Reader: What do buffets in America have to do with starving children in India?

The news served up a smorgasbord of tidbits on buffet last week, including a guy in Wisconsin who picketed a restaurant that cut him off from an all-you-can-eat fish fry, and a Chinese buffet in the U.K. where management instituted a clean-your-plates or pay a $20 tab policy. Waste not,...

By Patricia Calhoun

May 21, 2012

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The news served up a smorgasbord of tidbits on buffet last week, including a guy in Wisconsin who picketed a restaurant that cut him off from an all-you-can-eat fish fry, and a Chinese buffet in the U.K. where management instituted a clean-your-plates or pay a $20 tab policy.

Waste not, want not: Those stories inspired Jenn Wohletz to serve up the eight most egregious sins you can commit at a buffet.

But Big Eyes, Tiny Tummy doesn't buy one of those reasons:

Never understood the "starving children" argument. I'm sorry, are they on their way here? If I didn't take the extra food, would they have eaten it? Will the leftovers be served to the homeless when the restaurant closes, or dumped in the trash? How exactly did my leftovers affect those starving children?

Do you go to buffets? If so, what's your favorite in the metro area? India's Restaurant won our Best Indian Buffet award in the Best of Denver 2012, and Masalaa the Best Vegetarian Indian Buffet -- but we're always looking for other worthy options; dish up your suggestions in the comments section below. And if you want to chew over the concept of buffets in general, join the conversation already under way here.

Follow @CafeWestword on Twitter and at facebook.com/denvercafesociety

Patricia Calhoun is editor-in-chief of Westword, the alt-weekly she co-founded in September 1977. She’s been inducted into the Colorado Press Association Hall of Fame, the Association of Alternative Newsmedia Hall of Fame and the Colorado Restaurant Association Hall of Fame. She’s also received dozens of local, state and national awards for writing, including first place for feature writing and first place for column writing with the Society of Professional Journalists. Patricia is a weekly commentator on Colorado Inside Out, PBS 12's public affairs roundtable, which has won two Emmys.

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