Why Piling Up Your Plate At A Buffet Is Actually Quite The Mistake

If you've been to enough buffets, you probably have a strategy for loading up your plate, deciding which foods to eat first, and knowing when to call it quits. However, piling your plate up high with everything all at once is one of the most common mistakes you're making when eating at a buffet. Sure, it can be tempting to stack on everything and anything that looks appetizing, but since it's a buffet, there's really no reason to overload. You can always head back for more since the food is continuously replenished.

One of the major reasons not to overfill is that you'll likely end up wasting a lot of the food on the plate. Whether you didn't like a few foods or prefer to fill up on something else that just came out, it's almost a guarantee there'll still be something on your plate that ends up in the trash. A better choice is getting small portions to sample the food instead of realizing you don't love something and leaving a huge chunk. Just make sure you're following proper buffet etiquette when sampling food, and tasting items back at your table rather than in line.

Another reason to avoid overfilling is that you won't get the freshest experience. While you can nibble on all foods on your plate simultaneously, chances are that toward the end, some of the food will be cold. That's why buffet food sits in warming trays to keep it at the right temperature until you're ready to eat it.

We get it. You're excited about the plentiful and varied selection of foods, but too much on your plate isn't just wasteful and impractical; it also risks mixing flavors that don't go together. You might not think this matters, but how foods are eaten affects how we perceive them, including taste and texture. Picture marinara sauce soaking into your crispy chicken cutlet before you even have a chance to take a bite. Leaving space between items or grabbing separate plates can help. Better to eat as if in courses, than piling everything together at once.

Another major reason to avoid piling up food is that it may lead you to getting too full too fast at buffets. This can be especially true if you load up on starches like pasta, bread, rice, and potatoes, which satiate you quickly but leave you hungry a short while later. While those loaded baked potatoes were delicious in the moment, there's now less room for dessert at the end. After a certain point, even your favorites don't taste as good if you're full.

If all of this doesn't convince you to keep your portions small and make more frequent trips for food, some establishments may even charge you for anything left on the plate, in some cases, for the bones as well, which is probably a bit much. This usually happens more at all-you-can-eat restaurants like sushi or Korean BBQ spots. Even if there's no extra charge, piling food onto your plate still leads to waste and a less enjoyable meal.