# Do You Let Perceived Costs Dictate Which Foods You Select At A Buffet Restuarant? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 28, 2006, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-let-perceived-costs-dictate-which-foods-you-select-at-a-buffet-restuarant/382042 "2006-11-28T05:25:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![divemaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/divemaster/32/78_2.png) [@divemaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/divemaster)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2006, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-let-perceived-costs-dictate-which-foods-you-select-at-a-buffet-restuarant/382042/21 "2006-11-28T14:33:59Z")
[QUOTE=delphica] I’m also a bit of a food snob, and have all these rules about eating, like I will not eat seafood if I am in a landlocked state, which impacts my selections at a Vegas buffet. [/QUOTE] In general, a good idea, but don’t apply it to Vegas. I’m from Louisiana and have lived on the Atlantic caost, so I knows me some seafood. And I can honestly say the best seafood dinner I ever had was in Vegas. Biggest shrimp I’ve ever seen. Those casinos fly it in fresh every day and only the primo stuff. They can afford it. (I guess this would only apply to the nice casinos, not “Vegas Bob’s glutton buffet w/ loobster”). Anyway, for me, a buffet is all about _variety_. Sure, I’ll be sure to include crab legs or whatever, but I’m more of a sample-everything-that-looks-good guy. Even salad (which I eat almost every day anyway). ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2006, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-let-perceived-costs-dictate-which-foods-you-select-at-a-buffet-restuarant/382042/22 "2006-11-28T14:35:24Z")
Mmmm…I luvs me some loobster. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2006, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-let-perceived-costs-dictate-which-foods-you-select-at-a-buffet-restuarant/382042/23 "2006-11-28T14:56:17Z")
We eat at buffetts because you can get so many different things, not to maximize our eating dollar. I’m all about having prime rib _and_ Orange Chicken _and_ pad thai _and_ Chili Verde for dinner, not eating 4 lbs. of crab legs. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2006, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-let-perceived-costs-dictate-which-foods-you-select-at-a-buffet-restuarant/382042/24 "2006-11-28T16:15:04Z")
I do to some extent. I scarf a lot of meat. I can’t understand those who pay for an expensive buffet and then eat just fruit and brad. I mean, if you want fruit, buy some @ 1/10 the cost. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2006, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-let-perceived-costs-dictate-which-foods-you-select-at-a-buffet-restuarant/382042/25 "2006-11-28T16:20:23Z")
[QUOTE=DrDeth] I can’t understand those who pay for an expensive buffet and then eat just fruit and brad. [/QUOTE] Jaysus. In what state is that legal? ---
**Author:** ![Sarahfeena](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sarahfeena/32/519_2.png) [@Sarahfeena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarahfeena)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2006, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-let-perceived-costs-dictate-which-foods-you-select-at-a-buffet-restuarant/382042/26 "2006-11-28T16:45:53Z")
I love to eat a lot of variety, so I tend to do that when I’m at a buffet…a little bit of everything. We very rarely go to buffets, though, because my husband is very price-conscious. I don’t know if he goes for the more expensive items (never noticed)…what he does is eats and eats and eats and eats. He doesn’t consider it worth the money until he has practically eaten himself sick! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Plan\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Plan\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Plan_B)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2006, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-let-perceived-costs-dictate-which-foods-you-select-at-a-buffet-restuarant/382042/27 "2006-11-28T16:49:35Z")
We once had my son’s 11th birthday party at a buffet. It was about $15 or $20 per person - no child discount. One of his friends ate nothing and one of them just ate bread. So it goes. BTW, the food sucked anyway, i.e. there was no expensive food. Haven’t been back. ---
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2006, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-let-perceived-costs-dictate-which-foods-you-select-at-a-buffet-restuarant/382042/28 "2006-11-28T16:52:26Z")
Yeah, like a lot of other people, I’ll mostly eat whatever seems to give me the best mix of flavors and what I think I’ll enjoy most. But I’ll also factor in the cost of getting this stuff at a later time (and what I’ve had within the past little while) as part of the equation. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2006, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-let-perceived-costs-dictate-which-foods-you-select-at-a-buffet-restuarant/382042/29 "2006-11-28T17:11:11Z")
