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A buffet (buh-FAY or /bə.ˈfei/) is a meal-serving system where patrons serve themselves. It is a popular method of feeding large numbers of people with minimal staff. more...

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The term is also used to describe a sideboard, an antique form of furniture which was sometimes used to offer the dishes of a buffet meal to guests, in private homes.

A buffet car is a passenger car of a train, where snacks and drinks can be bought at a counter and consumed. Typically passengers are not allowed to consume brought-along food and drinks in this car. Compare dining car.

Buffet Forms

One form of buffet is to have a line of food serving stalls where customers take food they require as they walk along and pay at the end. This form is most commonly seen in cafeterias. Another form known as the "all you can eat" buffet has a set fee and customers can help themselves to as much food as they wish to eat. This form is found often in restaurants, especially in hotels; virtually every casino in North America includes one, with some being very elaborate.

Another form is the Swedish Smorgasbord. In North America, buffets specializing in Chinese cuisine are common, as are ones for other ethnic foods.

Buffets are effective for serving large numbers of people. They are also popular in that they give customers a great deal of choice and the ability to closely inspect food before selecting it. Since a buffet involves people serving themselves, it is generally viewed as a less elegant form of dining. However, it's the preferred serving arrangement on holidays and similar occasions to minimize the required number of staff.

History

While serving oneself at a meal has a long history, the modern buffet was developed in France in the 18th century, soon spreading throughout Europe. The term originally referred to the sideboard where the food was served, but eventually became applied to the form. The buffet became popular in the English-speaking world in the second half of the nineteenth century.

When 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 than 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 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 and adopted in France. The Baroque displays of silver and gold that were affected by Louis XIV of France were immortalized in paintings by Alexandre-François Desportes 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.

Read more at Wikipedia.org