National Buffet Day is celebrated annually on January 2.  Buffets are a popular choice by many when choosing a destination for eating out.

Buffets are a system of serving meals, where food is placed in a public area to be easily viewed and selected, by people generally serving themselves.  Buffets are effective for serving large groups of people at one time and are offered at various places including hotels, restaurants, conventions and etc.

Originating during the middle of the 16th century, the buffet table comes from the Brannvinsbord – Swedish schnapps (shot of alcoholic beverage) table.  The prime of this custom was during the early 18th century and was developed into the more modern buffet around the beginning of the 19th century.  It was during the expansion of the railroads throughout Europe that the smorgasbord buffet increased in popularity.

Originally, the smorgasbord  table was a meal where guests gathered before dinner for a pre-dinner drink and was separate from the formal dinner that followed.

In 1939 at the New York World’s Fair exhibition, the Swedes used a “smorgasbord” to showcase the best of the Swedish food to the large number of visitors attending the fair.  It was in the second half of the 20th century, after the Swedes had popularized the smorgasbord in New York, that the word buffet became popular in the English speaking world.

The term buffet originally referred to the French sideboard furniture where food was served from, however it eventually became applied to the serving format.

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