Buffet: Are we really serving ourselves or being served?

Three things are distinct in definition of buffet with the first being the availability of variety of food displayed on table. Secondly, the guests may chose to stand or sit while eating and, thirdly, and most importantly, the guests are expected, out of necessity, to serve themselves.  If the above observation is correct, what is […]

Three things are distinct in definition of buffet with the first being the availability of variety of food displayed on table.
Secondly, the guests may chose to stand or sit while eating and, thirdly, and most importantly, the guests are expected, out of necessity, to serve themselves.
 If the above observation is correct, what is often witnessed and or experienced during buffet, in this part of the world, leaves much to be desired.
The sight, many times, is not different from what is seen in the Internally Displaced Persons’ (IDPs) camps.
 The long queue of persons of all kinds (rich and poor, young and old) struggling for food with their plates in their hands is not different from what obtains in IDPs camps.
Then there is the beggarly disposition of the guests who are always at the mercy of the servers who, as it were, dictate both the quantity and quality of food given.
Those who defy shame to request for more are hardly considered. The simple response would always be – ‘are you not seeing the long queue? The food may not be enough to go round if it is not rationalized!’
Majority of guests, experience has shown, end up walking away from the event not only hungry and angry, but embarrassed and totally disappointed.
 While those who cannot patiently queue would forfeit the meal and quietly leave, those who insist on queuing up, sometimes, end up not eating as the food would get finished before it gets to their turn.
Those who succeed in getting food to eat, end up unsatisfied with the quantity and quality of the meal served to them.
 While sharing their ugly experiences in an event recently held in Onitsha, the commercial city of Anambra State, some guests described buffet in Nigeria as deceptive.
One of them, Mr Clement Eze, said: “We are not yet ripe for buffet as a country. Anytime I attend any occasion where the so-called buffet is organised, I feel ashamed of myself.
“The rowdy scene alone is disgusting. I can’t remember how many times I have eaten at any event buffet is organized.”
Another guest, Mrs Nnenna Obiajulu, said that she preferred to be served while sitting down at her table rather than going to the buffet stand to be embarrassed.
“There is no problem with arranging the meal in a buffet form,” she said. “It can still be arranged in that form but be dished out to guests while they are seated. It is simpler and tidier.”