Buffet eating - EWWWWW

[Morwenna]

My goodness … what a thread.

The truth is that gross stuff happens at every phase of food production. If we really knew (or thought about) what goes on ‘behind the scenes’ at many restaurants (not just buffets), in packinghouses, food preparation plants, etc, we’d probably never want to eat again, unless we grew or raised all our own food ourselves.

What about outdoor summer picnics? Great conditions for germs to thrive (heat, flies and other insects, etc), yet most of us have eaten at those with no problem.

Life is too short to worry about stuff like this, IMO. Our immune systems can handle most of it with ease (of course I’m speaking of the average, healthy person … people with immune problems or impaired organ function should certainly be cautious). And since not many of us have the resources necessary to produce our own food, we’re probably better off not dwelling on things that we can’t change.

Trust in God and enjoy life.

Just my :twocents:

 

[Talevita]

My grandmother loves a local buffet near her home. My husband and I will pretend to enjoy it sometimes to enjoy a meal out with her and her husband. I’ve never suggested eating out at a buffet, but I don’t have any stories that make me hate them miserably.

 

[gardenswithkids]

I have a love/hate relationship with Buffets. I like them because you don’t have to wait for your food …

Not having to wait is a huge plus when dining out with children.

On the down side, once while waiting at the check-out of a buffet, I read a report that the food inspector had ordered that restaurant to post. It showed some really disgusting violations of food safety standards. We haven’t gone back to that buffet since.

 

[MarieVeronica]

The truth is that gross stuff happens at every phase of food production. If we really knew (or thought about) what goes on ‘behind the scenes’ at many restaurants (not just buffets)…

Hi “M” How you doing :hug1:

Your comment made me GULP. lol. It brought forward an old memory. Many years ago, I worked as a waitress in a Los Angeles restaurant for a short time. And I saw things (in the kitchen, out of the public “view”) that would make yer hair stand on end. :bigyikes:

I won’t “detail” any of it, though. Because I know most people (including us) enjoy eating out… every now and then. God bless!



(btw… the restaurant I worked at was not a well known chain. It was more of a small, independent “bistro” style thing. And it eventually closed).

 

[Morwenna]

Hi “M” How you doing :hug1:

Your comment made me GULP. lol. It brought forward an old memory. Many years ago, I worked as a waitress in a Los Angeles restaurant for a short time. And I saw things (in the kitchen, out of the public “view”) that would make yer hair stand on end. :bigyikes:

I won’t “detail” any of it, though. Because I know most people (including us) enjoy eating out… every now and then. God bless!



(btw… the restaurant I worked at was not a well known chain. It was more of a small, independent “bistro” style thing. And it eventually closed).

Hi MV, I’m doing well, and I sure hope that you are, too!

You’re right that the truth about what goes on will make your hair stand on end … and not just in restaurant kitchens, but in the packinghouses, plants, and even in the fields as fruits & veggies are being picked …

Well, honestly we’re all just better off not thinking about it, really.

 

[ChristinaM]

Wow, holy necro-thread, Batman! This one was from '05.

I find it offensive that people imply that Chinese restaurants serve cat meat. I’m of Chinese heritage, and my mother has befriended several Chinese restaurant owners over the years. I can assure you that none of them would ever dream of serving cat or dog. I would hope that posters would check their stereotypes at the door when posting on a Catholic forum. Not sure I can say much more without verging on uncharity. Just asking that people think about how they are so quick to condemn and mock a culture with rich heritage. Most Chinese restaurant owners are hardworking folks just trying to make a living. This kind of mockery is the last thing they deserve.

That said…PLEASE remember that the vast majority of American Chinese restaurants cater to, you guessed it, American tastes! So if you don’t like the food you have no one but your fellow Americans to blame! Real Chinese food is extremely delicious and healthy, high on vegetables and low on meat. (My mom usually orders “special” vegetables when going to a restaurant where she knows the owner.) I rarely if ever eat Chinese takeout because I have been spoiled by my mom’s cooking for ages. Crab rangoon and other Chinese buffet slop doesn’t count as Chinese food to me. Yuk.

 

[Pug]

PLEASE remember that the vast majority of American Chinese restaurants cater to, you guessed it, American tastes! So if you don’t like the food you have no one but your fellow Americans to blame! Real Chinese food is extremely delicious and healthy, high on vegetables and low on meat.

