, correcti ...
prisons.
In 2007, the first
all-you-can-eat seating section in
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
was introduced at
Dodger Stadium
Dodger Stadium is a baseball stadium in the Elysian Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. It is the home stadium of Major League Baseball's Los Angeles Dodgers. Opened in 1962, it was constructed in less than three years at a cost of ( ...
.
The trend spread to 19 of the 30 major league parks by 2010,
and numerous minor league parks by 2012.
The basic menu includes traditional ballpark food such as
hot dog
A hot dog (uncommonly spelled hotdog) is a food consisting of a grilled or steamed sausage served in the slit of a partially sliced Hot dog bun, bun. The term hot dog can refer to the sausage itself. The sausage used is a wiener (Vienna sausag ...
s,
nacho
Nachos are a Mexican culinary dish consisting of fried tortilla chips or ''totopos'' covered with melted cheese or cheese sauce, as well as a variety of other toppings and garnishes, often including meats (such as ground beef or grilled chicken ...
s,
peanut
The peanut (''Arachis hypogaea''), also known as the groundnut, goober (US), pindar (US) or monkey nut (UK), is a legume crop grown mainly for its edible Seed, seeds. It is widely grown in the tropics and subtropics, important to both small ...
s,
popcorn
Popcorn (also called popped corn, popcorns or pop-corn) is a variety of corn kernel which expands and puffs up when heated; the same names also refer to the foodstuff produced by the expansion.
A popcorn kernel's strong hull contains the se ...
, and
soft drink
A soft drink (see § Terminology for other names) is a drink that usually contains water (often carbonated), a sweetener, and a natural and/or artificial flavoring. The sweetener may be a sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, fruit juice, a su ...
s.
In 2008, all-you-can-eat seats were also inaugurated in numerous
NBA
The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...
and
NHL
The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...
arenas.
Restaurant buffets
In Australia, buffet chains such as
Sizzler
Sizzler USA Restaurants, Inc., doing business as Sizzler, is a United States-based restaurant chain with headquarters in Mission Viejo, California, with locations mainly in California, plus some in the nearby states of Washington, Arizona, Neva ...
serve a large number of patrons with carvery meats, seafood, salads and desserts. Cruise operators in Sydney, conduct Sydney Harbour sightseeing cruises with continental buffets having multiple seafood options. Buffets are also common in
Returned and Services League of Australia
The Returned and Services League of Australia (RSL) is a support organisation for people who have served or are serving in the Australian Defence Force.
Mission
The RSL's mission is to ensure that programs are in place for the well-being, care ...
(RSL) clubs and some motel restaurants.
In Brazil, ''comida a quilo'' or ''comida por quilo''—literally, "food by
hekilo"—restaurants are common. This is a cafeteria style buffet in which diners are billed by the weight of the food selected, excluding the
tare weight
Tare weight , sometimes called unladen weight, is the weight of an empty vehicle or container.
By subtracting tare weight from gross weight ( laden weight), one can determine the weight of the goods carried or contained (the net weight).
Etymol ...
of the plate.
Brazilian cuisine
Brazilian cuisine is the set of cooking practices and traditions of Brazil, and is characterized by European, Amerindian, African, and Asian ( Lebanese, Chinese and, most recently, Japanese) influences. It varies greatly by region, reflecting t ...
's ''
rodízio
''Rodízio'' (pronounced in Brazil) is an all-you-can-eat style of restaurant service in Brazilian restaurants.
Description
In most areas of the world outside of Brazil, a ''rodízio'' restaurant refers to a Brazilian-style steakhouse restaur ...
'' style is all-you-can-eat, having both non-self-service and self-service variations.
In Hong Kong, the ''
cha chaan teng buffet'' is a relatively new variation on traditional low-cost Chinese snack and coffee shops.
In Japan, a buffet or smorgasbord is known as a ''viking'' (バイキング - ''baikingu''). It is said that this originated from the restaurant "Imperial Viking" in the
Imperial Hotel, Tokyo
The is a hotel in Uchisaiwaicho, Chiyoda ward, Tokyo. It was created in the late 1880s at the request of the Japanese aristocracy to cater to the increasing number of Western visitors to Japan. The hotel site is located just south of the Impe ...
, which was the first restaurant in Japan to serve buffet-style meals. Dessert Vikings are very popular in Japan, where one can eat from a buffet full of desserts.
In Sweden, a traditional form of buffet is the ''
smörgåsbord
Smörgåsbord () is a buffet-style meal of Swedish origin. It is served with various hot and cold dishes.
Smörgåsbord became internationally known at the 1939 New York World's Fair when it was offered at the Swedish Pavilion "Three Crowns R ...
'', which literally means "table of sandwiches".
United States
In the United States, there are numerous
Chinese-American cuisine
American Chinese cuisine is a cuisine derived from Chinese cuisine that was developed by Chinese Americans. The dishes served in many North American Chinese restaurants are adapted to American tastes and often differ significantly from those ...
-inspired buffet restaurants, as well as those serving primarily traditional American fare.
Also,
South Asian cuisine
South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west.
Etymology
The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþaz' ...
(notably in
Indian restaurants
Indian cuisine consists of a variety of regional and traditional cuisines native to India. Given the diversity in soil, climate, culture, ethnic groups, and occupations, these cuisines vary substantially and use locally available spices, her ...
