All You Can Eat Buffet

I love buffets. I will pile my plate full of meat and stuff myself until I feel like I'm going to burst. I've been to all sorts of buffets. All-American buffets, Chinese buffets, exotic buffets. Recently I've been going to a down south buffet where they serve southern food. The problem is that when you get to dessert there isn't enough room to stuff a gallon of ice cream in your gullet so that part really sucks. Other than that there's something very satisfying about running around with an empty plate and filling it with whatever amounts of food you want in contrast to traditional restaurant dining. Kinda like an animal in a safari.

originally posted by: Asynchrony
Kinda like an animal in a safari.

Animals in safaris aren't fed rubbish. They also don't grow obese. Bad comparison imo.

originally posted by: Asynchrony
The problem is that when you get to dessert there isn't enough room to stuff a gallon of ice cream in your gullet so that part really sucks.

I'm guessing this is what is what they call a first world problem.

Can you imagine taking an Ethiopian or other 3rd world person to an all you can eat buffet and explain they can eat all they want....

a reply to: Asynchrony

There's some marvelous buffets in my hometown. The trick is just to take a tiny, little bit of everything to sample first...THEN go back and load up on the best items

Star and flag for your enthusiasm on this...unique and quirky topic

Edit: Just wanted to add that if you ever cleaned a buffet kitchen at the end of the day, you'd never eat in one again. True story!

LOL

I don't go to them much, but there is a restaurant, Gracies, that on Friday nights has an all you can eat seafood buffet. First time my father in law brought me there, and watched me eat, he told me they had to lose money on me, and he wanted to know if I was stuffing food in my purse!

125 lb. Girl vs 230 lb. Man.
He never stood a chance!

I am wary of those, with regards to the use of MSG and additives.

There used to be a good Chinese/ Asian /global buffet near here which was pretty good.

I prefer the fresh dishes with natural ingredients, like crispy duck, fish / chicken in clean sauces, veg, fresh soups, curries, pilau rice etc and I tend to add just a little of each.

As for the puddings, I prefer the fruit with a small amount of something like profiteroles.

I can't stand feeling 'stuffed' though many at these places seem to prefer their plates piled high, I don't know how they can eat that much.

I do like using chopsticks though, and appreciate the 'zen' theory behind their usage. I think it probably works, once for a year or so I used only chopsticks and I have to say I appreciated food and flavours better and felt happier eating just veg.

a reply to: mwood
a reply to: nerbot

Oh come on! Indulging in a meal now and then is one of the simplest and greatest pleasures of life. Are you really going to lambaste the OP for enjoying something available to him/her?

a reply to: Asynchrony

I tend to strategize when going into any buffet situation. For me it's really sort of an operation with two objectives: to eat foods I have yet to try before becoming full, and to covertly discern which foods my family enjoys most in hopes of duplicating the recipes. Lot's of other guys seem content to let their wives or significant do most of the cooking; that's never been me. The offspring come around now and then. When we're all together I like to make a special effort to impress--or disgust them--with new or strange meal ideas. Buffets assist that machination well enough. And ... if a buffet doesn't offer soft ice cream they're doing it wrong.

originally posted by: mwood

Can you imagine taking an Ethiopian or other 3rd world person to an all you can eat buffet and explain they can eat all they want....

That is actually a pretty fun experience. I was dating a guy from Peru that found the idea somewhat amazing. There is a degree of culture shock even when it is someone coming from a well off family.

Ok, the Chinese buffet in my town is one of my guilty pleasures.

I love sushi and if I go to a regular restaurant I have to pay through the nose for sushi.
At the all you can eat buffet I can eat all the sushi I want for 1/4 the price.

My hubby doesn't get it, he thinks you have to stuff yourself at buffets and he hates them as a result. But I go with the value for your money and you don't have to stuff yourself and you don't have to eat junk either.

There is a southern buffet I love in a nearby town. There I can get okra, boiled cabbage, collard greens, lima beans - all stuff my hubby hates and doesn't want me to cook. I admit I stuff myself silly on those veggies, yum!

