8
theory
Buffet menus
HAVE SOME MORE Chinese dim sum shops or houses provide a never-ending supply of assorted steamed, stuffed dumplings and other steamed or fried delicacies.
A buffet is a meal consisting of several dishes ready-prepared and beautifully displayed on serving tables, which guests serve themselves from, sometimes assisted by waiters. The term ‘buffet’ originally comes from the French word for ‘sideboard’, referring both to the table displaying the food and the type of service. More recently buffets have become highly commercialised and popular forms of catering outlets all over the world. You can find buffet service in many different venues including hotels, especially at breakfast, where there is often an all-you-can-eat buffet menu, and at social gatherings, such as weddings or parties. On these occasions finger food is popular. In the Western world, finger food is often either appetisers (hors d’oeuvres) or main course items, served in miniature pots or dishes, or canapés, and meant to be eaten directly using the hands. Many ethnic restaurants also offer a form of buffet service, such as Chinese dim sum shops, Japanese sushi bars, Spanish tapas bars and traditional Swedish buffets called smorgasbord. The word ‘smorgasbord’ literally means ‘a table of bread and butter’, but Scandinavian-style buffets are so much more than that, offering hot and cold dishes of fish and cheeses, cold meats and salads, often taking the form of an appetiser table.
Spanish tapas bars offer a wide range of small savoury dishes such as garlic prawns, olives, deep fried peppers and Spanish omelette, typically served with drinks at the bar.
Japanese sushi bars typically serve sashimi (raw fish slices) and sushi (fish or other ingredients with rice and vinegar) at a counter.
Banqueting and Feasts, p. 278
GET STARTED
1 Read the text and match these types of food service to their country of origin. 1 2 3 4 5
buffet dim sum smorgasbord sushi tapas
a b c d e
China France Japan Spain Sweden
READING COMPREHENSION
2
INVALSI Read the text again and complete these sentences in no more than 4 words.
1 2 3 4 5 6
144
At buffets guests usually ___________________________________________. The French word ‘buffet’ is a type of ___________________________________________. Buffets are a very popular form of catering ___________________________________________. Hotel breakfasts often offer ___________________________________________. In Swedish smorgasbord means ‘a table ___________________________________________’. A Scandinavian-style buffet can take the form of ___________________________________________.