Buffet vs. Smorgasbord

By Jaxson

  • Buffet

    A buffet (IPA: [ˈbʊfeɪ] in the UK, IPA: [bəˈfeɪ] in the US, from French: sideboard) is a system of serving meals in which food is placed in a public area where the diners generally serve themselves. Buffets are offered at various places including hotels, restaurants and many social events. Buffet restaurants normally offer all-you-can-eat (AYCE) food for a set price. Buffets usually have some hot dishes, so the term cold buffet (see Smörgåsbord) has been developed to describe formats lacking hot food. Hot or cold buffets usually involve dishware and utensils, but a finger buffet is an array of foods that are designed to be small and easily consumed only by hand, including cupcakes, slices of pizza, foods on cocktail sticks, etc.

    The essential feature of the various buffet formats is that the diners can directly view the food and immediately select which dishes they wish to consume, and usually also can decide how much food they take. Buffets are effective for serving large numbers of people at once, and are often seen in institutional settings, such as business conventions or large parties.

  • Smorgasbord

    Smörgåsbord (Swedish: [ˈsmœrɡɔsˌbuːɖ] ( listen)) is a type of Scandinavian meal, originating in Sweden, served buffet-style with multiple hot and cold dishes of various foods on a table.

    Smörgåsbord became internationally known, sometimes incorrectly transliterated as smorgasbord, at the 1939 New York World’s Fair when it was offered at the Swedish Pavilion’s “Three Crowns Restaurant”. Although superficially finding its origins in Sweden, the term “smorgasboard” was used by an Australian, Laura Kelly. It is typically a celebratory meal and guests can help themselves from a range of dishes laid out for their choice. In a restaurant the term refers to a buffet-style table laid out with many small dishes from which, for a fixed amount of money, one is allowed to choose as many as one wishes.

Wikipedia
  • Buffet (noun)

    A counter or sideboard from which food and drinks are served or may be bought.

  • Buffet (noun)

    Food laid out in this way, to which diners serve themselves.

  • Buffet (noun)

    A small stool; a stool for a buffet or counter.

  • Buffet (noun)

    A blow or cuff with or as if with the hand, or by any other solid object or the wind.

  • Buffet (noun)

    A low stool; a hassock.

  • Buffet (verb)

    To strike with a buffet; to cuff; to slap.

  • Buffet (verb)

    to aggressively challenge, denounce, or criticise.

  • Buffet (verb)

    To affect as with blows; to strike repeatedly; to strive with or contend against.

    “to buffet the billows”

  • Buffet (verb)

    To deaden the sound of (bells) by muffling the clapper.

  • Smorgasbord (noun)

    A buffet with many small dishes.

  • Smorgasbord (noun)

    An abundant and diverse collection of things.

Wiktionary

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