),
pan-Asian cuisine, and
Mediterranean cuisine
Mediterranean cuisine is the food and methods of preparation used by the people of the Mediterranean Basin. The idea of a Mediterranean cuisine originates with the cookery writer Elizabeth David's book, ''A Book of Mediterranean Food'' (1950) ...
are increasingly available in the buffet format,
and
sushi
is a Japanese cuisine, Japanese dish of prepared , usually with some sugar and salt, accompanied by a variety of , such as seafood, often raw, and vegetables. Styles of sushi and its presentation vary widely, but the one key ingredient is " ...
has also become more popular at buffets.
In some regions of the US, Brazilian-style ''
churrascaria
A ''churrascaria'' () is a place where meat is cooked in ''churrasco'' style, which translates roughly from the Portuguese word for "barbecue".
''Churrascaria'' cuisine is typically (but not always) served ''rodízio'' style, where roving wa ...
'' barbecue buffets served ''
rodízio
''Rodízio'' (pronounced in Brazil) is an all-you-can-eat style of restaurant service in Brazilian restaurants.
Description
In most areas of the world outside of Brazil, a ''rodízio'' restaurant refers to a Brazilian-style steakhouse restaur ...
'' style are becoming popular.
Las Vegas
Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...
and
Atlantic City
Atlantic City, often known by its initials A.C., is a coastal resort city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States. The city is known for its casinos, Boardwalk (entertainment district), boardwalk, and beaches. In 2020 United States censu ...
are famous for all-you-can-eat buffets with a very wide range of foods on offer, and similar ones have also become common in
casino
A casino is a facility for certain types of gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos are also known for hosting live entertai ...
s elsewhere in the United States.
For 2019, buffet food sales in the US were estimated at $5 billion, approximately 1% of the total restaurant business that year.
Gallery
File:Buffet Germany.jpg, Ham and cheese in a German breakfast buffet
File:Hot Buffet line aboard Celebrity Equinox.jpg, Staffed hot buffet line aboard the ''Celebrity Equinox
''Celebrity Equinox'' is a built by Meyer Werft in Germany. ''Celebrity Equinox'' is the second of the five ''Solstice''-class vessels, owned and operated by Celebrity Cruises. She is a sister ship of , , , and the . ''Celebrity Equinox'' entere ...
'' cruise ship
File:Crayfish buffet at Tukkutorin kala.jpg, A crayfish
Crayfish are freshwater crustaceans belonging to the clade Astacidea, which also contains lobsters. In some locations, they are also known as crawfish, craydids, crawdaddies, crawdads, freshwater lobsters, mountain lobsters, rock lobsters, mu ...
buffet at restaurant Tukkutorin kala in Kalasatama
Kalasatama ( sv, Fiskehamnen; literally translated "fish port") is a neighbourhood in the city of Helsinki, Finland. The area is officially part of the Sörnäinen district; and like Sörnäinen, Kalasatama is located a little more than one kilomet ...
, Helsinki
Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...
, Finland
File:Buffet brekafast (5078306699).jpg, Breakfast buffet
File:Sveas brunch.jpg, Brunch buffet
File:Cheese and cold cut station in clipper lounge.jpg, Cheese, coldcuts, and bread station in brunch buffet
File:Slovenia (15068507911).jpg, A platter of lunch meat
Lunch meats—also known as cold cuts, luncheon meats, cooked meats, sliced meats, cold meats, sandwich meats, and deli meats—are precooked or cured meats that are sliced and served cold or hot. They are typically served in sandwiches or on ...
and cheeses in Slovenia
File:Buffet-2.jpg, German-style dinner buffet
File:Man at chain buffet restaurant.jpg, alt=A customer gets food from a buffet in a restaurant., Customer getting food from a buffet
File:Prasmanan 1.JPG, ''Prasmanan'', Indonesian-style buffet
See also
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All-you-can-eat restaurant
An all-you-can-eat restaurant (AYCE) is a type of restaurant in which a fixed price is charged for entry, after which diners may consume as much food as they wish. All-you-can-eat establishments are frequently buffets.
Buffets
The all-you-can-e ...
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Buffet car
A buffet car is a passenger car of a train, where food and beverages can be bought at a counter and consumed.Catering
Catering is the business of providing food service at a remote site or a site such as a hotel, hospital, pub, aircraft, cruise ship, park, festival, filming location or film studio.
History of catering
The earliest account of major services be ...
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Food safety
Food safety (or food hygiene) is used as a scientific method/discipline describing handling, preparation, and storage of food in ways that prevent food-borne illness. The occurrence of two or more cases of a similar illness resulting from t ...
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Food warmer
A food warmer is typically a table-top device used to maintain the serving temperature of prepared food. It is used both in homes and restaurants.
Home use
When used domestically, such as with fondue, a food warmer may simply be a small vessel con ...
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Free lunch
A free lunch is the providing of a meal at no cost, usually as a sales enticement to attract customers and increase revenues from other business. It was once a common tradition in saloons and taverns in many places in the United States, with the ...
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List of buffet restaurants
This is a list of notable buffet restaurants. A buffet is a system of serving meals in which food is placed in a public area where the diners generally serve themselves. Buffets are offered at various places including hotels and many social events ...
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List of cafeterias
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Potluck
A potluck is a communal gathering where each guest or group contributes a different, often homemade, dish of food to be shared.
Other names for a "potluck" include: potluck dinner, pitch-in, shared lunch, spread, faith supper, carry-in dinner, ...
References
Further reading
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External links
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{{Authority control
Bundled products or services
Eating parties
Food combinations
Serving and dining