Episode Details

For centuries, a buffet was not a meal but a piece of furniture built to display a family's gold and silver plates. This episode follows the buffet from Louis XIV's solid silver furniture, melted down to fund his wars, to cold spreads for unannounced suitors, Sweden's schnapps tables and the smorgasbord that fed crowds of railway travelers.

We explore the Swedish pavilion's smorgasbord at the 1939 New York World's Fair, Victorian standing buffets, and Herb McDonald's $1 all-you-can-eat buffet in 1946 Las Vegas. We also examine the economics behind it, all-you-can-eat stadium seats, Japan's Viking buffets, Brazil's food by the kilo, and the new trend of fines for food waste.

• Why early buffets were status symbols and what happened to Louis XIV's silver furniture
• How the Swedish brannvinsbord evolved into the smorgasbord and spread with railroads
• Why Victorian grand balls made standing, knife-free buffets fashionable
• The casino-style economics behind the all-you-can-eat buffet and all you care to eat dining halls
• Dodger Stadium's all-you-can-eat seats, Japanese Vikings, comida por kilo and food-waste fines