Y’know, now that I’m 40 buffets just don’t hold the attraction anymore. A regular restaurant meal leaves me stuffed to the gills nowadays. I used to go to the Chinese buffet and eat 6 plates of General Tso’s chicken and potstickers, nowadays I’m full at one and a half plates. If I eat two plates “to get my money’s worth” I feel sick. Curse aging! ---
**Author:** ![Sarahfeena](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sarahfeena/32/519_2.png) [@Sarahfeena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarahfeena)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2006, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-let-perceived-costs-dictate-which-foods-you-select-at-a-buffet-restuarant/382042/30 "2006-11-28T17:13:36Z")
[QUOTE=Lemur866] Y’know, now that I’m 40 buffets just don’t hold the attraction anymore. A regular restaurant meal leaves me stuffed to the gills nowadays. I used to go to the Chinese buffet and eat 6 plates of General Tso’s chicken and potstickers, nowadays I’m full at one and a half plates. If I eat two plates “to get my money’s worth” I feel sick. Curse aging! [/QUOTE] That’s probably the real reason we don’t go to them much anymore…my husband can’t eat as much as he used to, either. And he figures, if he only eats one plate, what’s the point of the buffet? ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2006, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-let-perceived-costs-dictate-which-foods-you-select-at-a-buffet-restuarant/382042/31 "2006-11-28T17:26:21Z")
I’ll definitely only eat things I like, but any decent buffet will have more things that I want to eat than I possibly can eat. So, it’s selection. Given that, I’ll go for non-starchy food (unless some starchy food looks particularly good) so I’ll have room for a greater variety. No salad, unless it is a place that is mostly a salad bar. No bread. Lots of meat, seafood and veggies. ---
**Author:** ![Lightray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightray/32/391_2.png) [@Lightray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightray)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2006, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-let-perceived-costs-dictate-which-foods-you-select-at-a-buffet-restuarant/382042/32 "2006-11-28T17:30:23Z")
[QUOTE=lieu] Jaysus. In what state is that legal? [/QUOTE] Thanks to the Supreme Court, in any state. So long as it’s a private, and not public, buffet. (and, assuming the brad is willing) When I go to buffets (rare now, since I’m a 40-year old too), I eat the dishes that I think I’d like – and avoid the ones with huge lines of people trying to “get their money’s worth.” That means when we go to my brother’s hoity-toity country club for the occasional holiday buffet, that I’m avoiding the prime rib line. By the time all the heavyset, sweaty men in line are satisfied that they’ve piled enough artery-hardening meat on their plate to feed a small African nation of orphans, there’s only a few scraps left for everyone else. And those are cold. I’ll just get the chicken cordon bleu and braised beef, thanks. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2006, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-let-perceived-costs-dictate-which-foods-you-select-at-a-buffet-restuarant/382042/33 "2006-11-28T17:47:37Z")
Well, here’s the point. You pay a certain amount of $$ to eat at a buffet, let’s say a certain buffet with seafood and prime rib for say $15. If, for example, you’re only going to eat one plate of fruit- why did you come to _that_ buffet and pay the $15? Why not either eat someplace cheaper for that one plate of fruit, or just buy some fruit and eat it? ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2006, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-let-perceived-costs-dictate-which-foods-you-select-at-a-buffet-restuarant/382042/34 "2006-11-28T18:12:05Z")
I eat what I can (no meat or shellfish, because those aren’t kosher), and pick what I like- I don’t even think about what it costs. That’s the point of a buffet- you can eat what you want, with none of what you don’t want, and you don’t have to think about what stuff costs. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2006, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-let-perceived-costs-dictate-which-foods-you-select-at-a-buffet-restuarant/382042/35 "2006-11-28T18:30:10Z")
If the choice is between lobster tails and macaroni+cheese…which food is going to win? look, i’m not a pig, but I’m certainly go for the good stuff and not fill myself up with rice/pasta/potatoes! ---