We had a Russian exchange student for a year, she left a few months ago. She said the best thing about America was the food. She LOVED the food here, and yes she gained 30 pounds, but she arrived looking like an emaciated runway model with ribs sticking out. She left healthy looking. The day before she left I asked what she wanted to do or where she wanted to go in town and she wanted to go to Taco Bell, and then for yogurt ice cream. There are only 2 restaurants in her very large Siberian town and both are very expensive, she adored American food, actually she really fell in love with Tex-Mex food.

There are some things in life that should not be politicized and enjoying a good meal is one of them. A universal delight. Please don't reply to me as a hater, it won't do any good. When there is one thing people all over the world can agree on, that is there is one wholesome universal delight, it is having a good meal with friends and family.

Lol.

Give me...Bacon

You need to learn to eat like a seagull. Take a bite and crap.

I don't go to buffets much anymore, Just at one Chinese restaurant. I do go to an all you can eat fishfry at a local restaurant featuring Lake superior whitefish and trout. I get thirds every time, eating about three pounds of fish with Homefries. I don't get a lousy feeling from the fish fry.

When I did go to buffets, I chose ones that had pickled herring, eating over a pound of it every time.

I don't like the feeling of being stuffed to the gills.
My brother,who weighs close to 300 pounds, has been banned from a couple of all you can eat Chinese buffets.
"You eat too much! You order from menu!"

As long as I can return with a well balanced plate that is put together and arranged well, I don't mind. I generally eat slowly, and only a bit to excess.

What does get my goat though, is the gluttony I see on a daily basis especially knowing people in other countries that have true first world problems of not having enough rice, or not being able to buy fresh fruit- even when it's being grown close by them (due to it's exportation and the profiteering surrounding it.)

originally posted by: skunkape23
I don't like the feeling of being stuffed to the gills.
My brother,who weighs close to 300 pounds, has been banned from a couple of all you can eat Chinese buffets.
"You eat too much! You order from menu!"

Haha sounds like my brother. He pulls up a chair at the buffet table. .
He eats so fast there's sparks coming off his knife and fork.

originally posted by: violet

originally posted by: skunkape23
I don't like the feeling of being stuffed to the gills.
My brother,who weighs close to 300 pounds, has been banned from a couple of all you can eat Chinese buffets.
"You eat too much! You order from menu!"

Haha sounds like my brother. He pulls up a chair at the buffet table. .
He eats so fast there's sparks coming off his knife and fork.

I've seen some really thin, meek looking people out-eat me in buffets. Let's face it. A buffet is not exactly a place to just refuel, but a place to indulge and enjoy.

And how about those people who start at the wrong end of the buffet line and disrupt the flow of buffet traffic, am I right?

Me? I'm a tall guy and have to stoop way down and contort to get under that sneeze guard. Can't believe I haven't dislocated a shoulder reaching for that back row!

Such a fun thread this turned out to be. Well done, OP.

I don't eat the deserts at a buffet. They're usually not very good. I'm a homemade desert person.

I like to load my plate with salads and if I see potatoe salad, I put a mountain of it on my plate.
Some buffets are a rip off, if it's food I'm not fond of. I like breakfast buffets. I can eat a thousand dollar size pancakes, or cheese omelettes and sausages.

We have a fabulous Chinese restaurant here in town and on certain days during lunch it's $5.00 for an all you can eat buffet. They have beautifully etched glass partitions between some tables, beautiful artwork and soothing Chinese music in the background. I fill a plate with a good variety of foods and never go up for seconds. I rarely ever have dessert. I'm amazed they can make a profit. They even have American food for the fussy eaters. LOL

originally posted by: NarcolepticBuddha
a reply to: mwood
a reply to: nerbot

Oh come on! Indulging in a meal now and then is one of the simplest and greatest pleasures of life. Are you really going to lambaste the OP for enjoying something available to him/her?

No not at all, you misunderstood what I was saying or I said it wrong.

I was just saying could you imagine the wonder of taking someone from a poor country with not much food to one of these places.

My dream is to go to an all you can eat dessert buffet, i would bring myself a 4liter of cold milk and weat till i drop.