I’ve never had good “Chinese” food from a restaurant. Mine at home is better by several factors. It isn’t greasy, it has lots of fresh veggies, the meat is moist, tender and done just right, it is not covered in a generic brown sauce, I use good stock, there are side dishes (like broccoli), I use less meat, I can make a variety of soups (it seems like the restaurants usually only have the same two soups), and I also make a mushroom dish with actual shitake/black mushrooms in them, instead of buttons. I’m so crazed as to make my own Hunanese-style salt-preserved red chiles. Man those are good. I can do some Hunan, some Sichuan, and a very little Canton. I use ingredients that I can get fresh locally, though, and not stuff like beansprouts, which are *always *too old at the supermarket. The cuisine is highly flexible that way. Just keep the same style (like slivered) and keep the color balanced and alter when you throw the item into the pan/wok/skillet.

I agree with you about why it tastes like it does at a restaurant. I think the problem is that I like a slightly less Americanized taste than most of the customers.

 

[mizznicole]

We have a vegetarian Indian place down here that is great for the lunch buffet. I don’t oppose it at all! But you can’t drag me into a Luby’s to save my soul. That’s just not my thing.

 

[ChristinaM]

I’ve never had good “Chinese” food from a restaurant. Mine at home is better by several factors. It isn’t greasy, it has lots of fresh veggies, the meat is moist, tender and done just right, it is not covered in a generic brown sauce, I use good stock, there are side dishes (like broccoli), I use less meat, I can make a variety of soups (it seems like the restaurants usually only have the same two soups), and I also make a mushroom dish with actual shitake/black mushrooms in them, instead of buttons. I’m so crazed as to make my own Hunanese-style salt-preserved red chiles. Man those are good. I can do some Hunan, some Sichuan, and a very little Canton. I use ingredients that I can get fresh locally, though, and not stuff like beansprouts, which are *always *too old at the supermarket. The cuisine is highly flexible that way. Just keep the same style (like slivered) and keep the color balanced and alter when you throw the item into the pan/wok/skillet.

I agree with you about why it tastes like it does at a restaurant. I think the problem is that I like a slightly less Americanized taste than most of the customers.

Do you have an Asian market near you? Not sure where in the Midwest you are…but even here in Indiana I have a wonderful Asian market in my town with all the fresh veggies. I never buy sprouts from the local supermarket, yuk. They are nearly always going bad already. They are cheaper and fresher at my favorite Asian market. Don’t be shy about going to check it out if you have one by you.

Anyway, I just wanted to say, good on you for going beyond icky restaurant Chinese and exploring the tasty possibilities of REAL Chinese food!

Chinese food is best served fresh from the wok and was really not meant to be experienced buffet-style. I never saw an all-you-can-eat buffet on my trips to Taiwan until the last time we went back, about 2 years ago. Even then the buffets tend to be “Mongolian BBQ”, where the food is cooked in front of you, or “hot pot,” where you select raw ingredients and cook your own food in an individual pot of hot broth at your table. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. No crab Rangoon there!

I think my least favorite buffet is Ryan’s. Ick ick. We had one in the town where I grew up and my mom loved it for some reason. I never did enjoy it at all…but it was more the type of food than the “buffet” factor I didn’t like.

 

[datingtrappists]

Not so much of a Buffet fan myself… Did you know there is no such place as “Margaritaville”?

Now for those all-you-can-eat joints… There is an Americanized-Chinese buffet a mile from my house. The food is pretty decent, but I think their takeout is much better. Same people who cook both… maybe it’s the fact that a smaller portion is cooked at the time.

Not been to a Golden Corral in years… and would rather not go back. The same with Great American Steakhouse and various big name pizza buffets. But, alas, doing (middle and high school) band concerts with folks who… thinks as long as something is drowned in either ketchup or ranch dressing it’s fit to eat ruined me on buffets. There is a small chain (if you can call two resturants a chain) of pizza places here that has a WONDERFUL buffet, and if there is something you want that’s not available, they’ll make it (and still charge only the buffet price)… And since not alot of people around here like spinich, olives, and onions on their pizza, I can get fresh every time.

There is an absolutely WONDERFUL Indian resturant in Knoxville that has a lunch buffet. I can’t go very often, as I will completely stuff myself silly there.

E

 

[Pug]

Do you have an Asian market near you? Not sure where in the Midwest you are…but even here in Indiana I have a wonderful Asian market in my town with all the fresh veggies. I never buy sprouts from the local supermarket, yuk. They are nearly always going bad already. They are cheaper and fresher at my favorite Asian market. Don’t be shy about going to check it out if you have one by you.

Anyway, I just wanted to say, good on you for going beyond icky restaurant Chinese and exploring the tasty possibilities of REAL Chinese food!

Chinese food is best served fresh from the wok and was really not meant to be experienced buffet-style. I never saw an all-you-can-eat buffet on my trips to Taiwan until the last time we went back, about 2 years ago. Even then the buffets tend to be “Mongolian BBQ”, where the food is cooked in front of you, or “hot pot,” where you select raw ingredients and cook your own food in an individual pot of hot broth at your table. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. No crab Rangoon there!