**Author:** ![dre2xl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/34f0e0/32.png) [@dre2xl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dre2xl)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2006, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-let-perceived-costs-dictate-which-foods-you-select-at-a-buffet-restuarant/382042/36 "2006-11-28T19:37:21Z")
I’m not a poor person, and I can’t afford to eat lobster tail or prime rib, even on special occassions. As such, I find the “I’ll pick out & eat the expensive things because I’m poor” comments tacky… not because of the act of picking out the expensive item, but because of the snotty justification. Middle class and upper-middle class people can’t afford that stuff, either. That being said, my choices aren’t really based on raw cost, but more like on perceived scarcity (which often is related to cost–I never order filet mignon or crab legs off a menu, for example, because it’s way too expensive). For example, mac & cheese is out and so are dinner rolls because I can get them at home. I’ll choose the crab legs/prime rib over ham & chicken because I wouldn’t get crab legs or prime rib otherwise. However, this is not only related to cost; I’ll also get plenty of casseroles because while I like them, I almost never cook those. Once I went to a Chinese buffet and I saw a family who was eating plate after plate of crab legs. The parents were telling the kids to get the crab legs only; the kids weren’t allowed to eat anything else! Now that’s tacky. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2006, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-let-perceived-costs-dictate-which-foods-you-select-at-a-buffet-restuarant/382042/37 "2006-11-28T20:04:15Z")
Well, I do zero in on things not in my everyday diet. Sushi & other lovely examples of seafood? Of course. But I generally make several trips to the buffet, not overfilling each plate; and I vary my selections. I wouldn’t pass up a lovely piece of rare prime rib–but I wouldn’t reject the potatoes, either. A bit of nice salad helps digestion. And fruit is a good way to end the meal–after a sample of something chocolate. (However, I’ll generally reject the “free” mimosas. The sugar in the orange juice kills the appetite too quickly. Just the _cava_, please.) ---
**Author:** ![Missy2U](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@Missy2U](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Missy2U)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2006, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-let-perceived-costs-dictate-which-foods-you-select-at-a-buffet-restuarant/382042/38 "2006-11-28T20:17:24Z")
We don’t do buffets anymore for several reasons - I am a very picky eater as is my son, I don’t eat but MAYBE one plate, and they’re too expensive anymore to be worth it. Last buffet I was at was a Sizzler I think. Or a Ponderosa. I can’t remember. No - wait - it was Old Country Buffet - but it was for breakfast. In any event, IF I were to go to one for dinner, I’d be eating the shrimp/steak/good stuff - because of the perceived cost benefit - I might as well “get as much as I can for my money”. If it were breakfast, I’d be pigging out on bacon ('scuse the expression) and sausage - they’re the expensive things. And biscuits and gravy just because they’re good. Does this make me tacky? I don’t know, nor do I particularly care - I just want to get the most from the little money I may have. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2006, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-let-perceived-costs-dictate-which-foods-you-select-at-a-buffet-restuarant/382042/39 "2006-11-28T20:19:01Z")
[QUOTE=DrDeth] Well, here’s the point. You pay a certain amount of $$ to eat at a buffet, let’s say a certain buffet with seafood and prime rib for say $15. If, for example, you’re only going to eat one plate of fruit- why did you come to _that_ buffet and pay the $15? Why not either eat someplace cheaper for that one plate of fruit, or just buy some fruit and eat it? [/QUOTE] Because I’m dieting and my husband and kids aren’t. One kid wanted pizza, and his friend wanted mac ‘n’ cheese, and the baby will eat anything she can get her fists on but she’d prefer noodles of some sort and my husband is a very picky eater. So here’s me with my $15 salad so’s I can eat in peace and quiet for once. For my family and me, eating out is as much a social thing (and a “Mom doesn’t have to clean up”) thing as a food thing, and I’ll pay to keep everyone happy and my kitchen clean once in a while. But, dieting aside, I’ll eat what appeals at the buffet. I’m not trying to “win” here. I’m trying to eat what I want without cooking it myself. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2006, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-let-perceived-costs-dictate-which-foods-you-select-at-a-buffet-restuarant/382042/40 "2006-11-28T20:54:41Z")
[QUOTE=WhyNot] Because I’m dieting and my husband and kids aren’t. One kid wanted pizza, and his friend wanted mac ‘n’ cheese, and the baby will eat anything she can get her fists on but she’d prefer noodles of some sort and my husband is a very picky eater. So here’s me with my $15 salad so’s I can eat in peace and quiet for once. For my family and me, eating out is as much a social thing (and a “Mom doesn’t have to clean up”) thing as a food thing, and I’ll pay to keep everyone happy and my kitchen clean once in a while. . [/QUOTE] OK, that makes sense. I had wondered. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-let-perceived-costs-dictate-which-foods-you-select-at-a-buffet-restuarant/382042.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-let-perceived-costs-dictate-which-foods-you-select-at-a-buffet-restuarant/382042.md?page=3)