Buffet

[1] A form of service à la française, buffets are offered at various places including hotels, restaurants, and many social events.

In the 19th century, supper, a lighter meal some hours after the main dinner, 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.

The term buffet originally referred to the French sideboard furniture where the food was placed, but eventually became applied to the serving format.

[citation needed] Smörgåsbord became internationally known as "smorgasbord" at the 1939 New York World's Fair exhibition, as the Swedes had to invent a new way of showcasing the best of Swedish food to large numbers of visitors.

[citation needed] While the possession of gold and silver has been a measure of solvency 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.

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.

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 at breakfast-time appealing, even among those who could have had a footman servant behind each chair.

In a 1922 housekeeping book entitled How to Prepare and Serve a Meal, Lillian B. Lansdown wrote: The concept of eating a buffet arose in mid 17th century France, when gentleman callers would arrive at the homes of ladies they wanted to woo unexpectedly.

To avoid misunderstandings in commercial eating establishments, the rules and charges are often posted on signs near the buffet serving tables.

Some buffet formats also feature staffed stations where crepes, omelettes, noodle soups, barbecued meats, or sushi are custom prepared at the request of individual diners.

[9][10] 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".

[15] The basic menu includes traditional ballpark food such as hot dogs, nachos, peanuts, popcorn, and soft drinks.

[19][20] In Australia, buffet chains such as Sizzler serve a large number of patrons with carvery meats, seafood, salads and desserts.

In Hong Kong, the cha chaan teng buffet is a relatively new variation on traditional low-cost Chinese snack and coffee shops.

[6] Las Vegas and Atlantic City 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 casinos elsewhere in the United States.