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 Nowadays, it seems as if every city, town, or village centre
contains at least one Chinese buffet, each one with its very own guileless,
absurd name: Buffet King, No.1 Buffet, Buffet City, Buffet Island. In fact, I'm
sure you can put any prefix or suffix along with the word Buffet, and you have
a reputable name for your restaurant. Despite this, their success in recent
years has been exponential and I personally have to admit, have ventured into
one in recent times and have only now decided to discontinue my custom to these
establishments. Yet although they are popping up left, right and centre, are
they a good addition to the world of British-Chinese dining? Or even to
British-Chinese society?
For the customers and the owners, the answer is a resounding
‘yes.' It is cheap to produce and cheap to dine at, the average being around
six pounds for ‘all you can eat.' That's the same price as a starter in some
á-la-carte restaurants. For the owners, the ease and speed in which the food is
cooked means that there's no need to hire skilled or experienced kitchen staff,
whilst the ‘help yourself' manifesto of buffets means that there is no need to
spend money on training waiters or on elaborate décor. Why bother spending on
fresh, expensive produce and lavish furnishings when only a handful of
customers come to your restaurant every evening? Who cares about that Rosette
Award when your buffet is forming a mile long queue at its entrance?
Their target customers range from all facets of society,
from the working-classes to students, civil servants to corporate businessmen.
Those who don't feel like paying ten pounds for an average meal when they can
spend six and feel full for a few days. There's no pompous pretence involved,
just food and drink at its simplest. It is this increasing supply and demand
that keeps the Chinese buffet ever-growing, along with the increasing ease with
which to establish such a restaurant.
Yet I'm still unconvinced about the pros of these
Chinese buffets. The more I see them the more I am annoyed by their
sheer presence.
Firstly, there's the fundamental term ‘all you can eat,' which seems to
imply
that upon entry, it is compulsory to gorge myself until I can't take
any more.
The queue of people lining up and moving round the buffet is a
depressing
practice. Customers are reduced to no more than animals, mechanically
moving
round a trough to eat until they are on the verge of vomiting.
Secondly,
there's the food. The MSG-laden, mountains of wholesale food. From
'sweet and sour pork' to 'yung chow fried rice, the wide range of
dishes all seem to have a
similar taste, yet the fact that it is a buffet means that you feel as
if you
might as well get your money's worth, and thus eat and eat even though
you have
passed your limit.
We all know that these dishes, which are also served in
á-la-carte restaurants and takeaways, do not represent true Chinese cuisine,
but the buffet is the next step in alienating British-Chinese people from their
heritage. The rejection of true Chinese cuisine in order to make more profit
seems like an acceptance of our stereotype. This standardisation of Chinese
food into no more than Crispy Duck and Prawn on Toast means that again,
British-Chinese culture is misrepresented and that we are just laying down in
deferential acceptance.
What is worrying is the rate of expansion of these buffets.
It wouldn't be so irritating if they were an infrequent sight, but it seems as
if there's one too many everywhere you go. Their continuing expansion means
that soon, Chinese cuisine will only be associated with buffet related terms,
such as ‘cheap,' ‘mass-produced,' and ‘standard.' I know I may be naïve or
snobbish in thinking that Chinese buffets are detrimental, as owners and
customers of restaurants do need to earn and save money respectively. Buffets
do offer an easy way to do this, but I think that if cuisine really is a
reflection of an ethnic group's culture, then these Chinese buffets are a
serious cultural and social heath hazard.
What do you think? Do you agree with Leon? Let us know below. Photo courtesy of samsmith.
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