I think my least favorite buffet is Ryan’s. Ick ick. We had one in the town where I grew up and my mom loved it for some reason. I never did enjoy it at all…but it was more the type of food than the “buffet” factor I didn’t like.

I have a good Asian market about 35 minutes away, so I go there to stock up on dried mushrooms, sesame oil, soysauce (I’m hooked on Kimlan), dried black beans, etc. I tried their beansprouts once and they were so nice and crisp! I just don’t go that far for typical grocery shopping. I feel a little out of place in the store, though. Actually, there is a closer one that is combined with a video store, but it is so expensive and carries substantially fewer items. I’ve noticed that Asian markets can cater to different parts of Asia, so I think that is part of the problem with the closer market. I don’t think the closer one has beansprouts.

Isn’t it so often the case that our parents like food that we won’t touch! Is a dim sum bar like a buffet? You flag down a waiter whenever they walk by with an interesting item, I’ve been told. So you get to eat many different items, like a buffet. But it is not all out on a table for the public.

 

[ChristinaM]

I have a good Asian market about 35 minutes away, so I go there to stock up on dried mushrooms, sesame oil, soysauce (I’m hooked on Kimlan), dried black beans, etc. I tried their beansprouts once and they were so nice and crisp! I just don’t go that far for typical grocery shopping. I feel a little out of place in the store, though. Actually, there is a closer one that is combined with a video store, but it is so expensive and carries substantially fewer items. I’ve noticed that Asian markets can cater to different parts of Asia, so I think that is part of the problem with the closer market. I don’t think the closer one has beansprouts.

Isn’t it so often the case that our parents like food that we won’t touch! Is a dim sum bar like a buffet? You flag down a waiter whenever they walk by with an interesting item, I’ve been told. So you get to eat many different items, like a buffet. But it is not all out on a table for the public.

You have good taste my friend. Kimlan is a Taiwanese brand and my mother’s preferred soy sauce. If you have not tried using Kimlan soy paste in recipes, you should. It’s thicker and richer than normal soy sauce and it adds a little extra kick of flavor.

Dim sum is a very similar concept to Spanish tapas…it’s mainly snack type foods like dumplings and steamed buns. In most places there are waitresses who push the steamers around on carts and you can choose the food you like. You get variety but eating that way doesn’t promote gorging yourself on a lot of any one dish - especially since the dishes are intended to share.

Mouth is watering again…must stop!

 

[Just_wondering]

I don’t think buffets are disgusting, but I don’t really see the appeal. Your food is barely warm when you get it, and I find ordering à la carte is just a better way to get the food I like. Buffet food is produced to appeal to the lowest common denominator. Not enough spices, too much salt, too much grease.

Here in Korea, buffets are really popular. Weddings, in particular, always have a buffet. Bleagh. You know how Americanized Chinese food is pretty flavorless? Koreanized American food is similar. Heck, even the authentic Korean food in a $20 buffet restaurant compares unfavorably with the food in a $5 lunch place.

It’s become my policy not to eat in foreign restaurants, especially buffets, unless the majority of diners appear to be of the ethnicity that matches the food. I LOVE foreign food, but I hate “fusion” food, or what passes for fusion - food that looks exotic but tastes bland enough not to offend anybody. Meh.

Life is too short to eat bland food. That’s basically my biggest objection to buffets.

 

[Pug]

You have good taste my friend. Kimlan is a Taiwanese brand and my mother’s preferred soy sauce. If you have not tried using Kimlan soy paste in recipes, you should. It’s thicker and richer than normal soy sauce and it adds a little extra kick of flavor.

No, I haven’t tried the soy paste. I’ve got a jar of “thick soy sauce”, but that is like molasses or something, sort of sweet. If I see a jar, I may try it. Just put it in like I would a tablespoon of bean paste (that yellow/brown stuff with whole beans in it)?

Mouth is watering again…must stop!

I see you could use a little extra torture…Duck! (I’m not good with file attachments or a camera, so to see larger picture, you must click on picture. It is one of my attempts at soupy noodles with topping, a Hunan sort of thing.)

 

[Pug]

Life is too short to eat bland food. That’s basically my biggest objection to buffets.

I know some folks who carry packets of this and that in their purse when they eat out. Then you could season the food up a bit. I agree, though, life is too short and calories too precious to eat bland junk.

Now, why do I keep doing it now and then?? Convenience, I suppose…

 

[Lujack]

When I was in high school, on Thursday nights before football games, the whole team would get together and hit a buffet. Its one of my favorite memories of the old high school.